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Associate · SOA-C03Prep available

AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03) practice exam and study path

A free, timed 65-question SOA-C03 practice exam — 130 minutes, the same length as the real exam, scored by domain, with every option explained after you submit. Also 65 practice questions you can check one at a time, a page for every task in the exam guide, and a study path. No sign-up.

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CloudOps Engineer - Associate exam pack:

$29once

For people who run workloads on AWS: monitoring and remediation, reliability and recovery, automated deployment, security controls and networking.

The exam

Exam code
SOA-C03
Questions
65 questions (50 scored)
Time
130 minutes
Passing score
720 of 1,000 (scaled)
Exam fee
$150 (USD)
Question types
multiple choice, multiple response

This certification was called SysOps Administrator - Associate until SOA-C03.

From AWS's certification page and exam guide, checked Oct 9, 2026. The exam is scored as a whole (compensatory): there is no pass mark per domain.

Domains and weights

  • Domain 1: Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization

    22%

  • Domain 2: Reliability and Business Continuity

    22%

  • Domain 3: Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation

    22%

  • Domain 4: Security and Compliance

    16%

  • Domain 5: Networking and Content Delivery

    18%

On our roadmap this comes after Solutions Architect - Associate. See the whole roadmap.

Practice

65 original practice questions, every option explained with the AWS documentation page that proves it. Free, no sign-up; progress stays on this device.

Your results on this device →

More practice exams

The lessons, the sample questions on every task page and the first full practice exam are free and stay free. A pack adds the further timed SOA-C03 practice exams.

CloudOps Engineer - Associate exam pack

$29once

  • Every paid SOA-C03 practice exam, timed, with every option explained
  • The next version of this exam included when it changes
  • Lifetime access — one payment, no subscription
  • 14-day refund, no conditions
  • 14-day refund, no conditions: ask within 14 days of buying and you get the whole payment back.
  • No pass guarantee. These are practice exams written by us from the exam guide and the AWS documentation; a score here does not predict your result on the real exam.

Study path

One module per exam domain. Lessons that already exist on BytePatterns are linked; the rest are being written.

  1. Module 1: Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization

    1. 1CloudWatch metrics, alarms, composite alarms and cross-account dashboardsTask 1.1

      Partly covered by: CloudWatch, Alarms & X-Ray, Observability Basics

    2. 2The CloudWatch agent on EC2, ECS and EKS; logs, metric filters and Logs InsightsTask 1.1

      Partly covered by: CloudWatch, Alarms & X-Ray

    3. 3CloudTrail and Amazon Managed Service for PrometheusTask 1.1

      Lesson coming

    4. 4Notifications and event routing: SNS topics and EventBridge rulesTask 1.1, 1.2

      Partly covered by: SQS vs SNS vs EventBridge

    5. 5Finding the cause: metrics, traces and logs togetherTask 1.2

      Partly covered by: CloudWatch, Alarms & X-Ray, Tracing a Request

    6. 6Automated remediation: Systems Manager Automation runbooks and LambdaTask 1.2

      Lesson coming

    7. 7Compute performance: right-sizing, Compute Optimizer and placement groupsTask 1.3

      Partly covered by: AWS Cost Levers

    8. 8Storage performance: EBS volume types and metrics, S3 transfers, EFS and FSxTask 1.3

      Partly covered by: S3: Consistency, Classes, Lifecycle

    9. 9Database performance: CloudWatch Database Insights (formerly Performance Insights) and RDS ProxyTask 1.3

      Lesson coming

  2. Module 2: Reliability and Business Continuity

    1. 10Scaling compute: Auto Scaling policies, warm-up, scheduled and predictive scalingTask 2.1

      Partly covered by: EC2, Auto Scaling & Load Balancers, Vertical vs Horizontal Scaling

    2. 11Caching for scale: CloudFront and ElastiCacheTask 2.1

      Partly covered by: CloudFront & Caching Layers, Caching

    3. 12Scaling databases: read replicas, Aurora Serverless v2 and DynamoDB capacityTask 2.1

      Partly covered by: RDS vs DynamoDB, Database Replication

    4. 13Health checks: load balancer target groups and Route 53Task 2.2

      Partly covered by: EC2, Auto Scaling & Load Balancers, Load Balancing

    5. 14Fault tolerance: Multi-AZ deployments and failoverTask 2.2

      Partly covered by: RDS vs DynamoDB, Database Replication

    6. 15Backups: AWS Backup plans, snapshots and cross-Region copiesTask 2.3

      Lesson coming

    7. 16Restoring databases: point-in-time restore against RPO, RTO and costTask 2.3

      Lesson coming

    8. 17Versioning in S3 and FSxTask 2.3

      Lesson coming

    9. 18Disaster recovery: backup and restore, pilot light, warm standby, active/activeTask 2.3

      Partly covered by: Disaster Recovery: RPO & RTO

  3. Module 3: Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation

    1. 19Images: AMIs, EC2 Image Builder and container images in Amazon ECRTask 3.1

      Partly covered by: Images, Layers & Multi-Stage Builds

    2. 20CloudFormation and the CDK: stacks, change sets, drift and failed deploymentsTask 3.1

      Lesson coming

    3. 21Across accounts and Regions: StackSets and AWS RAMTask 3.1

      Lesson coming

    4. 22Deployment strategies: rolling, blue/green and canaryTask 3.1

      Partly covered by: Scheduling & Rolling Updates

    5. 23Third-party tools: Terraform and GitTask 3.1

      Lesson coming

    6. 24Systems Manager: Run Command, Patch Manager, State Manager and Session ManagerTask 3.2

      Lesson coming

    7. 25Event-driven automation: EventBridge, S3 Event Notifications and LambdaTask 3.2

      Partly covered by: Lambda & Event-Driven Design, SQS vs SNS vs EventBridge

  4. Module 4: Security and Compliance

    1. 26IAM in practice: policies, roles, MFA, conditions and federationTask 4.1

      Partly covered by: Shared Responsibility & IAM

    2. 27Troubleshooting access: CloudTrail, IAM Access Analyzer and the policy simulatorTask 4.1

      Partly covered by: Shared Responsibility & IAM

    3. 28Many accounts: Organizations, SCPs, Control Tower and IAM Identity CenterTask 4.1

      Partly covered by: Organizations, SCPs & Control Tower

    4. 29Compliance checks: Trusted Advisor, AWS Config rules and conformance packsTask 4.1

      Lesson coming

    5. 30Encryption at rest with KMS keysTask 4.2

      Partly covered by: KMS, Envelope Encryption & Private CA

    6. 31Encryption in transit with ACM certificatesTask 4.2

      Lesson coming

    7. 32Secrets: Secrets Manager and Parameter StoreTask 4.2

      Lesson coming

    8. 33Findings and classification: Security Hub, GuardDuty, Inspector and MacieTask 4.2

      Lesson coming

  5. Module 5: Networking and Content Delivery

    1. 34VPC building blocks: subnets, route tables, network ACLs, security groups and gatewaysTask 5.1

      Partly covered by: VPC: Subnets, NAT & Firewalls

    2. 35Private connectivity: VPC endpoints, PrivateLink, peering, Transit Gateway and VPNTask 5.1

      Partly covered by: VPC: Subnets, NAT & Firewalls

    3. 36Network protection: AWS WAF, Shield, Network Firewall and DNS FirewallTask 5.1

      Lesson coming

    4. 37Network cost: NAT gateways, endpoints and data transfer pathsTask 5.1

      Partly covered by: AWS Cost Levers, VPC: Subnets, NAT & Firewalls

    5. 38Route 53: routing policies, Resolver and query loggingTask 5.2

      Lesson coming

    6. 39Content delivery: CloudFront and Global AcceleratorTask 5.2

      Partly covered by: CloudFront & Caching Layers, Content Delivery Networks

    7. 40Troubleshooting a VPC: Reachability Analyzer, route tables and security rulesTask 5.3

      Partly covered by: VPC: Subnets, NAT & Firewalls

    8. 41Reading network logs: flow logs, ELB, AWS WAF and CloudFront logsTask 5.3

      Lesson coming

    9. 42CloudFront caching issuesTask 5.3

      Partly covered by: CloudFront & Caching Layers

    10. 43Hybrid and private connectivity issues; CloudWatch network monitoringTask 5.3

      Lesson coming

Every task in the exam guide

The exam guide splits each domain into task statements. Each one has a page with a short summary, the lessons that teach it and open sample questions.

Domain 1: Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization

Domain 2: Reliability and Business Continuity

Domain 3: Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation

Domain 4: Security and Compliance

Domain 5: Networking and Content Delivery

How these questions are made

  • Written by us from the exam guide's task statements and the AWS documentation — never from real exam content.
  • Every option carries its own explanation and a link to the AWS page that proves it.
  • A question enters a timed exam only after an independent check; until then it is a practice question.
  • Results are a plain percentage, per domain too — not an imitation of AWS's scaled score.

Questions about the SOA-C03 practice exam

Is the SOA-C03 practice exam free?
Yes. The full practice exam (65 questions, 130 minutes) is free with no sign-up, and so are the 65 practice questions, the task pages and the study path. Your attempts are saved in this browser, on this device.
How many questions does it have, and is it timed?
65 questions in 130 minutes: the same number of questions and the same time as the real SOA-C03 exam. When the time runs out, the exam is submitted as it stands, and unanswered questions count as wrong.
Are the answers explained?
After you submit, not during: like the real exam, the timed exam gives no feedback until the end. Then you get your score overall and per exam domain, and every question with each option explained and a link to the AWS documentation page behind it. In practice mode an answer is explained as soon as you check it.
What does the CloudOps Engineer - Associate exam pack add?
3 more timed practice exams (Practice exam 1: 65 questions, 130 minutes; Practice exam 2: 65 questions, 130 minutes; Practice exam 3: 65 questions, 130 minutes), each scored and explained the same way, and the next version of this exam when it changes. One payment, lifetime access, no subscription. Everything above stays free. See the pack.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, with no conditions: ask within 14 days of buying and you get the whole payment back. The details are in the terms.
Is this an official AWS practice exam?
No. BytePatterns is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Amazon Web Services. Every question is written by us from the public exam guide and the AWS documentation, never from real exam content, and a score here does not predict your result on the real exam. AWS lists its own preparation resources on its certification page.