AWS DVA study guide · 2026

The 4 AWS DVA domains, explained

4 domains and 13 official tasks. Development with AWS Services carries the most weight at 32%. Each guide explains what the domain covers, how its questions are framed and where candidates lose marks.

Start with Domain 1 See all domains
Questions
65 (50 scored, 15 unscored)
Time
130 minutes
Passing score
720 / 1000
Outline
DVA-C02 exam guide v2.1 (current)

Exam blueprint

Bar widths follow the official weights. Weight ranges are drawn at their midpoint.

  1. 1 32%
  2. 2 26%
  3. 3 24%
  4. 4 18%
  1. 1 Development with AWS Services
  2. 2 Security
  3. 3 Deployment
  4. 4 Troubleshooting and Optimization

All 4 domains

13 official tasks 80–105 hrs suggested study

  1. Domain 01 32%

    Development with AWS Services

    This is the largest DVA domain. It covers writing application code that uses AWS, from SDKs and APIs to Lambda functions, DynamoDB and other data stores, messaging, caching and event-driven patterns.

    Inside this domain

    • Develop code for applications hosted on AWS
    • Develop code for AWS Lambda
    • Use data stores in application development

    Watch for No idempotency

    Tasks
    3
    Questions est.
    ~16
    Study time est.
    25–35 hrs
  2. Domain 02 26%

    Security

    This domain covers securing applications on AWS: implementing authentication and authorization with IAM, Cognito and STS, encrypting data with KMS, and managing secrets and sensitive data in application code.

    Inside this domain

    • Implement authentication and/or authorization for applications and AWS services
    • Implement encryption by using AWS services
    • Manage sensitive data in application code

    Watch for Hard-coded credentials

    Tasks
    3
    Questions est.
    ~13
    Study time est.
    20–25 hrs
  3. Domain 03 24%

    Deployment

    This domain covers packaging and shipping applications on AWS: preparing artifacts, testing in development, automating deployment testing, and deploying with the AWS CI/CD services and deployment strategies.

    Inside this domain

    • Prepare application artifacts to be deployed to AWS
    • Test applications in development environments
    • Automate deployment testing
    • Deploy code by using AWS CI/CD services

    Watch for All-at-once for risky release

    Tasks
    4
    Questions est.
    ~12
    Study time est.
    20–25 hrs
  4. Domain 04 18%

    Troubleshooting and Optimization

    This domain covers finding and fixing problems and improving performance: root-cause analysis with logs and tracing, instrumenting code for observability with CloudWatch and X-Ray, and optimizing applications.

    Inside this domain

    • Assist in a root cause analysis
    • Instrument code for observability
    • Optimize applications by using AWS services and features

    Watch for Logs for distributed latency

    Tasks
    3
    Questions est.
    ~9
    Study time est.
    15–20 hrs

Study the heaviest domains first

Marks follow weight. This order puts the most marks behind you first, across about 80–105 hrs of study.

  1. 1 Development with AWS Services 32% · 25–35 hrs
  2. 2 Security 26% · 20–25 hrs
  3. 3 Deployment 24% · 20–25 hrs
  4. 4 Troubleshooting and Optimization 18% · 15–20 hrs

Try one

Practice questionDomain 1: Development with AWS Services

A developer is building an order API that clients may call more than once for the same order because of network retries. The application must ensure an order is processed only once. Which approach BEST achieves this?

One trap from every domain

The answer that looks right, and the clue that gives it away.

  • Domain 1

    No idempotency

    Clue Requests may be retried and must not be applied twice.

  • Domain 2

    Hard-coded credentials

    Clue The application needs AWS credentials at runtime.

  • Domain 3

    All-at-once for risky release

    Clue The release must limit impact if the new version fails.

  • Domain 4

    Logs for distributed latency

    Clue The slowness spans multiple services.

Other Cloud Computing certifications

Study guides for exams that overlap with AWS DVA.

Practise what you read

AWS DVA domains: common questions

How many domains are in the AWS DVA exam?

AWS DVA has 4 domains with 13 official tasks between them: Development with AWS Services, Security, Deployment and Troubleshooting and Optimization.

Which AWS DVA domain carries the most weight?

Development with AWS Services is the heaviest at 32%, followed by Security (26%). The lightest is Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%). Weights come from Amazon Web Services's official outline.

What is the AWS DVA exam format?

Questions: 65 (50 scored, 15 unscored). Time allowed: 130 minutes. Passing score: 720 / 1000.

How long should I study for AWS DVA?

Our planning estimate is 80–105 hrs across all domains, split by weight. It is an editorial estimate, not an official figure, so adjust it to your experience and to how you score on practice questions.

Where should I start?

Start with Development with AWS Services, because it carries the most marks, then work down by weight. Use the checklist on each domain page to confirm you can do what the domain asks before moving on.

Which outline is this guide based on?

This guide follows DVA-C02 exam guide v2.1 (current), published by Amazon Web Services. It was last reviewed in October 2026.

Domain names, weights and tasks come from Amazon Web Services's official outline (DVA-C02 exam guide v2.1 (current)). Question counts and study hours are editorial planning estimates, not official figures. Last reviewed October 2026.