AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
The entry point to AWS certification — foundational cloud literacy, core services, security, and billing. No IT background required.
Practice the real format
Do you think you are ready? Put your knowledge to the test with a free, timed practice exam that mirrors the Cloud Practitioner format — with instant scoring, per-domain breakdowns, and full answer explanations.
Start a practice exam →The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) validates an overall understanding of the AWS Cloud, independent of any specific job role. It is designed for people who are new to the cloud and may not have an IT background at all — including sales, marketing, product, project management, and finance roles — as well as technologists who want a structured grounding before moving to associate-level certifications. AWS suggests the target candidate has up to six months of exposure to AWS, though this is not a requirement.
Read the exam structure guide to understand exactly what's tested, or the benefits guide to see why this certification is worth pursuing. When you're ready, take a full practice exam.
Who Should Take This Certification?
Good fit for:
- Business analysts
- Project managers
- Sales and pre-sales professionals
- Finance and procurement professionals involved in cloud initiatives
- Non-technical managers and decision-makers
- IT professionals new to AWS
- Students and career changers exploring cloud computing
- Anyone seeking a foundational understanding of AWS Cloud
However, this certification is a foundational-level certification designed to provide a broad understanding of cloud computing concepts, AWS services, security, pricing, billing, and the AWS global infrastructure rather than hands-on technical implementation skills.
It helps learners build a strong baseline knowledge of cloud fundamentals, AWS value propositions, core AWS services, security and compliance concepts, and cloud economics. The certification is ideal for individuals who need to understand AWS from a business, operational, or introductory technical perspective.
While technical experience is not required, the certification serves as an excellent starting point for anyone beginning their cloud journey and looking to validate their understanding of AWS Cloud concepts.
Those seeking deeper technical expertise, cloud architecture skills, or specialized knowledge should consider progressing to role-based certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate, or AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate after completing this certification.
Your 4-week study plan
A four-week schedule that moves from cloud fundamentals through the core services, into the two heaviest-weighted domains, and finishes with full timed practice. Each week ends with a self-check — if you cannot answer those questions from memory, revisit the week before moving on.
Objectives
- Understand cloud computing concepts
- Learn the AWS global infrastructure
- Understand the shared responsibility model
- Become familiar with the AWS Well-Architected Framework
Topics
- Cloud computing fundamentals — IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS; the benefits of cloud computing; cloud deployment models
- AWS global infrastructure — Regions, Availability Zones, and edge locations
- AWS shared responsibility model — security of the cloud versus security in the cloud
- AWS Well-Architected Framework — Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, and Sustainability
Hands-on
- Create an AWS Free Tier account
- Explore the AWS Management Console
- Navigate the AWS Billing Dashboard
- Explore the AWS global infrastructure map
End-of-week check: you should be able to explain why organizations move to the cloud, the difference between a Region and an Availability Zone, and which responsibilities belong to AWS versus the customer.
Objectives
- Learn the most frequently tested AWS services
- Understand the common use case for each one
Topics
- Compute — Amazon EC2, EC2 Auto Scaling, Elastic Load Balancing, and AWS Lambda
- Storage — Amazon S3 and its storage classes, Amazon EBS, and Amazon EFS
- Databases — Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, and Amazon DynamoDB
- Networking — Amazon VPC basics, Amazon Route 53, and Amazon CloudFront
Hands-on
- Launch an EC2 instance
- Create an S3 bucket
- Explore the DynamoDB console
- Review core Route 53 concepts
End-of-week check: you should know when to use EC2 versus Lambda, how S3, EBS, and EFS differ, when RDS beats DynamoDB, and what Route 53 and CloudFront each do.
Objectives
- Master the highest-weighted exam domains
- Understand the AWS security model
Topics
- Security — IAM users and roles, MFA, AWS Organizations, AWS Shield, AWS WAF, AWS KMS, and AWS Secrets Manager
- Monitoring and management — Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, AWS Trusted Advisor, and AWS Config
- Pricing models — On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and Spot Instances
- Billing and support — AWS Support plans, AWS Cost Explorer, and AWS Budgets
Hands-on
- Create IAM users and roles
- Configure a CloudWatch alarm
- Explore Cost Explorer
- Review the AWS Trusted Advisor checks
End-of-week check: you should know how CloudWatch differs from CloudTrail, how an IAM user differs from an IAM role, which pricing model is cheapest for a given scenario, and what each Support plan includes.
Objectives
- Consolidate what you have learned
- Identify weak areas before exam day
- Practise your exam strategy under time pressure
Days 1–3 — review and condense
- Review all four domains: cloud concepts, core services, security, and billing and pricing
- Build a one-page cheat sheet covering core services and their purpose, the security services, the pricing models, and the global infrastructure concepts
Days 4–5 — first timed paper
- Sit Practice Exam 1 under full exam conditions
- Review every incorrect answer and read the explanation
- Go back to the weakest domain and revisit it
Day 6 — second timed paper
- Sit Practice Exam 2, targeting 80% or above
Day 7 — final revision
- Revisit service comparisons, security concepts, pricing models, and AWS best practices
- Do not start any new topics at this stage
Ready to book: when you score above 80% on two consecutive papers and your per-domain breakdown is even, book the exam with confidence.
Ready to test yourself?
Do you think you are ready? Put your knowledge to the test with a free, timed practice exam that mirrors the Cloud Practitioner format — with instant scoring, per-domain breakdowns, and full answer explanations.
Start a practice exam →