65 questions, four domains, 19 task statements: the CLF-C02 exam in plain English
The AWS Cloud Practitioner exam, CLF-C02, has 65 questions in 90 minutes: 50 scored and 15 unscored. You pass with a scaled score of 700 on a scale of 100 to 1,000, judged on your overall result. Four domains carry the marks: Cloud Concepts 24 per cent and Security and Compliance 30 per cent. Cloud Technology and Services takes 34 per cent, and Billing, Pricing, and Support 12 per cent.
Cloud Practitioner looks like a vocabulary test, so candidates memorise service names and give security a quarter of their time. Security carries 30 per cent of the scored questions, and the exam asks you to choose, not define. Here is the whole CLF-C02 map, before you spend a month on the wrong half.
How is the CLF-C02 exam structured?
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam code | CLF-C02 |
| Level | Foundational |
| Questions | 65: 50 scored, 15 unscored |
| Time | 90 minutes |
| Question types | Multiple choice and multiple response |
| Passing score | 700 on a scale of 100 to 1,000 |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE test centre or online proctored exam |
Scoring rules come after the map. First, here is what you are scored on.
How are the four domains weighted?
| Domain | Weight | Task statements |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Cloud Concepts | 24% | 4 |
| 2 · Security and Compliance | 30% | 4 |
| 3 · Cloud Technology and Services | 34% | 8 |
| 4 · Billing, Pricing, and Support | 12% | 3 |
Technology and security carry almost two thirds of the exam. CLF-C02 replaced CLF-C01 in September 2023, when security gained weight and billing lost it. What has changed in CLF-C02 since earlier material shows how to spot the old balance.
The 19 task statements in plain English
Titles follow the CLF-C02 exam guide, shortened slightly. The middle column says what each asks of you.
Domain 1 · Cloud Concepts (24 per cent)
| Task statement | What it means in practice | Services and terms to know |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 Define the benefits of the AWS Cloud | Why businesses move: speed, global reach, high availability, elasticity and agility | Regions, elasticity, agility |
| 1.2 Identify design principles of the AWS Cloud | The six pillars of the Well-Architected Framework and how they differ | Operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, sustainability |
| 1.3 Understand the benefits of and strategies for migration | How organisations plan a move, and the business outcomes they expect | Cloud Adoption Framework, migration strategies, database replication |
| 1.4 Understand concepts of cloud economics | Fixed versus variable costs, licensing choices and saving by sizing correctly | Rightsizing, Bring Your Own License, economies of scale, automation |
Domain 2 · Security and Compliance (30 per cent)
| Task statement | What it means in practice | Services and terms to know |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 Understand the AWS shared responsibility model | What AWS secures, what you secure, and how the split shifts between services | Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, AWS Lambda |
| 2.2 Understand security, governance and compliance concepts | Where to find compliance reports, encryption options and where logs live | AWS Artifact, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, AWS Config, GuardDuty, Inspector, Security Hub, Shield |
| 2.3 Identify AWS access management capabilities | Protect the root user, apply least privilege, and manage users, groups, roles and policies | IAM, IAM Identity Center, MFA, Secrets Manager, Systems Manager |
| 2.4 Identify components and resources for security | Which security services and documents AWS provides, and where to find third-party tools | AWS WAF, Firewall Manager, Shield, GuardDuty, Trusted Advisor, AWS Marketplace |
Domain 3 · Cloud Technology and Services (34 per cent)
| Task statement | What it means in practice | Services and terms to know |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 Define methods of deploying and operating | Console, command line, SDKs, APIs and infrastructure as code; cloud, hybrid and on-premises models | AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, CloudFormation |
| 3.2 Define the AWS global infrastructure | How Regions, Availability Zones and edge locations relate, and when to use several Regions | Regions, Availability Zones, edge locations |
| 3.3 Identify AWS compute services | Choose instance types, containers or serverless, and know what scaling and load balancing do | EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate, Lambda, Auto Scaling, Elastic Load Balancing |
| 3.4 Identify AWS database services | Managed or self-run databases; relational, NoSQL and in-memory; migration tools | RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, AWS DMS, AWS SCT |
| 3.5 Identify AWS network services | The parts of a VPC, how it is secured and how offices connect to AWS | VPC, subnets, gateways, security groups, network ACLs, Route 53, VPN, Direct Connect |
| 3.6 Identify AWS storage services | Object, block, file and cached storage; storage classes, lifecycle rules and backup | S3, EBS, instance store, EFS, FSx, Storage Gateway, AWS Backup |
| 3.7 Identify AI, machine learning and analytics services | What each service does for a business, without building models | SageMaker AI, Lex, Athena, Kinesis, Glue, Quick Sight |
| 3.8 Identify services from other in-scope categories | Messaging, business apps, developer tools, virtual desktops, front-end apps and IoT | SNS, SQS, EventBridge, Amazon Connect, SES, CodeBuild, CodePipeline, X-Ray, WorkSpaces, Amplify, IoT Core |
Domain 4 · Billing, Pricing, and Support (12 per cent)
| Task statement | What it means in practice | Services and terms to know |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 Compare AWS pricing models | When to use each way of buying compute, how data transfer is charged and how storage tiers are priced | On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Spot, Savings Plans, Dedicated Hosts, Capacity Reservations |
| 4.2 Understand resources for billing, budget and cost management | Plan, track and allocate costs across accounts | AWS Budgets, Cost Explorer, Pricing Calculator, AWS Organizations, cost allocation tags, Cost and Usage Report |
| 4.3 Identify technical resources and AWS Support options | Where to find help: documentation, support plans, partners and AWS teams | Support plans, re:Post, Trusted Advisor, AWS Health, AWS Partner Network, AWS Marketplace, Trust and Safety |
Where do the domains catch candidates out?
Domain 3 has the most task statements, but each question asks about one service's purpose. Domain 2 has only four task statements sharing 30 per cent of the scored content, so expect several questions on each.
Task 2.1 deserves extra time, because many questions turn on it. On Amazon EC2, a virtual server, you patch the operating system. On AWS Lambda, AWS runs almost everything except your code, data and access settings. The AWS services candidates confuse sets it out row by row.
Domain 4 is the smallest, but outdated material does most damage here. The guide now names Basic Support, AWS Business Support+, AWS Enterprise Support and AWS Unified Operations. If your course teaches other plans as current, check every support answer against the guide.
How is the exam scored, and what formats will you see?
The 15 unscored questions are ones AWS is testing for future use. You cannot tell which they are, so answer every question as if it counts.
The exam is compensatory: you pass on your overall score and need not pass each domain. A strong domain can cover a weaker one, but that is hard when the weak one carries a third of the marks.
Unanswered questions count as wrong, and there is no penalty for guessing. Never leave a question blank.
| Format | What you do |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | Choose the one correct answer from four options |
| Multiple response | Choose two or more correct answers from five or more options; the question tells you how many |
Most questions describe a short business need and ask for the best fit. Read the last line first, so you know whether you are choosing a service, a pricing option, a support plan or a responsibility. Then remove the options that do something different.
How do the weights turn into study hours?
AWS publishes no study-hour figure. The book works on 25 to 50 hours: nearer 25 if you work in IT or with AWS, nearer 50 if the cloud is new. Split those hours by domain weight, then move time towards your lowest-rated task statements.
| Domain | Hours in a 40-hour plan |
|---|---|
| Cloud Technology and Services | 14 |
| Security and Compliance | 12 |
| Cloud Concepts | 10 |
| Billing, Pricing, and Support | 4 |
How to build your Cloud Practitioner study plan turns those hours into weeks and stages.
What to do with this map
Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on every task statement in the four tables. Your five lowest scores become the first targets in your plan.
When you want to test yourself, the AWS Cloud Practitioner practice questions give you ten new scenarios weighted by domain.
Every figure here was checked against AWS's documents in October 2026. Chapter 5 of the book sets out the same 19 task statements ready to rate, and Appendix G adds 17 practice questions, each mapped to a domain and task statement. The map shows where the marks are; your ratings show where to start.
- Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on each of the 19 task statements below and circle your five lowest.
- Open the CLF-C02 exam guide on the AWS documentation site and check the exam code and domain weights your course teaches.
- In your next practice set, read the last line of each question first and name what you are choosing before you look at the options.
- Split your planned study hours by the four domain weights and write the figures in your diary.
Questions readers ask
Do I need experience or another credential first?
What does the exam leave out?
When will I see my result?
Can I take the exam in a language other than English?
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner page
- CLF-C02 exam guide (AWS documentation)
- AWS Certification policies
This guide is independent and is not endorsed by AWS. Facts change: confirm them on the official page before you act.