How many questions are on the CLF-C02 exam?

The CLF-C02 exam contains a total of 65 questions. This is broken down into 50 scored questions and 15 unscored pretest questions that do not impact your final grade.

What is the passing score for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam?

The minimum passing score is 700 on a scaled scoring system ranging from 100 to 1,000. The passing score is set by the provider and is the same for every candidate.

How much time do I have to complete the exam?

Candidates are allotted a total of 90 minutes to complete the CLF-C02 examination.

Do I need coding experience to pass the CLF-C02?

No, coding experience is completely unnecessary. The CLF-C02 is a foundational exam meant to validate general cloud fluency. The official guide explicitly lists coding, implementation, and complex architecture design as out of scope.

How long does it take to study for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam?

Most candidates spend between 40 to 60 hours preparing, depending on their prior exposure to IT and cloud concepts. By breaking the syllabus down into smaller topics, you can confidently prepare over the course of a few weeks.

Are there any unscored questions on the test?

Yes, 15 of the 65 questions are unscored. AWS uses these items to evaluate their statistical performance for potential use in future test versions. Because they are mixed in randomly, you should treat every question as if it counts.

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CLF-C02 · Syllabus & Exam Outline 2026

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

Study cloud concepts, security and compliance, core AWS services, and billing through focused lessons mapped directly to the CLF-C02 exam domains.

Start studying free see the outline ↓

Questions: 65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored)
Time limit: 90 minutes
Passing score: 700
Cost: 100 USD
Format: Multiple choice · Multiple response
Delivery: Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam
Prep time: ~50 hours

Exam overview

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) certification is a foundational exam designed to validate your overall understanding of the AWS Cloud platform. It is highly accessible, aimed not only at IT professionals but also at individuals in sales, marketing, management, and other non-technical roles who interact with cloud technologies. The curriculum is tailored to ensure candidates possess a working knowledge of essential cloud concepts, foundational security practices, and standard billing models without needing hands-on coding or complex architectural skills. Preparing for the exam requires understanding four critical domains: Cloud Concepts, Security and Compliance, Cloud Technology and Services, and Billing, Pricing, and Support. The largest portions of the test focus on navigating the vast ecosystem of AWS services and understanding how to maintain a secure, compliant cloud environment. While the breadth of services can seem intimidating, test-takers are primarily expected to identify the correct service for a given use case rather than configure it from scratch. To make studying more manageable, Only Ever maps every domain to bite-sized, 15-minute study topics. This approach allows you to seamlessly integrate preparation into your daily routine, systematically tracking your progress through each AWS service, pricing model, and security concept until you are fully ready for test day.

Exam domains & weighting

Each domain's share of the exam — study deepest where the weight is highest. Open one for how to study it and its objectives.

How to study this domain

Focus on the overall value proposition of cloud computing compared to traditional on-premises models. Ensure you can articulate the six pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework and understand the foundational economics of cloud adoption, such as the shift from CapEx to OpEx.

Key objectives

Value Proposition of the AWS Cloud
AWS Well-Architected Framework Pillars
Cloud Migration Strategies and AWS CAF
Concepts of Cloud Economics

Study this domain

Readiness self-check

Tick off everything you can confidently explain. Anything left unchecked is your study list — tap “Review” to jump straight into that domain.

Readiness

0 / 8

Domain 1: Cloud Concepts

Review

Can I explain the primary benefits of migrating to the AWS Cloud, such as high availability, elasticity, and agility?
Am I able to name and describe the fundamental pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework?

Domain 2: Security and Compliance

Review

Can I accurately divide security tasks between AWS and the customer based on the Shared Responsibility Model?
Do I know the principle of least privilege and how it applies to IAM users, groups, and roles?

Domain 3: Cloud Technology and Services

Review

Can I match core AWS compute services, like EC2, Lambda, and Fargate, to their ideal architectural use cases?
Am I able to distinguish between block, file, and object storage options within the AWS ecosystem?

Domain 4: Billing, Pricing, and Support

Review

Can I explain the differences between On-Demand, Spot, and Reserved Instances when purchasing compute?
Am I familiar with the specific features, response times, and tools associated with the different AWS Support tiers?

Quick reference

Common AWS Acronyms

Essential acronyms found frequently throughout the Cloud Practitioner exam.

VPC: Virtual Private Cloud
IAM: Identity and Access Management
EC2: Elastic Compute Cloud
S3: Simple Storage Service
RDS: Relational Database Service
EBS: Elastic Block Store
EFS: Elastic File System
ECS: Elastic Container Service
EKS: Elastic Kubernetes Service
MFA: Multi-Factor Authentication
CAF: Cloud Adoption Framework
WAF: Web Application Firewall
ACL: Access Control List

Key AWS Services & Primary Use Cases

High-level definitions for fundamental AWS services you must recognize.

Amazon EC2

Scalable virtual servers in the cloud.

Amazon S3

Scalable, highly available object storage service.

AWS Lambda

Serverless compute service that runs code in response to events.

Amazon Route 53

Scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service.

Amazon CloudFront

Global content delivery network (CDN) service securely delivering data.

Amazon RDS

Managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc.

Amazon DynamoDB

Fast, flexible NoSQL database service for single-digit millisecond performance.

AWS IAM

Service to securely manage access to AWS services and resources.

Amazon VPC

Logically isolated section of the AWS Cloud where you can launch resources.

Frequently asked questions

Good to know

The exam contains 15 unscored questions that are used to evaluate items for future tests. These are indistinguishable from scored questions.
There is no penalty for guessing; unanswered questions are simply scored as incorrect, so you should answer every question.
Job tasks such as coding, complex cloud architecture design, troubleshooting, implementation, and load/performance testing are explicitly out of scope for this exam.
Response types include standard multiple-choice (one correct response, three distractors) and multiple-response (two or more correct responses out of five or more options).

Reading isn’t remembering.

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner spans dozens of services, the shared responsibility model, pricing models, and security concepts, which makes it easy to memorize service names without understanding when and why each one is used.

Only Ever turns the official CLF-C02 exam domains into focused 15-minute study sessions so you build a durable mental model of the AWS Cloud across concepts, security, services, and billing without drifting off-spec.

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