AWS SAA study guide · 2026

The 4 AWS SAA domains, explained

4 domains and 14 official task statements. Design Secure Architectures carries the most weight at 30%. 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
SAA-C03 exam guide (current)

Exam blueprint

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

  1. 1 30%
  2. 2 26%
  3. 3 24%
  4. 4 20%
  1. 1 Design Secure Architectures
  2. 2 Design Resilient Architectures
  3. 3 Design High-Performing Architectures
  4. 4 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

All 4 domains

14 official task statements 100–140 hrs suggested study

  1. Domain 01 30%

    Design Secure Architectures

    Security is the largest SAA-C03 domain. It covers designing secure access with IAM and federation, protecting workloads and applications, and applying the right data security controls, all within the AWS shared responsibility model.

    Inside this domain

    • Design secure access to AWS resources
    • Design secure workloads and applications
    • Determine appropriate data security controls

    Watch for Keys on the instance

    Task statements
    3
    Questions est.
    ~15
    Study time est.
    30–40 hrs
  2. Domain 02 26%

    Design Resilient Architectures

    This domain covers designing architectures that stay available and recover from failure. It covers scalable, loosely coupled designs using queues and events, and highly available, fault-tolerant designs across Availability Zones and Regions.

    Inside this domain

    • Design scalable and loosely coupled architectures
    • Design highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures

    Watch for Bigger instances for spikes

    Task statements
    2
    Questions est.
    ~13
    Study time est.
    25–35 hrs
  3. Domain 03 24%

    Design High-Performing Architectures

    This domain covers choosing the fastest, most scalable AWS services for each need: storage, compute, databases, networking and data ingestion, matching the right service to the workload's performance profile.

    Inside this domain

    • Determine high-performing and/or scalable storage solutions
    • Design high-performing and elastic compute solutions
    • Determine high-performing database solutions
    • Determine high-performing and/or scalable network architectures
    • and 1 more task statements

    Watch for EBS for shared files

    Task statements
    5
    Questions est.
    ~12
    Study time est.
    25–35 hrs
  4. Domain 04 20%

    Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

    This domain covers designing for cost efficiency: choosing cost-effective storage, compute, database and network options, and using pricing models, tiering and right-sizing to spend only on what the workload needs.

    Inside this domain

    • Design cost-optimized storage solutions
    • Design cost-optimized compute solutions
    • Design cost-optimized database solutions
    • Design cost-optimized network architectures

    Watch for On-Demand for steady load

    Task statements
    4
    Questions est.
    ~10
    Study time est.
    20–30 hrs

Study the heaviest domains first

Marks follow weight. This order puts the most marks behind you first, across about 100–140 hrs of study.

  1. 1 Design Secure Architectures 30% · 30–40 hrs
  2. 2 Design Resilient Architectures 26% · 25–35 hrs
  3. 3 Design High-Performing Architectures 24% · 25–35 hrs
  4. 4 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures 20% · 20–30 hrs

Try one

Practice questionDomain 1: Design Secure Architectures

An application running on Amazon EC2 needs read access to objects in a specific Amazon S3 bucket. What is the MOST secure way to grant this access?

One trap from every domain

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

  • Domain 1

    Keys on the instance

    Clue An EC2 instance or AWS service needs to access another AWS resource.

  • Domain 2

    Bigger instances for spikes

    Clue Traffic spikes overwhelm a directly called downstream tier.

  • Domain 3

    EBS for shared files

    Clue Multiple instances need concurrent read and write access to the same files.

  • Domain 4

    On-Demand for steady load

    Clue The workload runs continuously and predictably over a long period.

Other Cloud Computing certifications

Study guides for exams that overlap with AWS SAA.

Practise what you read

AWS SAA domains: common questions

How many domains are in the AWS SAA exam?

AWS SAA has 4 domains with 14 official task statements between them: Design Secure Architectures, Design Resilient Architectures, Design High-Performing Architectures and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures.

Which AWS SAA domain carries the most weight?

Design Secure Architectures is the heaviest at 30%, followed by Design Resilient Architectures (26%). The lightest is Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%). Weights come from Amazon Web Services's official outline.

What is the AWS SAA exam format?

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

How long should I study for AWS SAA?

Our planning estimate is 100–140 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 Design Secure Architectures, 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 SAA-C03 exam guide (current), published by Amazon Web Services. It was last reviewed in October 2026.

Domain names, weights and task statements come from Amazon Web Services's official outline (SAA-C03 exam guide (current)). Question counts and study hours are editorial planning estimates, not official figures. Last reviewed October 2026.