For AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional, practice explaining how a design meets requirements across accounts, workloads, and migration projects. This guide covers SAP-C02, with a domain map, a worked permissions scenario, and a preparation checklist. Match your materials to the exam code on your booking.
Which exam version should you prepare for?
SAP-C02 is the current version and its last testing day is November 17, 2026. Registration for the updated SAP-C03 opens October 27, 2026.
November 17 is the last day to take SAP-C02, not simply a deadline to book a later appointment. Check the code and testing date on your booking.
AWS asks candidates to return on October 27 for SAP-C03 details and preparation resources. Registration opening does not, by itself, establish the first testing date. The domain map below describes SAP-C02; consult the corresponding official guide before preparing for SAP-C03.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (AWS certification page) — aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-professional
What to study in the four domains
SAP-C02 tests four weighted content domains: organizational complexity, new solutions, continuous improvement, and migration and modernization.
The percentages describe scored content, not exact question counts or a fixed allocation of study time. Review all four domains and spend extra time on your gaps. The official guide supplies detailed tasks and notes that its content list is not exhaustive.
AWS recommends two or more years of experience designing and implementing cloud solutions. An Associate certification and an AWS training course are not prerequisites.
The guide identifies emerging AI topics that may appear as unscored pretest questions. This does not justify assuming that every AI-related question is unscored. Prepare for the complete current tasks.
| Domain | Weight | Topics and suggested practice |
|---|---|---|
| Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity | 26% | Multi-account environments, network connectivity, security controls, and cost visibility. Explain how a sample design meets requirements across account boundaries. |
| Design for New Solutions | 29% | Deployment, business continuity, security, reliability, performance, and cost. Compare proposed designs against every stated constraint. |
| Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions | 25% | Operations, security, performance, reliability, and cost of existing workloads. Identify what evidence is needed before choosing an improvement. |
| Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization | 20% | Workload assessment, migration approaches, new architectures, and modernization. Build a list of dependencies and constraints before proposing a migration approach. |
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (AWS certification page) — aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-professional; AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Exam Guide (SAP-C02) — AWS official exam guide PDF, copyright 2026; AWS Certification FAQs — aws.amazon.com/certification/faqs
What to expect on the exam
Expect 75 questions in 180 minutes, scored on a 100-1,000 scale with 750 needed to pass.
Of the 75 questions, 65 are scored and 10 unscored questions are not identified. Multiple-choice questions have one correct answer among four options; multiple-response questions have two or more correct answers among five or more options. Follow each question’s selection instructions.
The passing score is 750 on a scale of 100–1,000. It is a scaled score, not a raw requirement to answer 75% correctly. You pass on the overall result, with no separate passing requirement for every domain. Unanswered questions count as incorrect, and there is no penalty for guessing.
AWS provides the specified service short names and their full names through the exam’s Help feature. Review the published service-name list in advance. Most AWS exams do not show a pass or fail result immediately; check your Certification Account for detailed results within five business days.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (AWS certification page) — aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-professional; AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Exam Guide (SAP-C02) — AWS official exam guide PDF, copyright 2026; AWS Certification FAQs — aws.amazon.com/certification/faqs
Practice: an IAM allow and an SCP deny
A service control policy (SCP) limits available permissions; it does not grant permissions. An applicable SCP deny can block an action that an IAM identity policy allows.
SCPs are available in AWS Organizations with all features enabled. They constrain users and roles in member accounts, including the member account’s root user and delegated administrator accounts. They do not constrain the management account or service-linked roles.
Keep the scope explicit. This exercise concerns an ordinary IAM role in a member account. It is not a complete rule for every cross-account, resource-policy, or encryption-key scenario.
Practice exercise
An organization has all AWS Organizations features enabled. An ordinary IAM role in a member account is not a service-linked role. Its identity policy explicitly allows ec2:RunInstances, but an applicable SCP explicitly denies that same action. There are no other policy or condition complications in this example. Can the role launch the instance, and would adding another IAM allow fix the denial? Separately, would a FullAWSAccess SCP alone grant the action to a role with no identity-based or resource-based allow?
Show answer
The launch is denied, and adding another IAM allow does not override the applicable SCP deny. A FullAWSAccess SCP alone also does not grant permission.
The SCP limits what the member-account role can do, so the matching identity allow does not overcome its explicit deny. AWS states that even AdministratorAccess cannot override an applicable SCP restriction. SCPs grant no permissions themselves, which explains the separate FullAWSAccess case. In an actual access investigation, review the intended access and all applicable policies; changing one restriction should not be treated as proof that every remaining permission requirement is satisfied.
Official sources: Service control policies (SCPs) - AWS Organizations User Guide — docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_scps.html
Practice reviewing a connectivity design
Use the network tasks in the guide to build requirement-based practice cases.
For a proposed design, write down which accounts, VPCs, Regions, and on-premises systems need to communicate. Then identify the security, availability, and performance constraints. Check service documentation before relying on a particular routing or connectivity behavior.
- Draw the required communication paths and account boundaries.
- List the DNS, monitoring, and failure-handling requirements.
- Compare candidate approaches with those requirements and identify information the scenario has not supplied.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Exam Guide (SAP-C02) — AWS official exam guide PDF, copyright 2026
Practice assessing a migration
Start with the workload’s requirements and dependencies before choosing a migration or modernization approach.
The migration domain includes workload assessment, choosing migration approaches, and identifying modernization opportunities. As a study exercise, create a small workload inventory and explain what additional information you need before recommending an approach.
- Record dependencies, business purpose, current constraints, and the required migration deadline.
- Identify what you need to establish about compatibility, data movement, testing, and the acceptable interruption.
- Compare options and explain your assumptions. Low utilization or an old operating system alone is not enough information to decide a workload’s future.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Exam Guide (SAP-C02) — AWS official exam guide PDF, copyright 2026
Practice weighing recovery and cost requirements
Review recovery objectives and cost assumptions together when comparing designs.
The syllabus includes disaster recovery strategies, recovery time and recovery point objectives, and cost optimization. Use scenarios that state their requirements clearly, then verify whether a proposed design can meet them.
For a learning exercise, list the required recovery outcome, usage assumptions, dependencies, and evidence needed to compare options. Explain what you still need to know before choosing. A label such as “warm standby” or “cost-sensitive” is not a substitute for the scenario’s actual requirements.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Exam Guide (SAP-C02) — AWS official exam guide PDF, copyright 2026
Your preparation checklist
Use this suggested routine to practice explaining decisions across the four domains.
AWS’s preparation plan includes exam-style questions, targeted learning, practice, and a readiness assessment. Adapt it to your experience. Keep a short record of what you misunderstood and why an answer did or did not meet the requirements.
- Check the exam code and testing date, then save the matching official guide.
- Review every domain task and identify gaps in your design experience.
- Use official practice questions to learn the format, then choose labs or design exercises for the gaps.
- For each scenario, list the explicit constraints, compare the options, and distinguish supplied facts from your assumptions.
- Revisit the SCP exercise and explain both why an allow can be blocked and why an SCP does not itself grant access.
- Use a practice exam to identify remaining weaknesses. Review appointment instructions and the schedule-change deadline.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (AWS certification page) — aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-professional; AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional Exam Guide (SAP-C02) — AWS official exam guide PDF, copyright 2026; Service control policies (SCPs) - AWS Organizations User Guide — docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_scps.html; AWS Certification FAQs — aws.amazon.com/certification/faqs
Booking and keeping your credential current
The listed exam fee is USD 300, with taxes and local-currency pricing where applicable. The certification is valid for three years.
Book through your AWS Certification Account with Pearson VUE, choosing a test center or online proctoring where available. The standard policy permits cancellation or rescheduling up to 24 hours before the appointment; review the full policy for exceptions.
After a failed attempt, wait 14 calendar days before retaking. AWS states that each attempt requires the full registration fee and that there is no attempt limit. To recertify before expiry, pass the latest version of the Professional exam, checking the current requirements at that time.
Official sources: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (AWS certification page) — aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-professional; AWS Certification FAQs — aws.amazon.com/certification/faqs
Official sources
Facts checked against official AWS sources: