Hiroko Nishimura

Hiroko Nishimura

a writer with brain injury helping you beat ADHD

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Become AWS Cloud Practitioner with an AWS Hero!

Posted on Author Hiroko NishimuraPosted in Tech, Top Posts, TutorialsLeave a Reply

Are you considering taking the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02), but not sure where to begin? When I first began studying for this exam, I was completely overwhelmed, feeling like I was staring into a black box, unable to distinguish one service name from another. Amazon S3? Amazon EC2? Amazon Aurora? Amazon DynamoDB? They were all Greek… cloud-speak to me!

My sense of panic only got worse as I spent weeks attempting to memorize different product categories, services, and frameworks. Nothing made sense to me, and I couldn’t find a footing to even begin parsing what I needed to know from what I didn’t need to know (yet) to sit for the certification exam.

In order to study more efficiently, I created awsnewbies.com, a study blog, breaking down the domains, concepts, terminologies, and services in order to successfully pass the exam. And pass the exam, I did!

That was almost 7 years ago. Since then, I’ve become a LinkedIn Learning Instructor, helping over 630,000 learners begin learning about Amazon Web Services, and pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam. In 2020, I was acknowledged as an AWS Community Hero by Amazon Web Services. Most recently, I published a book for “non-engineers” to learn fundamentals of AWS (“AWS for Non-Engineers” with Manning Publications).

This blog post was written in spring of 2025 , with my beginner’s mind hat back on, to outline what I would do if I were sitting for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (AWS CLF-C02) again for the first time.

What is the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02)?

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam is currently the only foundational level certification exam offered by Amazon Web Services (aka AWS or AWS Cloud). By earning this certification, you will successfully “demonstrate overall knowledge of the AWS Cloud, independent of a specific job role.”

This exam is ideal for candidates from non-IT backgrounds, and is made up of 65 multiple choice and multiple response questions. You need to obtain 700 out of 1000 points to pass.

There are four domains in the AWS CLF-C02 Exam:

  • Cloud Concepts (24%)
  • Security and Compliance (30%)
  • Cloud Technology and Services (34%)
  • Billing, Pricing, and Support (12%)

Let’s begin studying!

At this point, we need to break apart the exam content to begin learning in digestible chunks. The key is to not get overwhelmed by the amount of content presented. I promise, once you meticulously go over them one by one, they become manageable!

Collect exam information

First things first, I would go to the official AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam page to download the official exam guide, then go download and print my very unofficial free exam guide, and read both.

If you’re an AWS beginner, the official exam study guide might freak you out a bit (especially the list of in-scope services and features), and I hope my study guide will help calm you down a bit.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02) Free Study Guide

I recommend that you print out my study guide, so that you can highlight and take notes as needed. Once you’re confident in your knowledge, you can check off sections that you’ve completed studying. Physically moving your hands to take notes helps you process the content more effectively than simply taking notes digitally for most people.

Acquaint yourself with the exam domains

As mentioned above, there are four domains in this exam, with each area focusing on different aspects of the AWS Cloud. Personally, if you are a beginner with AWS, I would recommend tackling Domain 1, then Domain 3, then Domain 2 or 4 (I don’t have a preference for these).

I recommend going through Domain 1 first because it goes over the fundamental information about cloud computing and AWS in particular, what sets cloud computing apart from “legacy infrastructure” (think server rooms in offices or data centers). Without the foundational knowledge on cloud computing and AWS, it’ll be difficult to move on to the more nitty-gritty topics within the ecosystem. You’ll learn about frameworks like the AWS Well-Architected Framework, and AWS Cloud Adoption Framework.

Domain 3 deals with the services and infrastructure. These are more tangible topics, in my opinion, which will help you get rolling with the terminologies and concepts that deal directly with the AWS infrastructure and services so you can become better acquainted with the platform in general. Here, you’ll encounter service names that you may have seen thrown around, like Amazon S3, and Amazon EC2. At first, they seem like impenetrable jargons, but pretty soon, you’ll be able to begin deciphering them.

After that, you can go through Domain 4 (billing related), maybe because it’s a smaller domain, or Domain 2 (security related). Either way, with domains 1 and 3 out of the way, you’re close to the finish line!

Don’t forget to reference the study guide as you go through the domains. I’ve added a lot of notes on the specific topics to learn about as well as links to informational resources.

Domain 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

Domain 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: Identity AWS access management capabilities
  • 2.4: Identify components and resources for security

Domain 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 AI/ML services and analytics services
  • 3.8: Identify services from other in-scope AWS service categories

Domain 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

Take courses

There are A LOT of courses and resources online these days about taking the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam. I’ve shared a lot of my recommendations in this blog post, but here are ones I recommend:

  • Introduction to AWS for Non-Engineers (LinkedIn Learning, Subscription; you may have free access to LiL through work, university, or local library!): Yes, these courses are my own courses, and I’m tooting my own horns. But they have helped over half a million people begin learning about AWS Cloud, and I believe they will help you do the same. The course series are broken down into the four exam domains, so you can quickly learn the fundamentals of the concepts, principles, and services. 100% beginner friendly.
  • AWS Skill Builder (AWS Certification, Subscription after 7 days free): I highly recommend you get the subscription (if you manage to study hard for 7 days and cancel before you pay, more power to you!) for AWS Skill Builder. They have courses, sample exams, games, and other resources to help you learn about AWS and prepare for exams.

Take notes, then publish!

It’s important to not be a passive consumer of video courses. You have to actively “participate” by taking notes, and if available, by doing the quizzes and knowledge checks.

Personally, I would recommend writing notes out by hand, though I know many of us are 100% digital in note taking these days. Do what works for you! If you have cool tools you recommend for studying/note taking, I’d love to hear about them!

The best way I learn is by taking input (courses), and creating an output (notes), and then publishing them to then share the knowledge with the world (learning in public). It’s my recommendation to you as well! I think when you are writing up your notes to share, you inevitably end up editing and rewriting for clarity, further cementing the knowledge in your brain.

If you don’t have a blog, you could start one at dev.to, or even just write up notes on LinkedIn. When you’ve published a blog post or two (or maybe a whole entire website?), feel free to tag me or send me the link so I can come by and take a look and maybe share with my own network of cloud enthusiasts! (You can find me on LinkedIn here: /in/hirokonishimura.)

Join study groups

It might be beneficial to have study groups where everyone tackles a section or domain, and then meets up (virtually or in person) to share notes, ask questions, and learn from each other. Study groups also help to create accountability, which is also beneficial to studying for an exam.

Looking for a peer group? Check out the AWS User Groups in your area (some are virtual!), and if you’re a student, you can check out AWS Student Hub/Cloud Clubs!

Don’t have a peer group, but have questions? You can ask questions at AWS re:Post, which is an AWS-run community forum, and AWS Collective on Stack Overflow.

Take practice exams

There are probably as many practice exams as there are online courses available for this exam. Not all practice exams are created equal. I would recommend that you focus on ones provided by Amazon Web Services, as they would be closest in question style to the official exam.

Again, there are some available from AWS Skill Builder, and I highly recommend you take them (a few times, even), and learn from the mistakes until you can get 100%.

If you are consistently blanking out on a topic or section of knowledge, it’s time to jump back into your notes and study guides to help you sort it out. If needs be, you can also google the topic(s) and find short YouTube videos or other people’s notes to help you with your comprehension.

Where can you find my AWS content?

Well, that’s it! This was a long post! Thanks for getting this far with me. I hope I’ve been able to provide some value to you and your cloud journey with all of my resources. I hope you’ll be able to tackle the exam with gusto!

If you’re looking for my AWS/AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam-related content, they can be found here:

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