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AWS · SAA-C03 · Intermediate

AWS Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03) — Practice Questions and Mock Exam

Prepare for SAA-C03 with practice questions on AWS architecture, clear explanations and exercises that adapt to your progress.

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Official SAA-C03 exam: 720 out of 1000 points to pass.

Checked against AWS · September 2026 · Current exam version

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Design High-Performing Architectures2 / 5

A media company serves large video files to users globally. Users in Asia and Europe report slow download speeds. The videos are stored in an Amazon S3 bucket in us-east-1. Which solution will MOST improve download performance for global users?

AlexFull explanation from Alex

CloudFront is AWS's CDN service for delivering content globally. It routes users to a nearby point of presence, checks the cache, and returns cached objects when available. This is the durable architecture for improving repeated downloads of large static media stored in S3. S3 Transfer Acceleration primarily helps clients upload to S3, and cross-Region replication requires additional routing logic and duplicate storage.

Sourcedocs.aws.amazon.com

Design Resilient Architectures3 / 5

A company is running an Amazon ElastiCache for Redis OSS cluster with a single node. The cluster is critical for application performance, serving as a session store and data cache. What should a solutions architect do to improve the availability of this cache layer?

AlexFull explanation from Alex

For production ElastiCache for Redis OSS workloads that need high availability, use a replication group with Multi-AZ and automatic failover. Multi-AZ requires at least one available read replica and automatically promotes a replica if the primary cannot serve traffic. This is the managed HA pattern; increasing instance size or relying only on backups does not remove the single-node failure point.

Sourcedocs.aws.amazon.com

Design Secure Architectures4 / 5

An application running on an Amazon EC2 instance reads objects from an Amazon S3 bucket. The current build ships long-term access keys inside a configuration file on the instance, and an audit flags the stored credentials. Which change removes them while keeping the application working?

AlexFull explanation from Alex

Any credential that has to be stored is a credential that can leak, so the strongest fix is to remove the need to store one. On EC2 that is what an instance profile does: the instance itself becomes the identity, and applications retrieve short-lived credentials for the attached role rather than reading a key from disk. Those credentials expire and are refreshed automatically, so a copy taken from the instance has a short and bounded useful life. The role also carries a normal permissions policy, which is where least privilege gets applied. Encrypting, hiding or rotating a long-term key all leave the underlying weakness in place, because the key still exists and still grants access wherever it is taken. Only one instance role can be attached at a time, and every application on the instance shares it, so the role should be scoped to what those applications actually need.

Sourcedocs.aws.amazon.com

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures5 / 5

A fleet of EC2 instances in private subnets writes application logs to an Amazon S3 bucket in the same Region. All of that traffic currently leaves through a NAT gateway, and the finance team has asked the architect to remove the NAT data processing charges for it while keeping the instances unreachable from the internet. What should the architect implement?

AlexFull explanation from Alex

Traffic from a private subnet to an AWS service can take three quite different paths, and they differ in both cost and blast radius. Through a NAT device the traffic is translated and metered by the NAT service. Through an interface endpoint it reaches an elastic network interface inside the subnet. Through a gateway endpoint, which exists only for Amazon S3 and DynamoDB, the route table sends traffic destined for the service's prefix list directly to the endpoint. Gateway endpoints are attached to route tables rather than to subnets, so every instance in a subnet whose route table carries the endpoint route uses it automatically, and instances in subnets without that route keep using the public service endpoint. Recognising which services offer which endpoint type is what turns this from a cost question into a design question.

Sourcedocs.aws.amazon.com

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Conversation preview · SAA-C03

ElastiCache availability

  1. You

    Why isn’t a bigger cache node enough?

  2. Alex · AI tutor

    It remains a single point of failure. With Multi-AZ, a replica can take over automatically.

    Read the AWS documentation ↗

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SAA-C03 · Question excerpt

Keep the cache available

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A company is running an Amazon ElastiCache for Redis OSS cluster with a single node. The cluster is critical for application performance, serving as a session store and data cache. What should a solutions architect do to improve the availability of this cache layer?

Understand the correct answer.

Enable Multi-AZ with automatic failover and add a read replica in a different Availability Zone

With Multi-AZ enabled, a replica in another Availability Zone can take over automatically.

Read the AWS documentation ↗

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Secure architectureSee the guide for weighting113 QuestionsPass-IT questions

Design access, application boundaries and data protection around a workload’s security requirements.

  • Choose least-privilege access with IAM roles, policies and federation, including controls across multiple AWS accounts and root-user protection.
  • Protect applications through network segmentation, secure connections and credential management, choosing services for authentication and threat protection.
  • Choose encryption, key management, backup and retention controls that match data classification, access and compliance requirements.
Official AWS exam guide
Resilient architectureSee the guide for weighting93 QuestionsPass-IT questions

Design systems that scale with demand and continue serving users when components fail.

  • Separate components with queues, events and APIs, and choose scaling, container or serverless patterns that fit the workload.
  • Remove single points of failure through suitable Availability Zone or Region designs, replication, failover and infrastructure automation.
  • Choose disaster-recovery strategies that meet recovery time and data-loss objectives, accounting for capacity, quotas and recovery visibility.
Official AWS exam guide
Performance and scalabilitySee the guide for weighting116 QuestionsPass-IT questions

Match storage, compute, databases, networks and data pipelines to the workload’s performance needs.

  • Choose object, file or block storage, including hybrid options, for the required throughput, access pattern and future growth.
  • Select compute capacity and scaling signals, using services such as Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda or containers to match changing demand.
  • Choose database engines and capacity for read/write patterns, using caching, replicas and connection management where appropriate.
  • Design network topology, routing, load balancing and edge delivery to meet connectivity, latency and scaling needs.
  • Design secure batch or streaming data ingestion, transfer and transformation, including data lakes and downstream analytics or visualization.
Official AWS exam guide
Cost-aware architectureSee the guide for weighting107 QuestionsPass-IT questions

Choose resources and operating patterns that meet requirements without paying for unnecessary capacity or data movement.

  • Match storage classes, lifecycle and backup policies to access patterns, retention and migration needs.
  • Choose compute sizes, scaling strategies and purchasing options such as Savings Plans or Spot Instances for the required availability.
  • Balance database capacity, engine choice, caching and retention, considering migration and backup costs.
  • Reduce network costs through suitable routing, connectivity, gateways and edge caching, using cost tools to assess the design.
Official AWS exam guide
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Frequently asked questions

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How much study time should I plan for SAA-C03?

For planning, Pass-IT estimates roughly 30–75 hours. Relevant experience may put you toward the lower end; starting from scratch may put you toward the higher end. Your needs may fall outside this range. This is not a time requirement from AWS or a promise that you will be exam-ready within that time.

Do you need CLF-C02 before SAA-C03?

No. AWS sets no prerequisite, so SAA-C03 can be your first exam. Cloud Practitioner is worth the 25-hour detour if AWS vocabulary is still new; if you already run workloads it adds a sitting and little else.

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Questions in the app are currently in English. Translations of the sample questions on this page apply only to this preview. Check with AWS for the languages available for the official exam. Official exam languages

How long does my SAA-C03 access last?

Access covers this certification for 12 months. You pay once, with no automatic renewal.

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The guarantee refunds the Pass-IT purchase price for this certification. You need eligible paid access and a Readiness Score of at least 80% from your practice results when you take the exam. This score can only reach 80% after at least 50 answered questions and is not a validated probability of passing. Take the exam during your access period and submit official proof of failing within 14 days. Guarantee terms

About the SAA-C03 exam

Where can I take the SAA-C03 exam?

Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam. Book your exam with AWS

How long is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam?

AWS lists 65 questions and 130 minutes for SAA-C03. The Pass-IT mock exam is configured for 65 questions in 130 minutes. Exam details at AWS

How do you pass SAA-C03?

The exam is scenario-based, so recognising service names is not enough: every question hands you requirements and asks which architecture meets them. Design secure architectures is the largest domain at 30%, and the catalog budget is around 50 hours. AWS does not publish a pass rate for any of its exams, so any figure you find online is somebody guessing.

Does SAA-C03 expire?

Yes, your certification expires three years after you pass. Before it expires, you can renew it by passing the latest version of the exam or by earning AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional, the higher-level certification that automatically renews it.

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The guarantee refunds the Pass-IT purchase price for this certification. You need eligible paid access and a Readiness Score of at least 80% from your practice results when you take the exam. This score can only reach 80% after at least 50 answered questions and is not a validated probability of passing. Take the exam during your access period and submit official proof of failing within 14 days.

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