Amazon Web Services · 2026 Edition
A complete preparation guide written by Amazon Web Services-certified engineers. Covers the exam format,all 4 blueprint domains, a week-by-week study plan, and proven tips for passing first time.
2–4 months
Prep time
Intermediate
Difficulty
65
Exam questions
720/1000
Pass mark
Exam code
DVA-C02
Full name
AWS Developer Associate
Vendor
Amazon Web Services
Duration
130 minutes
Questions
65 items
Passing score
720/1000 (scaled)
Domains covered
4 blueprint domains
Recommended experience
1+ year of AWS application development experience; proficiency in at least one programming language
Typical prep time
2–4 months
DVA-C02 earns the AWS Certified Developer – Associate designation. It validates the skills to develop and deploy applications on AWS using services like Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and the AWS SDKs — the credential expected for cloud-native development roles.
Job roles this opens
Domain percentage weights are not currently available for this exam. The checklist below is still useful for planning your study.
Weeks 1–3
AWS Development Fundamentals: IAM permissions, SDK/CLI, environment configuration
Tip: IAM policy evaluation order is tested extensively on DVA-C02: explicit deny always wins, then explicit allow, then default deny. Know how to read an IAM policy JSON document and determine what actions are permitted or denied for a given request context.
Weeks 4–6
Serverless Development: Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, SQS, SNS, Step Functions
Tip: Lambda execution model: Lambda functions are stateless. Know how to use Lambda layers (shared code/libraries), environment variables (avoid hardcoding secrets), and the Lambda execution role (what the function is allowed to do). Lambda cold starts are tested — know what causes them and how provisioned concurrency mitigates them.
Weeks 7–8
Container and Deployment: ECS, ECR, Elastic Beanstalk, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy
Tip: CodeDeploy deployment configurations are tested: AllAtOnce (fastest, highest risk), HalfAtATime (moderate), OneAtATime (slowest, lowest risk), and custom percentages. Canary and linear deployment strategies (in-place or blue/green) each have specific use cases.
Weeks 9–12
Security, Monitoring, and Optimisation: KMS, Secrets Manager, X-Ray, CloudWatch
Tip: AWS X-Ray is tested on DVA-C02. Know that X-Ray provides distributed tracing across services and requires the X-Ray daemon or SDK in each service. The Service Map shows how services depend on each other, and Traces show the complete path of a single request.
DynamoDB is the most tested database service on DVA-C02. Key concepts: partition key (required, determines partition), sort key (optional, enables range queries), GSIs (Global Secondary Indexes, different partition/sort key, eventually consistent), LSIs (Local Secondary Indexes, same partition key, strongly consistent). Know when each type of index is appropriate.
SQS vs SNS vs EventBridge: SQS (point-to-point, pull-based, messages persist until consumed), SNS (push-based fan-out to multiple subscribers), EventBridge (event-driven routing based on rules). Know when to use each in an application architecture.
AWS Secrets Manager vs Systems Manager Parameter Store: Secrets Manager supports automatic rotation of secrets (RDS, Redshift, DocumentDB) and costs per secret. Parameter Store is free for standard parameters and integrates with IAM. Use Secrets Manager for credentials requiring rotation, Parameter Store for general configuration.
ElastiCache caching patterns: Cache-aside (application checks cache first, then DB on miss), Write-through (write to cache and DB simultaneously), Write-behind (write to cache first, async DB write). Know which pattern is appropriate for different consistency requirements.
API Gateway integration types: Lambda Proxy (event object passed directly to Lambda), Lambda Non-Proxy (mapping templates transform request/response), HTTP Proxy (forward to HTTP backend), HTTP Non-Proxy (with mapping templates), AWS Service (direct integration to AWS services). Know the difference between proxy and non-proxy integrations.
Apply everything in this guide with adaptive practice questions, detailed answer explanations, and domain analytics.
Deep-dive explanations of the key topics tested on DVA-C02 — with exam key points and common misconceptions.