What does it cost?
The SAP-C03 exam costs $300.
Exam fee
$300
Source: AWS exam page
AWS exam
SAP-C03 Exam facts
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
- Questions
- 75
- Minutes
- 180
- Exam fee
- $300
- Passing score
- 720
Independent: not affiliated with AWS. These exam facts are free; the study bundle adds a study guide and two practice exams.
Short answer
SAP-C03 is the updated exam for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional certification, for architects with two or more years of designing solutions on AWS. The exam has 75 questions in 180 minutes, costs $300 and takes 720 of 1,000 to pass.
Sources: exam page, exam guide
Published AWS facts for SAP-C03 on one page. Last updated
Study bundle
Prepare for SAP-C03
$19
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Your receipt has a license key. Enter it at overqual.com/download for the three PDFs, stamped with your email and order number. They are yours to keep.
Try 5 free sample questions first See 3 pages inside
- A 66-page study guide: every exam domain, weighted like the exam
- Two practice exams: 150 original questions, every answer explained
- Every bundle includes 6 months of access: download the PDFs, and any new editions, until 6 months after your purchase date.
Edition 1.0, October 2026
How many questions and how long?
The SAP-C03 exam has 75 questions in 180 minutes. Question types: multiple choice or multiple response.
Source: AWS exam page
The exam
- Questions
- 75
- Time
- 180 minutes
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America)
What score do you need to pass?
The SAP-C03 passing score is 720, on a scale of 100-1,000, per the exam guide. SAP-C02's was 750, the figure AWS's after-testing policy still gives for Professional exams.
100-719
720+ PASS
Source: AWS exam guide
What does the exam cover?
The SAP-C03 exam covers five domains, weighted 25% / 25% / 15% / 15% / 20%.
Source: AWS exam guide
D125%
Architecture Design and Implementation Built for the Cloud
D225%
Security, Compliance, and Governance
D315%
Cost-Optimized Architecture Design
D415%
Resilience, Migration, and Business Continuity
D520%
Operational Excellence and Automation
Architecture Design and Implementation Built for the Cloud
- 1.1Design architectures built for the cloud
- 1.2Integrate AI and ML services into architectures
- 1.3Design hybrid cloud integration patterns
- 1.4Design network architectures
- 1.5Design data, storage and database architectures
Security, Compliance, and Governance
- 2.1Design identity security architectures
- 2.2Design encryption and key management
- 2.3Design multi-account governance and compliance
- 2.4Design for compliance requirements
- 2.5Design security and responsible AI controls
Cost-Optimized Architecture Design
- 3.1Design architectures on AWS pricing models
- 3.2Optimize data transfer and network costs
- 3.3Design cost allocation and visibility
- 3.4Optimize storage and database costs
Resilience, Migration, and Business Continuity
- 4.1Design migration strategies
- 4.2Design disaster recovery architectures
- 4.3Meet business continuity and resiliency needs
Operational Excellence and Automation
- 5.1Design infrastructure as code
- 5.2Design CI/CD and DevSecOps pipelines
- 5.3Design observability and monitoring
- 5.4Design operational automation
Inside the study bundle
Study guide chapters
Nine chapters. Chapters 2 to 6 cover the five exam domains.
- 01 What the exam is p. 3
- 02 Architecture design and implementation built for the cloud p. 8
- 03 Security, compliance, and governance p. 22
- 04 Cost-optimized architecture design p. 32
- 05 Resilience, migration, and business continuity p. 39
- 06 Operational excellence and automation p. 49
- 07 Final review p. 56
- 08 Sources p. 64
- 09 Edition and updates p. 66
Look inside the study guide
Three pages of the Edition 1.0 study guide: the contents and the first two pages of a chapter.
What is free here, and what is in the bundle?
The exam facts and 5 sample questions are free on this site. The study guide chapters and the two practice exams are in the bundle.
| Item | Free on this site | In the bundle |
|---|---|---|
| Exam facts and change log | Yes, with links to the AWS sources | Chapter 1 of the study guide sums up the exam's format and scoring. |
| 5 sample questions | Yes | No. None of the 5 appear in the practice exams. |
| Domain chapters and final review | No | Yes, in the study guide |
| Two practice exams with answer keys | No | Yes, 150 questions with an explanation for every answer |
Questions before you buy
Is this official?
No, the SAP-C03 bundle is not official. Overqual is independent and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by AWS.
Does it include real exam questions?
No, the SAP-C03 bundle contains no exam questions, and every practice question is original.
How is the SAP-C03 bundle different from AWS's free materials?
AWS's free pages set out what the SAP-C03 exam covers. The SAP-C03 bundle adds a 66-page study guide that covers every exam domain, and two practice exams with 150 original questions, every answer explained. When AWS revises the exam, a new edition follows if the changes warrant it, included while your access lasts.
How do I get updates?
Updates to the SAP-C03 bundle arrive as new editions. Every bundle includes 6 months of access: download the PDFs, and any new editions, until 6 months after your purchase date. Download each new edition at overqual.com/download with the license key from your receipt email. The change log on the exam facts page says what changed.
Can I get a refund?
No. Sales of the SAP-C03 bundle are final, because downloaded PDFs cannot be returned. Read the free exam facts and try the 5 free sample questions first. If a download fails or you paid twice by mistake, contact Overqual to have the download fixed or the second payment refunded.
How does SAP-C03 differ from SAP-C02?
SAP-C03 keeps the SAP-C02 format, 75 questions in 180 minutes for $300, and reorganizes the content into five domains: Architecture Design and Implementation Built for the Cloud (25%); Security, Compliance, and Governance (25%); Cost-Optimized Architecture Design (15%); Resilience, Migration, and Business Continuity (15%); and Operational Excellence and Automation (20%). Its passing score is 720, where SAP-C02's was 750. The AWS comparison page lists 37 added skills, among them generative AI and agent architectures with Amazon Bedrock, resilience engineering with AWS Fault Injection Service and AWS Resilience Hub, service mesh with Amazon VPC Lattice, DevSecOps and observability, lakehouses, and post-quantum cryptography with AWS KMS.
Should I take SAP-C02 now or wait for SAP-C03?
SAP-C02 can be taken until Nov 16, 2026, and SAP-C03 delivery starts Nov 17, 2026, with registration from Oct 27, 2026, per the AWS comparison page and the AWS announcement. Both versions lead to the same credential, AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional, which is valid for 3 years. AWS's own guidance in the announcement: take SAP-C02 by Nov 16, 2026 if you are already prepared and want the certification now, since the credential stays active through its original expiration date; wait for SAP-C03 if you want the credential to cover cloud-native, generative and agentic AI, and resilience engineering skills. The SAP-C03 exam guide gives the new domain weights and task statements.
What is the passing score for SAP-C03?
The SAP-C03 exam guide sets the minimum passing score at 720 on a 100-1,000 scale, with compensatory scoring and no minimum per domain. That is lower than SAP-C02's 750, and AWS's after-testing policy still gives 750 for Professional-level exams; this guide follows the exam guide.
Ready for SAP-C03?
Three PDFs, 153 pages: the study guide and two practice exams.
Which AWS services does the exam name?
The SAP-C03 exam guide lists 105 services and features as in scope, a list AWS calls non-exhaustive. It names parent services, so a feature such as Amazon Bedrock Guardrails or Amazon ECS Service Connect is covered by its service. The groups below are a selection from the list.
Source: AWS in-scope services page
AI and ML
- Amazon Bedrock
- Amazon SageMaker AI
- AWS Step Functions
Security, compliance, and governance
- AWS Organizations
- AWS Control Tower
- IAM
- AWS KMS
- AWS CloudHSM
- AWS Security Hub
- Amazon GuardDuty
- Amazon Inspector
- Amazon Security Lake
- AWS Config
Networking and compute
- Amazon VPC
- AWS Transit Gateway
- AWS Cloud WAN
- AWS PrivateLink
- Amazon VPC Lattice
- AWS Direct Connect
- Amazon Route 53
- AWS Global Accelerator
- AWS Lambda
- Amazon ECS
- Amazon EKS
- AWS Fargate
- AWS Outposts
Data, cost, resilience, and migration
- Amazon Aurora
- Amazon DynamoDB
- AWS Lake Formation
- AWS Clean Rooms
- Savings Plans
- AWS Backup
- AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery
- AWS Resilience Hub
- AWS Fault Injection Service
- AWS Systems Manager
- AWS Transform
- AWS DMS
- AWS DataSync
Out of scope
In-depth operating system knowledge; AI and ML model training, fine-tuning and data science workflows; security incident forensics and detailed threat investigation; application code development and debugging. Amazon Lightsail, Amazon RDS Custom for Oracle, AWS Device Farm and Amazon Braket are on the out-of-scope list.
How is it delivered?
The SAP-C03 exam is proctored, at a Pearson VUE test center or online.
- Delivery
- Proctored, at a Pearson VUE test center or online
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America)
- Prerequisites
- None
- Validity
- 3 years
- Retakes
- 14 calendar days after a failed attempt; no limit on attempts; full registration fee for each attempt
Source: AWS exam page
What are the key dates?
The dates AWS has published for SAP-C03.
- Oct 27, 2026
- Registration opens
- Nov 16, 2026
- SAP-C02 retires
- Nov 17, 2026
- General availability
Sources: AWS announcement, AWS comparison page
Fact sheet
Show the 23 factsHide the facts
- Questions
- 75 Source: AWS exam page
- Time
- 180 minutes Source: AWS exam page
- Fee
- $300 Source: AWS exam page
- Passing score
- 720 Source: AWS exam guide
- Score range
- 100-1,000 Source: AWS exam guide
- Question types
- Multiple choice or multiple response Source: AWS exam page
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America) Source: AWS exam page
- Delivery
- Proctored, at a Pearson VUE test center or online Source: AWS exam page
- Validity
- 3 years Source: AWS exam page
- Prerequisites
- None Source: AWS page
- Retakes
- 14 calendar days after a failed attempt; no limit on attempts; full registration fee for each attempt Source: AWS page
- General availability
- Nov 17, 2026 Source: AWS page
- Domain weights
- D1 25% / D2 25% / D3 15% / D4 15% / D5 20% Source: AWS exam guide
- Scored and unscored questions
- 65 scored, 10 unscored, not identified on the exam Source: AWS exam guide
- Domains
- 5 domains: Architecture Design and Implementation Built for the Cloud 25%; Security, Compliance, and Governance 25%; Cost-Optimized Architecture Design 15%; Resilience, Migration, and Business Continuity 15%; Operational Excellence and Automation 20% Source: AWS exam guide
- Tasks and skills
- 21 tasks; 115 skills (34, 24, 19, 17 and 21 by domain) Source: AWS exam guide
- Skills added in SAP-C03
- 37 skills in 16 tasks, among them generative AI, agent, RAG and ML inference architectures, Bedrock Guardrails, post-quantum cryptography, durable workflows, VPC Lattice, IPv6, lakehouses, AI cost and monitoring, and synthetic and real-user monitoring Source: AWS page
- In-scope list changes
- Added: Amazon Bedrock, Amazon VPC Lattice, AWS Cloud WAN, AWS Clean Rooms, AWS Fault Injection Service, AWS Resilience Hub, AWS Transform and 13 more; removed: every AWS IoT service, AppStream 2.0, WorkSpaces, Amplify, App Runner, Batch, Lightsail, Pinpoint, Proton, Service Catalog, SES and others Source: AWS page
- Recommended experience
- 2 or more years of experience in using AWS services to design and implement cloud solutions Source: AWS exam page
- Language accommodation
- ESL +30: a 30-minute exam extension, available on request to non-native English speakers taking an exam in English; requested once, prior to registering for an exam, and applied to all future exam registrations Source: AWS page
- Voucher after passing
- 50% discount on the next AWS Certification exam Source: AWS exam page
- Results
- Final results posted to the AWS Certification Account within five business days Source: AWS page
- Breaks
- No scheduled breaks; unscheduled breaks allowed at a test center with the exam timer running; no breaks for kiosk testing or online proctored exams Source: AWS page
What has changed, and when?
Changes to the exam and to the products it covers, newest first.
- AWS published the SAP-C03 exam guide: domains weighted 25/25/15/15/20; passing score 720, down from 750. AWS exam guide
- AWS announced SAP-C03: registration opens Oct 27, 2026 and GA delivery Nov 17; SAP-C02 can be taken until Nov 16. AWS page
To watch AWS directly, check the exam page.