AWS · MLA-C01 · Intermediate
AWS Machine Learning Engineer - Associate (MLA-C01) — Practice Questions and Mock Exam
Practice real MLA-C01 questions, never dumps. Alex explains every answer, and your readiness score tells you when you're ready to pass.
Checked against AWS · July 2026Current exam version
Overview
About the exam
The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate validates the ability to build, train, deploy, and maintain machine learning models in production on AWS. It covers data preparation for ML, model development and tuning, deployment and orchestration of ML workflows, and monitoring and securing ML solutions using services like SageMaker.
This certification is designed for ML engineers, data scientists, and MLOps practitioners with at least one year of experience using AWS ML services. It demonstrates proficiency in operationalizing ML models, building automated training pipelines, and implementing responsible AI practices in production environments.
Exam Domains
What's on the exam
The exam consists of 65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored) over 130 minutes, featuring multiple-choice, multiple-response, ordering, and matching question types. Questions focus on SageMaker workflows, model training, hyperparameter tuning, deployment strategies, and ML pipeline automation. With roughly 2.6 minutes per question, take time to reason through complex scenarios.
SourceAWS exam page
Format
What to expect
Watch out
Where candidates struggle
This exam tests ML engineering — not data science theory. Candidates must understand how to operationalize models on AWS using SageMaker, automate ML pipelines, and implement monitoring rather than just build notebooks.
- 01SageMaker Modes — Confusing SageMaker training jobs, processing jobs, real-time endpoints, batch transform, and serverless inference and when to use each deployment mode.
- 02Feature Engineering — Not understanding SageMaker Feature Store, data wrangling, and preprocessing pipeline design leads to wrong answers on data preparation questions.
- 03Model Monitoring — Misunderstanding SageMaker Model Monitor capabilities for detecting data drift, model drift, bias, and feature attribution changes in production.
- 04Pipeline Automation — Not knowing how to build end-to-end ML pipelines using SageMaker Pipelines, Step Functions, and EventBridge for automated retraining workflows.
- 05Cost Optimization — Choosing expensive real-time endpoints when batch transform or serverless inference would meet the latency and throughput requirements at lower cost.
Details
Exam logistics
Delivered via Pearson VUE online or at testing centers. Available in English; additional languages may be added over time. The certification is valid for 3 years with renewal through recertification exams.
SourceAWS exam page
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