SAA-C03 Cheat Sheet

SAA-C03 Exam Blueprint — At a Glance

#	Domain	Weight	Questions	Practice
1.0	Design Secure Architectures Secure architecture questions test IAM policies, VPC security controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and the right AWS security service for a given threat.	30%	336	Practice →
2.0	Design Resilient Architectures High availability and resilience questions test multi-AZ vs multi-Region patterns, Auto Scaling, load balancing and the right service for a given recovery time objective.	26%	264	Practice →
3.0	Design High-Performing Architectures Design High-Performing Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design high-performing architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.	24%	238	Practice →
4.0	Design Cost-Optimized Architectures Design Cost-Optimized Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design cost-optimized architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.	20%	202	Practice →
Total		100%	1,040

Domain Quick Reference

1.0Design Secure Architectures

Secure architecture questions test IAM policies, VPC security controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and the right AWS security service for a given threat.

30%

Key concepts

✓IAM policies: identity-based, resource-based, permission boundaries.
✓VPC security: security groups vs NACLs, route tables, VPC endpoints.
✓Encryption: KMS, SSE-S3, SSE-KMS, client-side encryption.
✓AWS security services: GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie, Shield, WAF.

Watch out for

⚠Security groups are stateful; NACLs are stateless.
⚠KMS manages keys; it does not encrypt data directly.
⚠GuardDuty detects threats; Inspector assesses vulnerabilities; Macie finds sensitive data.
⚠A VPC endpoint keeps traffic off the public internet; it does not encrypt traffic.

2.0Design Resilient Architectures

High availability and resilience questions test multi-AZ vs multi-Region patterns, Auto Scaling, load balancing and the right service for a given recovery time objective.

26%

Key concepts

✓Multi-AZ vs multi-Region deployment trade-offs.
✓Auto Scaling policies and when to scale horizontally vs vertically.
✓Elastic Load Balancing: ALB, NLB, CLB and their use cases.
✓RTO and RPO targets matched to the correct AWS architecture.

Watch out for

⚠Multi-AZ protects against AZ failure; multi-Region protects against Region failure.
⚠Auto Scaling does not guarantee zero downtime without a load balancer.
⚠ALB operates at Layer 7; NLB operates at Layer 4.
⚠Pilot light is cheaper than warm standby but has longer recovery time.

3.0Design High-Performing Architectures

Design High-Performing Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design high-performing architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

24%

Key concepts

✓Core Design High-Performing Architectures concepts and how they apply in real-world cloud scenarios.
✓How to deploy design high-performing architectures correctly and verify the outcome.
✓Troubleshooting design high-performing architectures issues by interpreting error output and system state.
✓Cloud best practices and Design High-Performing Architectures design trade-offs tested by this certification.

Watch out for

⚠Selecting the most expensive service when a simpler managed option meets the requirement.
⚠Forgetting that cloud resources must be explicitly secured — defaults are rarely secure.
⚠Choosing a global service fix when the issue is region-specific.
⚠Overlooking cost implications of cross-region data transfer in architecture questions.

4.0Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design cost-optimized architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

20%

Key concepts

✓Core Design Cost-Optimized Architectures concepts and how they apply in real-world cloud scenarios.
✓How to deploy design cost-optimized architectures correctly and verify the outcome.
✓Troubleshooting design cost-optimized architectures issues by interpreting error output and system state.
✓Cloud best practices and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures design trade-offs tested by this certification.

Watch out for

⚠Selecting the most expensive service when a simpler managed option meets the requirement.
⚠Forgetting that cloud resources must be explicitly secured — defaults are rarely secure.
⚠Choosing a global service fix when the issue is region-specific.
⚠Overlooking cost implications of cross-region data transfer in architecture questions.

Exam Day Reminders

→Read every question stem fully — look for qualifiers like 'MOST likely,' 'BEST,' or 'EXCEPT.'
→Flag uncertain questions and come back — don't waste time on one question.
→Eliminate obviously wrong options first, then choose between remaining ones.
→Trust your first instinct unless you have a specific reason to change.
→For SAA-C03, scenarios typically have one clearly best answer — look for the option that matches the specific constraints in the question.

Domain

Weight

Questions

Practice

1.0

Design Secure Architectures

Secure architecture questions test IAM policies, VPC security controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and the right AWS security service for a given threat.

30%

336

Practice →

2.0

Design Resilient Architectures

High availability and resilience questions test multi-AZ vs multi-Region patterns, Auto Scaling, load balancing and the right service for a given recovery time objective.

26%

264

Practice →

3.0

Design High-Performing Architectures

Design High-Performing Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design high-performing architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

24%

238

Practice →

4.0

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design cost-optimized architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

20%

202

Practice →

Total

100%

1,040

Domain Quick Reference

1.0Design Secure Architectures

Secure architecture questions test IAM policies, VPC security controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and the right AWS security service for a given threat.

30%

Key concepts

✓IAM policies: identity-based, resource-based, permission boundaries.
✓VPC security: security groups vs NACLs, route tables, VPC endpoints.
✓Encryption: KMS, SSE-S3, SSE-KMS, client-side encryption.
✓AWS security services: GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie, Shield, WAF.

Watch out for

⚠Security groups are stateful; NACLs are stateless.
⚠KMS manages keys; it does not encrypt data directly.
⚠GuardDuty detects threats; Inspector assesses vulnerabilities; Macie finds sensitive data.
⚠A VPC endpoint keeps traffic off the public internet; it does not encrypt traffic.

2.0Design Resilient Architectures

High availability and resilience questions test multi-AZ vs multi-Region patterns, Auto Scaling, load balancing and the right service for a given recovery time objective.

26%

Key concepts

✓Multi-AZ vs multi-Region deployment trade-offs.
✓Auto Scaling policies and when to scale horizontally vs vertically.
✓Elastic Load Balancing: ALB, NLB, CLB and their use cases.
✓RTO and RPO targets matched to the correct AWS architecture.

Watch out for

⚠Multi-AZ protects against AZ failure; multi-Region protects against Region failure.
⚠Auto Scaling does not guarantee zero downtime without a load balancer.
⚠ALB operates at Layer 7; NLB operates at Layer 4.
⚠Pilot light is cheaper than warm standby but has longer recovery time.

3.0Design High-Performing Architectures

Design High-Performing Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design high-performing architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

24%

Key concepts

✓Core Design High-Performing Architectures concepts and how they apply in real-world cloud scenarios.
✓How to deploy design high-performing architectures correctly and verify the outcome.
✓Troubleshooting design high-performing architectures issues by interpreting error output and system state.
✓Cloud best practices and Design High-Performing Architectures design trade-offs tested by this certification.

Watch out for

⚠Selecting the most expensive service when a simpler managed option meets the requirement.
⚠Forgetting that cloud resources must be explicitly secured — defaults are rarely secure.
⚠Choosing a global service fix when the issue is region-specific.
⚠Overlooking cost implications of cross-region data transfer in architecture questions.

4.0Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design cost-optimized architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

20%

Key concepts

✓Core Design Cost-Optimized Architectures concepts and how they apply in real-world cloud scenarios.
✓How to deploy design cost-optimized architectures correctly and verify the outcome.
✓Troubleshooting design cost-optimized architectures issues by interpreting error output and system state.
✓Cloud best practices and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures design trade-offs tested by this certification.

Watch out for

⚠Selecting the most expensive service when a simpler managed option meets the requirement.
⚠Forgetting that cloud resources must be explicitly secured — defaults are rarely secure.
⚠Choosing a global service fix when the issue is region-specific.
⚠Overlooking cost implications of cross-region data transfer in architecture questions.

Exam Day Reminders

→Read every question stem fully — look for qualifiers like 'MOST likely,' 'BEST,' or 'EXCEPT.'

→Flag uncertain questions and come back — don't waste time on one question.

→Eliminate obviously wrong options first, then choose between remaining ones.

→Trust your first instinct unless you have a specific reason to change.

→For SAA-C03, scenarios typically have one clearly best answer — look for the option that matches the specific constraints in the question.

SAA-C03 Exam Blueprint — At a Glance

Domain Quick Reference

1.0Design Secure Architectures

2.0Design Resilient Architectures

3.0Design High-Performing Architectures

4.0Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

Exam Day Reminders

More SAA-C03 resources

SAA-C03 Cheat Sheet

SAA-C03 Exam Blueprint — At a Glance

Domain Quick Reference

1.0Design Secure Architectures

2.0Design Resilient Architectures

3.0Design High-Performing Architectures

4.0Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

Exam Day Reminders

More SAA-C03 resources