AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02) Practice Exam
Cover all four SAP-C02 domains — Organizational Complexity, New Solutions, Continuous Improvement, and Migration and Modernization — with objective-mapped, scenario-based practice questions, immediate feedback in Learn mode, and full timed simulation in Exam mode.
Start 24-hour free trial →SAP-C02 exam at a glance
- Vendor
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Exam code
- SAP-C02
- Certification
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
- Level
- Professional
- Blueprint
- SAP-C02 exam guide; in use since November 2022 (current edition; replaced SAP-C01)
- Format
- 75 questions (65 scored + 10 unscored); multiple-choice and multiple-response
- Duration
- 180 minutes (3 hours)
- Passing score
- 750 on a scaled range of 100–1000 (pass/fail, compensatory scoring)
- Delivery
- Pearson VUE test center or online proctored
- Prerequisites
- None required. AWS recommends the Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) and about 2 or more years of hands-on experience designing and deploying AWS architectures
- Cost (USD)
- $300 USD (50% discount voucher available after any prior AWS certification)
- Validity
- 3 years; recertify by passing the current version of the exam
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese (verify current list with AWS)
Source: AWS — SAP-C02 Exam Guide (domains & weightings). Verify current details with AWS before scheduling.
About the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02) is AWS’s professional-level architecture credential — and one of its hardest exams. Where the associate SAA-C03 asks you to pick the right service for a scenario, SAP-C02 asks you to design and evolve entire enterprise architectures: multi-account AWS Organizations, hybrid networking, disaster recovery, large-scale migration, and cost and operational trade-offs across the whole AWS Well-Architected Framework. Questions are long, scenario-driven, and frequently force a choice between several options that all technically work — the “best” answer depends on the constraints stated (cost, latency, compliance, RTO/RPO).
The exam has no formal prerequisites, but it is emphatically not an entry point: AWS recommends the Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) first plus around two years of hands-on architecture experience. Its heaviest area is Design for New Solutions (29%). Note one structural change from SAP-C01: Cost Optimization is no longer a standalone domain — cost questions are now woven through the three largest domains, reflecting how the Well-Architected Framework treats cost as integral to every design.
Every PowerKram practice question maps to one of the four current SAP-C02 domains and links to the specific AWS documentation page it was derived from, so your weak spots become a focused reading list rather than a guess.
SAP-C02 exam domains and weights
Four domains, with Design for New Solutions the single heaviest area. The weightings are AWS’s own; because scoring is compensatory, you pass on the overall scaled score rather than needing a minimum in each domain. Plan your study time roughly in proportion to these weights.
Architecting new workloads end to end: deployment strategy, business continuity, security controls, reliability, and performance objectives — designing across all pillars of the Well-Architected Framework from a set of business requirements.
Multi-account AWS environments, network connectivity strategies across accounts and on-premises, cross-account security controls, and cost-visibility strategies for large organizations (AWS Organizations, SCPs, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect).
Improving operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, and cost of workloads already running on AWS — observability, remediation, and refactoring decisions for production systems.
Selecting migration strategies (the 6 Rs), planning and executing migrations (AWS DMS, Elastic Disaster Recovery), and modernizing legacy workloads toward managed and serverless services.
Source: AWS SAP-C02 Exam Guide — content domains and weightings. Weightings indicate relative exam emphasis; some sections carry more questions than others.
Who SAP-C02 is for
AWS positions Solutions Architect – Professional for experienced architects who own enterprise-scale AWS design decisions. The audience is senior:
- Solutions architects and cloud architects designing multi-account, multi-region systems and wanting to validate advanced, Well-Architected design judgment.
- Senior and lead engineers responsible for hybrid networking, disaster recovery, and large-scale migration decisions.
- Technical leads and principal engineers who evaluate architectural trade-offs (cost vs. latency vs. compliance vs. RTO/RPO) for mission-critical workloads.
- SAA-C03 holders stepping up from associate-level service selection to professional-level system design.
There are no formal prerequisites, but this is not a first certification. AWS recommends passing the Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) first and having roughly two years of hands-on architecture experience. Architects who own delivery pipelines often pair this with the DevOps Engineer – Professional (DOP-C02). For the roles this credential supports — with skills, tools, and salary ranges — see the Solution Architect career path and where AWS architecture skills lead.
What this SAP-C02 practice exam delivers
Learn mode
Get the correct answer, the explanation, and a direct link to the exact AWS documentation page each question was derived from — immediately after each question. Best for the long organizational-complexity and migration scenarios, where the trade-off reasoning is the whole point.
Exam mode
75 questions, 180-minute timer — the real SAP-C02 format. Build the pacing and stamina a three-hour professional exam demands, with the long multi-constraint scenarios you will actually face.
Source-linked explanations
Every answer cites the exact AWS page (docs.aws.amazon.com) or Well-Architected whitepaper the question was built from — so you can verify the design reasoning and dig deeper, not just memorize.
Score by SAP-C02 domain
Results break down by the four blueprint domains — Organizational Complexity, New Solutions, Continuous Improvement, and Migration and Modernization — so practice tells you exactly which area to revisit.
Sample SAP-C02 practice questions
Ten free questions across the four current SAP-C02 domains, with full explanations and source links to the AWS pages each is derived from. The complete bank is available with the 24-hour trial.
A large enterprise needs to centrally govern dozens of AWS accounts, applying preventative guardrails that stop member accounts from disabling logging or leaving approved regions. Which approach fits best?
- AWS Organizations with service control policies (SCPs)
- An IAM group replicated into every account by hand
- A single shared root user across all accounts
- Per-account CloudWatch alarms only
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — AWS Organizations with SCPs. SCPs set the maximum available permissions across accounts in an organization, providing preventative guardrails (for example, denying the ability to disable CloudTrail or operate outside approved regions) that member-account admins cannot override — the central-governance need described.
Why not the others: a hand-replicated IAM group (B) is unmanageable and not preventative at the org level; a shared root user (C) is a severe security anti-pattern; per-account alarms (D) are detective, not preventative guardrails.
Source: AWS — What is AWS Organizations? → Further reading: PowerKram — multi-account governance →A company must connect a dozen VPCs across several accounts and its on-premises data center with scalable, centrally managed routing, avoiding a mesh of individual VPC peering connections. Which service is the best fit?
- A separate VPC peering connection between every pair of VPCs
- AWS Transit Gateway
- An internet gateway in each VPC
- A NAT gateway per subnet
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — AWS Transit Gateway. Transit Gateway acts as a cloud router hub, connecting many VPCs and on-premises networks through a single, centrally managed gateway — eliminating the O(n^2) mesh of peering connections the question warns against.
Why not the others: full-mesh peering (A) is exactly the unscalable pattern to avoid; internet gateways (C) provide public internet access, not private inter-VPC routing; NAT gateways (D) enable outbound internet from private subnets, not VPC-to-VPC connectivity.
Source: AWS — What is a Transit Gateway? →A hybrid workload needs a private, dedicated, consistent-latency network connection between an on-premises data center and AWS, rather than traffic over the public internet. Which service provides this?
- A site-to-site VPN over the public internet only
- Amazon CloudFront
- AWS Direct Connect
- An S3 Transfer Acceleration endpoint
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — AWS Direct Connect. Direct Connect provides a dedicated, private physical network connection between on-premises and AWS, delivering more consistent latency and bandwidth than internet-based links — the described requirement.
Why not the others: a public-internet VPN (A) is subject to internet variability (though often paired with Direct Connect for encryption/backup); CloudFront (B) is a CDN; S3 Transfer Acceleration (D) speeds S3 uploads over the internet, not general hybrid connectivity.
Source: AWS — What is AWS Direct Connect? → Further reading: PowerKram — hybrid networking patterns →An architect is designing a new workload against the AWS Well-Architected Framework and must justify decisions across a consistent set of pillars. Which set correctly names those pillars?
- Speed, Cost, Marketing, Branding, Sales
- Compute, Storage, Networking, Database, Analytics
- Frontend, Backend, Mobile, Desktop, Edge
- Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, and Sustainability
Show answer & explanation
Correct: D — the six Well-Architected pillars. The framework’s pillars are Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, and Sustainability. SAP-C02 expects you to reason about new designs through these pillars and their trade-offs.
Why not the others: (A) is marketing vocabulary; (B) lists AWS service categories, not design pillars; (C) lists application tiers, not the framework’s pillars.
Source: AWS — Well-Architected Framework → Further reading: PowerKram — the Well-Architected Framework →A new mission-critical application must survive the loss of an entire Availability Zone with no data loss and near-zero downtime. Which design principle should the architect apply?
- Deploy everything to a single AZ to reduce cost
- Rely on manual restore from monthly backups
- Run the workload on a single large instance with no redundancy
- Use a Multi-AZ, highly available architecture with automatic failover
Show answer & explanation
Correct: D — Multi-AZ with automatic failover. Distributing across multiple Availability Zones with automatic failover (for example, Multi-AZ databases and load-balanced, auto-scaled compute) is the reliability-pillar pattern for surviving an AZ failure with minimal downtime and no data loss.
Why not the others: single-AZ (A) and a single instance with no redundancy (C) both fail entirely if the AZ is lost; monthly backup restore (B) implies large data loss and long downtime, violating the stated objectives.
Source: AWS — Well-Architected Reliability Pillar →A workload requires a disaster-recovery strategy with the lowest possible recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTO/RPO near zero), and budget is available. Which DR strategy best meets this?
- Backup and restore
- Pilot light
- Multi-site active/active
- No DR plan; rebuild manually if needed
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — multi-site active/active. Of the four AWS DR strategies (backup and restore, pilot light, warm standby, multi-site active/active), multi-site active/active runs full production in more than one region simultaneously, delivering the lowest RTO/RPO — matching the near-zero objectives with budget available.
Why not the others: backup and restore (A) has the highest RTO/RPO; pilot light (B) is lower cost but slower to recover than active/active; no plan (D) fails the objective entirely.
Source: AWS — Disaster recovery options in the cloud →An existing multi-account environment needs a centralized, auditable way to detect configuration drift and continuously evaluate resources against compliance rules. Which AWS service supports this?
- Amazon QuickSight
- AWS Config with aggregators and conformance packs
- Amazon Polly
- AWS Ground Station
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — AWS Config. AWS Config records resource configurations, evaluates them against rules, and (via aggregators and conformance packs) provides centralized, auditable compliance and drift detection across multiple accounts — the continuous-improvement need described.
Why not the others: QuickSight (A) is business-intelligence dashboards; Polly (C) is text-to-speech; Ground Station (D) is satellite communications. None evaluates resource compliance.
Source: AWS — governance with AWS Control Tower → Further reading: PowerKram — governance and compliance on AWS →A service needs to expose an internal application to specific consumer VPCs privately, without the traffic traversing the public internet or requiring VPC peering. Which approach fits best?
- AWS PrivateLink with a VPC endpoint service
- A public Application Load Balancer open to the internet
- An internet gateway shared across VPCs
- A public S3 bucket for the payloads
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — AWS PrivateLink with a VPC endpoint service. PrivateLink exposes a service privately to specific consumer VPCs through interface endpoints, keeping traffic on the AWS network without peering or internet exposure — the private-connectivity requirement described.
Why not the others: a public ALB (B) exposes the service to the internet; a shared internet gateway (C) is public egress, not private service access; a public S3 bucket (D) is a data store and a security risk, not a private service link.
Source: AWS — What is AWS PrivateLink? →A company must migrate several large on-premises relational databases to AWS with minimal downtime, keeping source and target in sync until cutover. Which AWS service is purpose-built for this?
- Amazon CloudWatch
- AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication
- Amazon Route 53
- AWS Cost Explorer
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — AWS DMS with ongoing replication. Database Migration Service migrates databases to AWS and supports continuous data replication (change data capture) so the source stays in sync with the target until a low-downtime cutover — exactly the described migration need.
Why not the others: CloudWatch (A) is monitoring; Route 53 (C) is DNS; Cost Explorer (D) analyzes spend. None performs database migration with ongoing replication.
Source: AWS — What is AWS DMS? → Further reading: PowerKram — migration strategies (the 6 Rs) →During migration planning, a team categorizes each application by strategy: rehost, replatform, repurchase, refactor, retire, or retain. What is this framework commonly called?
- The CAP theorem
- The shared responsibility model
- The 6 Rs of migration
- The CIA triad
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — the 6 Rs of migration. AWS’s migration strategies are commonly summarized as the 6 Rs: rehost, replatform, repurchase, refactor/re-architect, retire, and retain. SAP-C02 expects you to pick the right R for a given application and constraint set.
Why not the others: the CAP theorem (A) is about distributed-system trade-offs; the shared responsibility model (B) divides security duties between AWS and customer; the CIA triad (D) is confidentiality/integrity/availability — none is the migration-strategy framework.
Source: AWS — migration strategies (the 6 Rs) →Keep going: Learning & Career resources
SAP-C02 sits at the top of the AWS architect track. Both PowerKram hubs back this exam — deeper study material and the roles it unlocks.
Deep dive: SAP-C02 format, scoring, study path, and how it differs from SAA-C03
Exam format and scoring
SAP-C02 delivers 75 questions in 180 minutes. Only 65 are scored; the other 10 are unscored pretest items AWS uses to trial future questions, and they are not identified during the exam. Question formats are multiple choice (one correct answer) and multiple response (two or more correct answers). Scoring is scaled from 100 to 1000 with a passing mark of 750 — higher than the associate exams’ 720 — and it is compensatory, so you pass on the overall score. At roughly 2.4 minutes per question with long scenarios, pacing is a real constraint. Read the certification study guide →
How SAP-C02 differs from Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03)
SAA-C03 largely asks “which service fits this scenario.” SAP-C02 assumes you already know the services and instead tests system-level design: multi-account governance, hybrid networking, DR strategy selection, and migration/modernization decisions where several options all work and the best answer depends on stated constraints. Expect long scenarios and heavy coverage of AWS Organizations, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, and the Well-Architected trade-offs. The failure rate is markedly higher than at associate level, so treat it as a step change in difficulty, not just more content. Compare with SAA-C03 →
Realistic study path
Most candidates need eight to twelve weeks even with associate-level experience. The highest-return preparation is reasoning practice, not memorization: work long scenario questions, and for each one identify the binding constraint (cost, latency, compliance, RTO/RPO) before comparing options. Lab the services that dominate the exam — AWS Organizations and SCPs, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, DR patterns, and DMS-based migration — and read the Well-Architected Framework whitepapers for the reasoning patterns AWS rewards. Read the professional-exam study plan →
Cost, scheduling, and retake policy
The exam costs $300 USD (regional pricing varies) and is delivered at a Pearson VUE test center or online with a proctor. If you do not pass, AWS requires a 14-day wait before you retake, with no annual cap on attempts, and each attempt needs a new registration and fee. If you already hold any AWS certification, a 50% discount voucher is available in your AWS Certification account. AWS’s official SAP-C02 exam guide →
Recertification
AWS certifications are valid for three years. You recertify by passing the current version of this exam before it expires. Earning SAP-C02 also extends any lower-level AWS certifications you hold at the time. Architects who own delivery pipelines often pair it with the DevOps Engineer – Professional. See the DevOps Engineer Professional pairing →
Career outlook for SAP-C02
Solutions Architect – Professional is one of the most respected AWS credentials and a strong signal for senior architecture roles: solutions architect, cloud architect, and principal engineer positions that own enterprise-scale design. It carries meaningful weight in compensation and separates professional-level architects from associate holders. Career Hub — Solution Architect →
AWS Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02) exam FAQ
What are the SAP-C02 exam domains and weights?
What is the SAP-C02 passing score?
How many questions is SAP-C02 and how long is it?
Does SAP-C02 have prerequisites?
How much does SAP-C02 cost and how long is it valid?
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