AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

Official exam facts verified 19 August 2026. AWS's live documentation remains authoritative.

Exam at a glance

Level: Foundational
Duration: 90 minutes
Total questions: 65
Scored questions: 50
Unscored questions: 15, not identified during the exam
Question types: Multiple choice and multiple response
Scaled score: 100-1,000
Minimum passing score: 700
Certification validity: Three years

Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect, and there is no penalty for guessing. Scoring is compensatory: you pass the exam overall rather than passing every domain separately. A CloudCert practice percentage cannot be converted directly into an official AWS scaled score.

AWS positions CLF-C02 as broad cloud-literacy validation rather than an implementation exam. The target candidate should understand AWS value, security responsibilities, core service purposes, cloud economics, billing, and support. Coding, architecture design, troubleshooting, implementation, and performance testing are outside the target role's expected job tasks.

Current domains

1. Cloud Concepts - 24%

1.1 Define the benefits of the AWS Cloud.
1.2 Identify design principles of the AWS Cloud.
1.3 Understand the benefits of and strategies for migration to the AWS Cloud.
1.4 Understand concepts of cloud economics.

2. Security and Compliance - 30%

2.1 Understand the AWS shared responsibility model.
2.2 Understand AWS Cloud security, governance, and compliance concepts.
2.3 Identify AWS access management capabilities.
2.4 Identify components and resources for security.

3. Cloud Technology and Services - 34%

3.1 Define methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Cloud.
3.2 Define the AWS global infrastructure.
3.3 Identify AWS compute services.
3.4 Identify AWS database services.
3.5 Identify AWS network services.
3.6 Identify AWS storage services.
3.7 Identify AWS artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics services.
3.8 Identify services from other in-scope AWS service categories.

4. Billing, Pricing, and Support - 12%

4.1 Compare AWS pricing models.
4.2 Understand resources for billing, budget, and cost management.
4.3 Identify AWS technical resources and AWS Support options.

What the weights mean for practice

AWS does not publish the exact domain count for an individual exam form. For a 65-question CloudCert simulation in which every question is scored, a close whole-number blueprint is:

| Domain | Approximate questions | | --- | ---: | | Cloud Concepts | 16 | | Security and Compliance | 19 | | Cloud Technology and Services | 22 | | Billing, Pricing, and Support | 8 |

This is a CloudCert simulation model, not an official AWS form specification.

Current facts that make older material risky

The AWS Free Tier changed

Do not rely on old questions that say every new AWS customer automatically receives the same 12-month Free Tier. Accounts created on or after 15 July 2025 use the current Free or Paid account-plan model, credits, and always-free offers. Older accounts can remain under the legacy program.

AWS Support plans are transitioning

AWS announced a new paid Support portfolio in December 2025. Basic Support remains available, while Business Support+, Enterprise Support, and Unified Operations form the new paid portfolio. Some legacy plans remain available to existing customers during the transition through 2026. Check current AWS Support documentation before memorizing plan names, prices, response times, or entitlements.

Service names and recommendations change

Amazon SageMaker's original ML service is now Amazon SageMaker AI.
AWS Single Sign-On is now AWS IAM Identity Center.
The current guide writes the BI capability as Amazon Quick Sight.
AWS Chatbot was renamed, but it is explicitly outside the current CLF-C02 scope.
Root-user MFA is now enforced across AWS account types; it is not merely an optional recommendation.
AWS X-Ray remains in scope, but AWS recommends OpenTelemetry for new instrumentation because the X-Ray SDKs and daemon entered maintenance mode.

Use the current official guide and service documentation when an older question conflicts with these facts.

How to judge whether a topic belongs

The official in-scope and out-of-scope service lists are non-exhaustive and can change. Map a question to a current task statement first. A service appearing in scope does not automatically make deep configuration trivia appropriate for a foundational exam.

Good CLF-C02 questions ask you to identify a cloud benefit, responsibility, service category, security capability, pricing model, cost tool, or support resource. Questions that require code, console procedures, architecture design, troubleshooting, detailed quotas, or implementation steps are usually too deep.

Official AWS resources

AWS updates certification content as services change. Treat the linked live pages as the final source of truth.