What Is AWS SAA-C03?
SAA-C03 is the exam code for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. Here’s what it covers, who takes it, and what the exam is really like.
AWS SAA-C03 is the exam code for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification. It validates your ability to design secure, resilient, high-performing, and cost-optimized architectures on AWS. The exam is 130 minutes with 65 questions, costs $150, and requires a scaled score of 720 out of 1,000.
“SAA” stands for Solutions Architect Associate, “C” marks it as a certification exam, and “03” is the version. This exam replaced SAA-C02 in August 2022.
What the certification means
Passing SAA-C03 tells employers you can look at a business requirement and recommend an AWS design that fits. It’s one of AWS’s most recognized credentials, and it’s often the target for people moving into cloud engineering, support, or architecture.
AWS recommends at least one year of hands-on experience designing solutions on AWS. It’s not mandatory, but it makes a difference.
Exam details
| Detail | SAA-C03 |
|---|---|
| Level | Associate |
| Questions | 65 (50 scored, 15 unscored) |
| Time | 130 minutes |
| Passing score | 720 out of 1,000 (scaled) |
| Cost | $150 USD |
| Format | Multiple choice and multiple response |
| Delivery | Testing center or online proctored |
| Validity | 3 years |
The four domains
Design Secure Architectures (30%). IAM, encryption, network security, data protection, and securing access to resources. The heaviest domain.
Design Resilient Architectures (26%). High availability, fault tolerance, multi-AZ and multi-Region designs, decoupling with queues and events, and disaster recovery strategies.
Design High-Performing Architectures (24%). Choosing the right compute, storage, database, and networking options for performance needs, including caching and scaling.
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%). Picking cost-effective storage classes, compute purchasing options, and architectures that don’t overspend.
Services that show up often
You’ll want solid knowledge of:
- Compute: EC2, Auto Scaling, Lambda, ECS and EKS, Fargate
- Storage: S3 and its storage classes, EBS, EFS, FSx
- Databases: RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Redshift
- Networking: VPC, subnets, route tables, NAT, endpoints, Route 53, CloudFront, load balancers
- Security: IAM, KMS, Secrets Manager, WAF, Shield, GuardDuty
- Integration: SQS, SNS, EventBridge, Step Functions
- Management: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Organizations, Config
Our service comparisons post goes through the comparisons that matter most.
What the questions feel like
They’re scenarios. A company has a workload and constraints, and you choose the best design. Often more than one option would work. The correct one fits the stated priority best, whether that’s cost, availability, security, or minimal management effort.
Who it’s for
- Aspiring cloud engineers and architects
- Developers and sysadmins moving toward architecture
- Support and operations staff who want to deepen their skills
- IT professionals who want a recognized AWS credential
If you’re brand new to cloud, Cloud Practitioner is an easier first step, though it’s not required. See which AWS certification to take first.
How it compares
| Exam | Focus |
|---|---|
| Cloud Practitioner | Broad basics |
| Solutions Architect Associate | Designing architectures |
| Developer Associate | Building and deploying applications |
| Data Engineer Associate | Data pipelines and storage |
What passing gets you
A digital badge, a certificate, a three-year validity window, and a 50% voucher for your next exam. It can also lead naturally to the professional-level Solutions Architect exam.
Start with the SAA-C03 preparation guide if you plan to take it.
A few more questions people ask
Is SAA-C03 the latest Solutions Architect Associate exam?
As of this writing, yes. AWS refreshes associate exams every few years, so check the AWS certification page for the current code when you book.
Do I need to know how to code for SAA-C03?
No. You won’t write code on the exam. You need to understand architecture and services, though some scripting familiarity helps when you practice.
What’s the next step after SAA-C03?
Many people go to the Solutions Architect Professional exam, or pick a path that matches their role, such as Developer, DevOps, or a specialty.
Practice for the SAA-C03 with full-length exams
Six full-length SAA-C03 practice exams, 390 questions in all, built around the real exam blueprint. Run them timed to rehearse your pacing, or drill one domain at a time when you know where you are weak. You see how you did by domain after every attempt, so you know what to study next.
- 6 full-length exams, 65 questions each
- Timed exam mode and practice by domain
- Explanations to learn from your misses
- Results broken down by exam domain