📋 2026 Edition · Updated September 2026

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Study Guide 2026

Q: How long does it take to prepare for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam?

Most candidates with relevant background take 4-8 weeks studying 1-2 hours daily. Beginners may need longer depending on their current knowledge and experience.

Q: What is included in the AWS Certified Developer - Associate study guide?

The study guide covers the exam syllabus, domain-wise topics, study roadmap, preparation strategy, exam tips and links to practice, mock exams, readiness testing and other preparation resources.

Q: Is this AWS Certified Developer - Associate study guide enough to pass the exam?

The study guide is designed to organize your preparation around the exam syllabus and domains. Candidates should also use practice questions and timed simulations to test their ability to apply what they have learned.

Q: Can beginners use this AWS Certified Developer - Associate study guide?

Yes. The guide can be used to understand the exam domains, identify the topics to study and follow a structured preparation roadmap.

Q: How many practice questions should I do?

There is no universal number that guarantees readiness. Focus on understanding why answers are correct or incorrect and use timed practice to identify gaps in your preparation.

Q: How can I identify my weak areas?

Use the Edureify readiness diagnostic to assess your preparation and identify weaker exam domains before deciding where to spend additional study time.

Complete exam coverage for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate: syllabus, domains, key topics, study plan and practical exam preparation strategy.

Questions

130 min

Duration

720

Passing score

Domains

Unlock My Study Plan → Take Readiness Diagnostic

Your readiness score - take the free diagnostic to unlock your personalised analysis

Overall readiness (locked)

Development with AWS Services

Security

Deployment

Troubleshooting and Optimization

Run 10-Minute Free Diagnostic →

Exam at a Glance

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam Overview

Key facts about the AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam structure, format and scoring.

🆔

aws-developer-associate

Exam code

📝

65 questions

Total questions

⏱

130 minutes

Duration

🎯

720

Passing score

📋

4 domains

Exam domains

🏆

Certification

Credential type

ℹ️

Scoring method: Scaled scoring (100-1000). 50 scored questions; 15 are unscored pretest items. Score of 720/1000 required to pass.. The exam may include unscored pilot questions - treat every question seriously.

Focus Areas

What should you study for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam?

Start with the domains that make up the AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam. Use the detailed syllabus below to work through the individual topics.

⚠️

Common mistake: Candidates often memorise terminology but struggle with scenario-based questions. Focus on when to use what, not just what exists.

🔐

Development with AWS Services (32%)

Covers developing and architecting applications using core AWS services including Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, S3, SQS, SNS, and Kinesis.

🏗

Security (26%)

Covers implementing security controls for AWS applications including authentication, authorization, encryption, and secrets management.

⚡

Deployment (24%)

Covers deploying applications to AWS using CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and container services.

💰

Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%)

Covers monitoring, tracing, debugging, and optimizing AWS applications using CloudWatch, X-Ray, and performance best practices.

Full Syllabus

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam Syllabus and Topics

The AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam is divided into 4 domains. Each domain covers specific skills and topics. Expand a domain to see the detailed syllabus.

AWS Lambda

Function configuration and runtime environments

Event sources and triggers

Lambda layers and extensions

Concurrency, throttling, and cold starts

Lambda@Edge and SnapStart

Amazon API Gateway

REST API vs HTTP API vs WebSocket API

API Gateway integrations and proxy resources

Authorization with Cognito and Lambda authorizers

Throttling, caching, and CORS

Amazon DynamoDB

Partition keys, sort keys, and indexes (GSI, LSI)

Capacity modes: On-Demand vs Provisioned

DynamoDB Streams and TTL

Conditional expressions and transactions

DAX for caching

Amazon S3

S3 bucket policies, ACLs, and presigned URLs

S3 versioning, lifecycle rules, and replication

S3 event notifications

Multipart upload and transfer acceleration

Amazon SQS and SNS

Standard vs FIFO queues

Visibility timeout and dead-letter queues

SNS topics and fan-out patterns

SQS polling: short vs long polling

Amazon Kinesis

Kinesis Data Streams vs Firehose vs Analytics

Shards, partition keys, and sequence numbers

Consumer types: enhanced fan-out

~16 questions

160 marks

32% of exam weight

IAM Policies and Roles

IAM policy evaluation logic

Cross-account access and resource-based policies

IAM roles for EC2, Lambda, and ECS

AWS STS and temporary credentials

Amazon Cognito

User Pools vs Identity Pools

Cognito Sync and federated identities

JWT token validation

OAuth 2.0 and OIDC flows

AWS KMS and Encryption

Customer managed keys (CMK) vs AWS managed keys

Envelope encryption

S3, DynamoDB, and Lambda encryption at rest

KMS key policies

AWS Secrets Manager and Parameter Store

Storing and rotating secrets

SSM Parameter Store SecureString

Referencing secrets in Lambda and ECS

~13 questions

130 marks

26% of exam weight

AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy

Pipeline stages and actions

CodeBuild buildspec.yml configuration

In-place vs blue/green deployments

Deployment strategies: all-at-once, rolling, canary

AWS CodeCommit and CodeArtifact

Git repository management on AWS

Artifact storage and package management

AWS CloudFormation

Templates, stacks, and nested stacks

CloudFormation parameters, mappings, and outputs

Change sets and rollback triggers

Custom resources and CloudFormation macros

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Environment types: Web Server vs Worker

Deployment policies and .ebextensions

Elastic Beanstalk with Docker

AWS SAM

SAM template structure

SAM CLI for local testing

SAM transforms and deployment

~12 questions

120 marks

24% of exam weight

Amazon CloudWatch

CloudWatch Metrics, Logs, and Alarms

CloudWatch Logs Insights queries

Metric filters and custom metrics

CloudWatch EventBridge rules

AWS X-Ray

Distributed tracing and service maps

X-Ray segments, subsegments, and annotations

Enabling X-Ray for Lambda and API Gateway

X-Ray sampling rules

Optimization Patterns

Lambda provisioned concurrency and memory tuning

DynamoDB capacity planning and adaptive capacity

Caching strategies: ElastiCache, DAX, API Gateway cache

API Gateway throttling and quotas

~9 questions

90 marks

18% of exam weight

Study Plan

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Structured Study Roadmap

Choose a preparation timeline based on how much time you have available. For a plan based on your actual readiness and weak domains, use the personalised Edureify study experience. Get My Training Plan →

Weeks 1-2

Core Services + Highest-Weighted Domain

Deep-dive into the most heavily tested domain. Spend more time here when its exam weight is significantly higher.

Official exam guideDomain 1 completeCore conceptsPractice questions

Week 3

Domain 2 - Hands-on Practice

Focus on scenario-based study and reinforce concepts through practical application where applicable.

Domain 2Scenario walkthroughsHands-on practicePractice questions

Week 4

Domain 3 - Deeper Concepts

Work through complex concepts and decision scenarios.

Domain 3Scenario drillsPractice examReview

Week 5

Remaining Domains + Weak Area Targeting

Identify your weaker domains and spend focused time closing those gaps.

Remaining domainsDiagnosticTargeted reviewStudy notes

Week 6

Full Simulations + Final Preparation

Use timed simulations to test your preparation and review the reasoning behind incorrect answers.

Full mock examsWrong-answer reviewFinal reviewExam logistics

Exam Strategy

Tips to pass AWS Certified Developer - Associate on your first attempt

Practical advice for applying what you know, managing questions and preparing for exam conditions.

🗓

Know the difference between SQS Standard and FIFO queues — this is heavily tested with visibility timeout and message ordering scenarios.

🔍

Understand IAM policy evaluation logic including explicit deny vs allow and the order in which policies are evaluated.

⏭

Master DynamoDB access patterns: know when to use GSI vs LSI and how to avoid hot partitions.

📊

Lambda configuration gotchas — concurrency limits, timeout max (15 min), memory impact on CPU, and cold start mitigation using SnapStart or provisioned concurrency.

🔁

CloudFormation: distinguish between Parameters, Mappings, Conditions, and Outputs and know how Change Sets work before deployment.

🧪

CI/CD: know all three CodeDeploy deployment strategies (in-place, blue/green) and when to use each for EC2 vs Lambda vs ECS.

📝

Envelope encryption is a core concept — understand how KMS data keys are used to encrypt data without passing plaintext to KMS for every operation.

🎯

X-Ray requires daemon sidecar in ECS; for Lambda, active tracing must be enabled — know both the configuration and code-level SDK integration.

🗓

API Gateway: understand integration types (Lambda proxy vs custom integration) and how to use mapping templates.

🔍

Practice reading and writing IAM JSON policies — you may be given a policy and asked to identify what it allows or denies.

Recommended Resources

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Study Resources

Use a focused set of resources alongside the study guide rather than trying to study from everything available.

Official

Official Exam Guide

Start with the authoritative exam objectives and blueprint.

→ Vendor website

Practice Tests

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Practice Test

Practice questions with explanations and domain-level performance analysis.

→ Start free practice test

Mock Exam

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Mock Exam

Timed preparation under realistic exam-style conditions.

→ Take free mock exam

Training

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Certification Training

Structured preparation with personalised learning support and adaptive practice.

→ AWS Certified Developer - Associate certification online training

AI Tutor

AWS Certified Developer - Associate AI Tutor

Get help understanding concepts and work on weak areas with AI-powered learning support.

→ Try AWS Certified Developer - Associate AI tutor

Reference

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Cheat Sheet

Quick-reference summaries for final revision.

→ Get free cheat sheet

Diagnostic

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Readiness Test

Assess your preparation and identify weaker exam domains.

→ Check my readiness

⚠️

Avoid brain dumps. Sites selling real or stolen exam questions may violate certification-provider rules and can leave candidates studying outdated material.

Reviews

What candidates say after passing

★★★★★

The SAM framework and CloudFormation relationship was something I understood theoretically but kept misapplying in scenarios.Edureify AI's serverless deployment scenarios - when SAM simplifies CloudFormation vs. when you need raw CloudFormation - built the practical distinction the exam tests.

Lucas R.

Data Scientist

★★★★★

DynamoDB data modeling is fundamentally different from relational modeling.Edureify AI's access pattern-first design scenarios - model around your queries, not your entities - built the NoSQL mindset that the exam rewards rather than the relational instinct most developers bring.

Michael T.

VP Engineering

★★★★★

Lambda cold start implications for different use cases was tested more deeply than I expected.Edureify AI's serverless architecture scenarios - when cold starts matter and how to mitigate them - prepared me for questions about Lambda's production trade-offs rather than just its configuration.

Ananya B.

Security Manager

★★★★★

X-Ray for distributed tracing was the observability content I'd underestimated.Edureify AI's microservices debugging scenarios required me to apply X-Ray instrumentation and service map analysis to real troubleshooting problems. That applied practice transferred directly to exam scenarios.

Chen X.

Network Engineer

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about AWS Certified Developer - Associate

How long does it take to prepare for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam?

Most candidates with relevant background can structure their preparation over several weeks, depending on their existing knowledge, available study time and exam difficulty. Use the study roadmap above as a starting point and use the readiness diagnostic to identify where you need more preparation.

What is included in the AWS Certified Developer - Associate study guide?

The guide covers the exam overview, domains, detailed syllabus and topics, study roadmap, exam preparation tips and links to practice, mock, readiness, cheat-sheet, AI Tutor and training resources.

Is this AWS Certified Developer - Associate study guide enough to pass the exam?

The guide is designed to organize your preparation around the exam syllabus. You should combine it with practice questions and timed simulations so that you can test both your knowledge and your ability to apply it.

Can beginners use this AWS Certified Developer - Associate study guide?

Yes. Start with the exam overview and domain breakdown, then work through the detailed topics using the study roadmap. Candidates with less experience may need additional time for foundational concepts.

How can I identify my weak areas?

Take the Edureify readiness diagnostic to assess your preparation and identify the domains where you need to focus more.

How does AI improve my preparation?

Edureify AI can help explain concepts, identify weaker areas from practice performance and support a more personalised preparation process.

Ready to prepare for AWS Certified Developer - Associate?

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Start My Free Diagnostic →

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AWS Certified Developer - Associate Study Guide 2026

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam Overview

What should you study for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam?

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam Syllabus and Topics

Know if you'll pass AWS Certified Developer - Associate before exam day

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Structured Study Roadmap

Tips to pass AWS Certified Developer - Associate on your first attempt

AWS Certified Developer - Associate Study Resources

What candidates say after passing

Frequently asked questions about AWS Certified Developer - Associate

Ready to prepare for AWS Certified Developer - Associate?

Related Cloud Computing Certification Study Guides