CLF-C02
CLF-C02 AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Guide
What the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam covers, its four weighted domains, who it suits, and how to prepare, with the official guide.
By Code Nexus team · 5 min read · Published · Updated · Reviewed by Code Nexus team
At a glance
- Exam code
- CLF-C02
- Level
- Foundational
- Questions
- 65 (50 scored, 15 unscored)
- Time allowed
- Check the official page
- Passing score
- 700 on a scaled score of 100 to 1,000
- Price
- Check the official page
- Valid for
- Check the official page
- Prerequisites
- None stated; up to 6 months of exposure to the AWS Cloud is the target
- Languages
- Check the official page
Last checked 2026-09-25. Prices and exam details change, so confirm them on the official page before you book.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) assesses foundational understanding of AWS: cloud concepts, services, security and billing. It can help you organise that knowledge before deeper technical work. This guide explains what the exam tests and how to prepare, using the official AWS exam guide.
What is the CLF-C02 certification?
AWS describes the exam as intended for individuals who can effectively demonstrate overall knowledge of the AWS Cloud, independent of a specific job role. It also validates that you can:
- explain the value of the AWS Cloud,
- understand and explain the AWS shared responsibility model,
- understand the AWS Well-Architected Framework and security best practices,
- understand AWS Cloud costs, economics and billing practices,
- describe and position the core AWS services, including compute, network, database and storage, and
- identify AWS services for common use cases.
The target candidate has up to six months of exposure to AWS Cloud design, implementation or operations. They may be early in an AWS career, or work alongside people in cloud roles.
What the exam looks like
- 65 questions in total: 50 are scored and 15 are unscored. AWS does not identify which are which.
- Question types: multiple choice (one right answer) and multiple response (two or more right answers out of five or more options).
- Passing score: 700 on a scaled score of 100 to 1,000.
- Compensatory scoring: you must pass the exam as a whole, not each section.
- No guessing penalty: unanswered questions count as wrong.
- Time and price: the exam guide does not state them, so check when you book.
AWS is explicit about what is out of scope: coding, designing cloud architecture, troubleshooting, implementation, and load and performance testing. This is a knowledge exam, not a build exam.
What CLF-C02 teaches
The exam has four content domains.
| Domain | What it covers | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cloud Concepts | The value of the cloud, the Well-Architected Framework, migration and adoption, cloud economics | 24% |
| 2. Security and Compliance | The shared responsibility model, security, governance and compliance, identity and access management, security services | 30% |
| 3. Cloud Technology and Services | Deployment and operation methods, global infrastructure, and compute, database, network, storage, AI/ML, analytics and other services | 34% |
| 4. Billing, Pricing, and Support | Pricing models, billing and cost tools, support plans and resources | 12% |
The third domain is the biggest, and it is a broad tour of the AWS catalogue. The second is heavy too, which is why understanding shared responsibility and identity and access management pays off.
Where candidates struggle
- Service names. AWS has many services, and the exam asks you to match a need to the right one.
- Shared responsibility. What AWS secures and what you secure, and how that shifts by service type.
- Pricing. The difference between purchasing options and which cost tool answers which question.
- Support plans. What each tier includes.
Who CLF-C02 is for
- Complete beginners to cloud computing.
- Non-technical staff in sales, finance, management or procurement who work with AWS products.
- Technical learners who want a structured overview before an associate-level exam.
- Learners on the road to AI engineering, since AI workloads on AWS build on these fundamentals.
The benefits
- It teaches the whole platform at a high level, which helps you choose the right service later.
- It builds the vocabulary for every conversation with cloud teams.
- It covers cost and billing, which technical courses often skip and which matters a great deal in practice.
- It prepares you for more advanced AWS exams, including the AI-focused AIF-C01.
Is there demand for the skill?
The Linux Foundation's 2022 Open Source Jobs Report found that 69% of employers were seeking hires with cloud and container skills, and 93% reported difficulty finding sufficient talent with open source skills. Those figures are from 2022 and describe cloud skills broadly, not AWS specifically or this certificate.
We have not found reliable evidence that employers require CLF-C02 by name. It shows you have learned the fundamentals, and it is best treated as a first step, not the destination.
How Code Nexus prepares you for CLF-C02
Four episodes cover the exam. They follow the fictional company after it acquires a startup whose whole stack runs on AWS.
- Episode 29, Meet SignalNest introduces the acquired startup and the value of the cloud.
- Episode 30, The Other Cloud Console covers core services: compute, storage, databases and networking.
- Episode 31, An IAM Policy Walks into a Bucket covers identity, access and security.
- Episode 32, Two Clouds, One Budget covers purchase models, budgets and support, and is the readiness check.
The episodes use a simulated cloud console that teaches the ideas and names the real AWS services and tools the exam uses. It is not a live AWS account, so pair it with AWS's free tier to see the real console. Find these episodes in the curriculum.
Code Nexus prepares you for the exam. AWS delivers it and issues the certification.
A study plan
- Read the four domains in the official exam guide and its list of in-scope services.
- Learn the shared responsibility model until you can explain it for a virtual machine and for a managed database.
- Build a service map: for each category (compute, storage, database, network), list the main services and one sentence on what each is for.
- Study pricing by comparing purchasing options side by side.
- Do timed practice of 65 questions, and review every miss.
What to do next
If you have already taken AZ-900, you will find much of this familiar. From here the roadmap moves to AI: AI-901 on Azure and AIF-C01 on AWS. For the bigger picture see the certification roadmap, and for why practice matters more than reading, see learning by doing.
Ready to start? Create a free account and open Episode 29.
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Frequently asked questions
- How many questions are on the CLF-C02 exam?
- AWS states that 50 questions affect your score and that 15 additional unscored questions are included, so the exam has 65 questions in total. The unscored questions are not identified.
- What score do I need to pass?
- AWS reports results as a scaled score of 100 to 1,000, and the minimum passing score is 700. The exam uses compensatory scoring, so you need to pass the exam overall, not each section.
- Do I need coding skills?
- No. AWS lists coding, designing cloud architecture, troubleshooting, implementation and load and performance testing as job tasks that are out of scope for the target candidate.
- Is there a penalty for guessing?
- No. AWS states that unanswered questions are scored as incorrect and that there is no penalty for guessing, so answer every question.
- Should I take Cloud Practitioner or Azure Fundamentals first?
- Pick the cloud your target employers use. The concepts overlap heavily, so learning one makes the other much quicker. On the roadmap we cover both because seeing two providers' versions of the same idea is a fast way to understand it.
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Mentioned in
- AIF-C01 AWS AI Practitioner Certification Guide
What the AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) exam covers, its five weighted domains, who it suits, and how to prepare, with the official exam guide.
- AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Certification Guide
What the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam covers, who it suits, how the July 2026 outline is weighted, and how to prepare for it.
- The Certification Roadmap: Python to Azure AI
A step-by-step certification roadmap from Python and Linux through cloud, AI and DevOps, with what each exam covers and how to sequence them.
Sources
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam guide (AWS Documentation) (accessed 2026-09-25)
- Open Source Jobs Report (Linux Foundation) (accessed 2026-09-25)
Code Nexus is not affiliated with Amazon Web Services. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and its badge are trademarks of Amazon Web Services, Inc. Code Nexus prepares you for the exam; Amazon Web Services issues the certification.