How Many Questions Are on the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) Exam?
There are 65 questions, but only 50 count. Here’s what the 15 unscored ones are, what types of questions to expect, and how they’re weighted by domain.
The AWS SAA-C03 exam has 65 questions. Of those, 50 are scored and 15 are unscored trial questions AWS uses to test future content. You can’t tell which are which, so you should treat every question as if it counts.
Sixty-five is the number on the exam guide, and it’s the same number for the other associate exams like Developer and Data Engineer.
The unscored questions
AWS includes 15 questions that don’t affect your result. They’re evaluation items, being tested to see how candidates perform before AWS decides whether to add them to the live exam. It’s a normal practice in certification testing.
You can’t pick them out. They look exactly like the scored ones. Some people try to guess which questions are experimental and skip effort on them, which is a mistake, because if you guess wrong, you lose real points.
One practical benefit: if you hit a question that seems bizarre, off-topic, or about a service you’ve never heard of, don’t panic. It might be an unscored item. Make your best guess and move on.
How the questions break down by domain
The 50 scored questions follow the domain weights in the exam guide.
| Domain | Weight | Approx. scored questions |
|---|---|---|
| Design Secure Architectures | 30% | about 15 |
| Design Resilient Architectures | 26% | about 13 |
| Design High-Performing Architectures | 24% | about 12 |
| Design Cost-Optimized Architectures | 20% | about 10 |
Those counts are estimates based on the percentages, not numbers AWS publishes per exam. But they show you where the points are.
Types of questions
SAA-C03 mainly uses two formats:
- Multiple choice: one correct answer out of four options
- Multiple response: two or more correct answers out of five or more options. The question tells you how many to choose.
AWS has been adding newer question formats, such as ordering and matching, across some of its exams. Check the current exam guide before you test to see what’s included. We cover each format in our question types guide.
Multiple response questions catch people because there’s no partial credit. If the question asks for two answers and you get one right, you receive no points. Read the instruction line carefully.
What the questions look like
Most are short scenarios, two to five sentences, describing a company’s needs and constraints. Then comes a question like “Which solution will meet these requirements most cost-effectively?” You choose the best answer from the options.
A few are direct knowledge questions, but they’re the minority. The test mostly rewards the ability to weigh trade-offs.
How this compares with other exams
| Exam | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) | 65 | 90 minutes |
| Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) | 65 | 130 minutes |
| Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) | 65 | 130 minutes |
| Professional-level exams | 75 | 180 minutes |
The question count is the same across many exams, but the length and depth are not. SAA-C03’s questions are longer and more complex, which is why it has 40 more minutes than CLF-C02.
Pacing with 65 questions
With 130 minutes, you have about two minutes per question. A good plan is to aim for 90 minutes on the first pass and leave 30 to 40 minutes for flagged questions. If a question is taking more than about two and a half minutes, flag it and move on. See the SAA-C03 time limit for a fuller pacing plan.
Does the number ever change?
AWS can update exam formats when it releases a new version. The count has been stable at 65 for current associate exams, but always check the official exam guide before you book, since it’s the source of truth.
If you want to see how services get compared in those scenarios, read the service comparisons that decide SAA-C03 questions.
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