AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate:
Training and Practice Tests
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate is a certification that proves you can design secure, resilient, high-performing and cost-optimized solutions on Amazon Web Services. It’s built for people who design cloud solutions, and AWS recommends at least a year of hands-on experience doing that work before you sit the exam.
The current exam is SAA-C03. Total Seminars offers the video training and practice tests that get you ready to certify.
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate Exam Details
SAA-C03 Exam Facts at a glance
| Required exam: | SAA-C03 |
|---|---|
| Exam cost: | $150 from AWS, as of October 2026 |
| Number of questions: | 65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored) |
| Type of questions: | Multiple choice and multiple response |
| Length of test: | 130 minutes |
| Passing score: | 720 on a scale of 100–1,000 |
| Recommended experience: | At least 1 year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions that use AWS services |
| Domains SAA-C03: |
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What the SAA-C03 exam covers
The SAA-C03 exam tests whether you can choose the right AWS design for a set of requirements. It spans four domains:
- Design secure architectures (30%): Design secure access to AWS resources with IAM and multi-account controls, secure workloads and applications inside a VPC, and choose data security controls such as encryption and key management.
- Design resilient architectures (26%): Design scalable, loosely coupled architectures with queues, containers and serverless services, and build highly available, fault-tolerant systems with a disaster recovery strategy that meets your recovery objectives.
- Design high-performing architectures (24%): Choose storage, compute, database and network solutions that perform and scale, and design data ingestion and transformation solutions.
- Design cost-optimized architectures (20%): Design cost-optimized storage, compute, database and network architectures using purchasing options, storage tiering and AWS cost management tools.
Where to focus: Design Secure Architectures and Design Resilient Architectures together make up 56% of the scored content. Give IAM, VPC security and high-availability design the most study time.
Exam Format, Scoring and Career Path
Question format: You get 65 questions and 130 minutes, which works out to two minutes per question. According to AWS, every question is either multiple choice, with one correct answer, or multiple response, with two or more correct answers out of five or more options.
How the exam is scored: Three things are worth knowing before test day:
- Guessing doesn’t cost you. AWS says there is no penalty for guessing, and unanswered questions are scored as incorrect, so answer every question.
- The score is scaled. Results are reported on a scale of 100–1,000, and you need 720 to pass. Fifteen of the 65 questions are unscored and don’t affect your result.
- You pass on the overall score. AWS uses a compensatory scoring model, so you don’t need a passing score in each domain.
Where This Certification Can Take You
It’s a strong fit for solutions architects, cloud engineers and cloud consultants, and for DevOps engineers and systems administrators moving into cloud infrastructure. AWS cites Skillsoft’s IT Skills and Salary Report, which ranked it among the top 10 certifications of 2023.
According to AWS, the certification is valid for three years. From here, the next step on the same path is AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional.
Prepare for the AWS Solutions Architect Exam with Total Seminars Training
Ready to design on AWS? Total Seminars’ AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate video course prepares you for the SAA-C03 exam by teaching you to choose the right architecture for the job, not just memorize services.
Learn from an experienced instructor
Your instructor, Tom Carpenter, is the Chief Technical Officer at CWNP (Certified Wireless Network Professionals). He has worked in the IT industry for more than 25 years, has written over 20 books on IT subjects and contributes to objectives development and exam creation across multiple certification programs.
Everything the SAA-C03 exam covers
- More than 20 hours of video across 16 chapters and 165 lessons, aligned to the SAA-C03 exam
- AWS Essentials training for anyone who needs the fundamentals first
- Study extras: the exam guide PDF, episode notes and an exam update video
- Online access through the Total Seminars Training Hub, with a single-user license and a full year of access on any device
Know you’re ready before you book
Pair the course with TotalTester practice tests and get more than 250 practice questions with hints and answer explanations. The questions ask you to pick the best architecture, the way the real exam does. You can also get both in the TotalVideo and TotalTester bundle.
Master the AWS services architects use every day
The course works through the services at the center of the exam:
- Identity: IAM users, roles and policies
- Networking: Virtual Private Cloud, subnets, gateways and security groups
- Storage: S3, EBS, EFS and FSx
- Compute: EC2, Auto Scaling and load balancing
- Databases: RDS, Aurora, Redshift and DynamoDB
- Monitoring: CloudWatch and CloudTrail
A credential that moves your career forward
This certification shows you can weigh security, resilience, performance and cost and choose a design that fits. Whether you’re formalizing cloud skills you already use or moving from IT into architecture, it’s a clear way to show what you can do.
Start your AWS prep today and learn with the experts at Total Seminars.
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Featured Article
Is AWS Solutions Architect – Associate right for you?
Who the SAA-C03 exam was written for, and how your background shapes the challenge.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate is an associate-level certification for people who design solutions on AWS. The exam asks you to make design decisions, so it rewards people who have built things on the platform.
AWS recommends at least one year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions that use AWS services. It’s a recommendation, and AWS also notes that people with one to three years of general IT experience have prepared for this certification successfully.
How your background shapes the challenge
If you already build on AWS, many of the services will be familiar. Your work is learning the ones you don’t use and the trade-offs between them.
If you come from on-premises IT, what you know about networking, storage and high availability carries over. Plan time to learn how AWS handles each one, starting with IAM and the VPC.
If you’re a developer, serverless and container services may come easily. Expect to spend more time on networking, security and cost.
If you’re new to IT, AWS suggests earning AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner first. A vendor-neutral certification such as CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Cloud+ can also build the foundation.
Short on experience? Build it while you study
Open an AWS account and build as you learn. Create a VPC with public and private subnets, launch EC2 instances behind a load balancer, store data in S3 with lifecycle rules and control access with IAM roles. Set a budget alert before you start so practice doesn’t turn into a surprise bill.
How Hard Is the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate Exam?
SAA-C03 tests whether you can choose the best design for a set of requirements, not just name AWS services. Here are the three things that make it hard and how to know you’re ready.
The exam is written for someone with about a year of hands-on AWS design experience, and it tests judgment: given a set of requirements, which design fits best? That’s harder than recalling what a service does. It’s also the skill the job calls for.
Hard doesn’t mean out of reach. AWS publishes the exam guide, the scoring rules described above work in your favor, and you can practice every skill in a real AWS account.
The three things that make it hard
1. More than one answer can look right. Questions ask for the design that best meets the requirements. Several options may be technically possible, so you have to weigh security, resilience, performance and cost to find the best one.
2. The service list is long. One exam covers identity, networking, storage, compute, databases, analytics and cost management. Most people use only part of that list at work.
3. Cost is a design requirement. A full domain is about cost optimization. Knowing a design works isn’t enough if you can’t compare purchasing options, storage tiers and data transfer costs.
How to know you’re ready
- You can explain the trade-off, saying why one service fits a requirement better than another.
- You can design from a blank page, sketching a secure, highly available application and naming the services you would use.
- Your timed practice exam scores stay above passing across several attempts, not on a single good run.
The video course and TotalTester practice tests on this page are built to get you to that point.
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate FAQs
Which exam do I need to pass to become an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate?
You need to pass one exam: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, exam code SAA-C03.
Is SAA-C03 the current exam?
Yes. As of October 2026, AWS publishes SAA-C03 as the current version of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam.
What is on the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam?
According to AWS, the SAA-C03 exam covers four domains: Design Secure Architectures (30%), Design Resilient Architectures (26%), Design High-Performing Architectures (24%) and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%). Security is the heaviest domain.
How long is the SAA-C03 exam and what score do I need to pass?
You get 130 minutes for 65 questions, and you need 720 on a scale of 100–1,000 to pass. According to AWS, 50 of the questions are scored and 15 are unscored.
What types of questions are on the SAA-C03 exam?
According to AWS, every question is either multiple choice, with one correct answer, or multiple response, with two or more correct answers out of five or more options. There is no penalty for guessing.
Do I need experience before taking the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam?
Experience is recommended. AWS recommends at least one year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions that use AWS services. AWS also says people with one to three years of IT experience have prepared successfully, and suggests AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner first if you have no IT experience.
Is the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam hard?
It is challenging because it tests design judgment rather than recall. Questions ask you to choose the design that best meets a set of requirements across security, resilience, performance and cost, and the exam covers a long list of AWS services. Hands-on practice in an AWS account and timed practice exams are the best preparation.
How much does the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam cost?
According to AWS, the SAA-C03 exam costs $150 as of October 2026. You can take it at a Pearson VUE testing center or as an online proctored exam.
How long is my AWS Solutions Architect – Associate certification valid?
According to AWS, the certification is valid for three years.
What jobs does AWS Solutions Architect – Associate lead to?
It prepares you for roles such as solutions architect, cloud engineer and cloud consultant. It also suits DevOps engineers and systems administrators moving into cloud infrastructure.
Can I study for the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam entirely online?
Yes. Total Seminars’ video course and TotalTester practice tests are delivered online through the Total Seminars Training Hub. The video course plays on any device with a browser, and TotalTester runs on Windows, macOS, Chrome OS and Linux (iOS and Android are not supported).