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AWS · Cloud · Associate

AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (formerly SysOps) exam guide

Exam SOA-C03

The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (the renamed SysOps Administrator, exam SOA-C03 since September 30, 2025) validates that you can deploy, operate, monitor and troubleshoot workloads on AWS. It is the operations-focused associate credential and maps directly to cloud operations and SRE-style roles.

Questions65
Time limit130 minutes
Passing score720 (100-1000 scale)
Exam fee$150 USD
Valid for3 years
DeliveryPearson VUE test center or online proctored

Format: Multiple choice and multiple response. Fee note: Plus applicable taxes/FX; 50% off with a voucher from a previously passed AWS exam.

Who it's for

Systems administrators, cloud operations and support engineers with about one year of hands-on experience running workloads on AWS.

What the exam covers

Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization22%
Reliability and Business Continuity22%
Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation22%
Security and Compliance16%
Networking and Content Delivery18%

Eligibility & prerequisites

Required: None

Recommended: About 1 year of hands-on experience deploying, managing and operating workloads on AWS.

Keeping it active

Valid 3 years. Recertify by passing the current version of this exam, or by passing AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional, which AWS states also renews SOA-C02/SOA-C03 holders. Passing any AWS exam earns a 50% voucher for the next one.

Skills & careers

Skills it validates

  • CloudWatch metrics, alarms, Logs Insights and the CloudWatch agent
  • Automated remediation with EventBridge, Systems Manager Automation and Config rules
  • Backup, Multi-AZ and DR strategies with AWS Backup, RDS and Route 53
  • Provisioning and stack management with CloudFormation and CDK
  • VPC troubleshooting: security groups, NACLs, flow logs, VPN and CloudWatch network monitoring
  • Security and compliance enforcement with IAM, Organizations and Region/service restrictions
  • Performance and cost tuning of EC2, EBS and S3

Job roles

Cloud Operations EngineerAWS SysOps AdministratorSite Reliability EngineerCloud Support EngineerSystems AdministratorCloud Engineer

Where it fits in your path

Planning a degree too? See how this cert earns college credit in the College Credit Navigator.

Build my study plan

  1. Week 1: Read the SOA-C03 exam guide and the SOA-C02 vs C03 comparison; set up a sandbox account with budgets and alerts
  2. Week 2-3: Monitoring and remediation - CloudWatch agent, metric filters, alarms, dashboards, EventBridge, Systems Manager (Run Command, Patch Manager, Automation)
  3. Week 4: Reliability - Auto Scaling, ELB health checks, RDS Multi-AZ, AWS Backup plans, Route 53 failover
  4. Week 5: Deployment - CloudFormation (change sets, drift, StackSets) and CDK; AMI pipelines
  5. Week 6: Networking and security - VPC troubleshooting with flow logs and Reachability Analyzer, IAM policy evaluation, Config, Security Hub
  6. Week 7-8: Timed practice exams; redo weak labs from scratch

Make it yours: pick your exam date and weekly hours. We'll split your time by domain weight and give you a printable plan.

Exam-day tips

  • Cost optimization is no longer its own domain in SOA-C03; it now sits inside Domain 1 with performance tuning
  • Know the CloudWatch agent configuration well - it was explicitly added in SOA-C03
  • Expect remediation questions: the preferred answer is usually automated (EventBridge plus SSM Automation or Config auto-remediation) rather than manual
  • Know CloudFormation behaviors: DeletionPolicy, stack drift, change sets and StackSets across accounts
  • For connectivity questions, check security groups (stateful) vs NACLs (stateless) before anything else
  • VPN topics moved into the Networking domain - review Site-to-Site VPN monitoring

Key terms for this exam

All 132 terms Study with thinQcards™

Commonly confused on this exam

Frequently asked questions

Is SysOps Administrator still available?

No. SOA-C02 retired September 29, 2025. The certification is now called AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03).

How much is the AWS CloudOps Engineer Associate exam?

$150 USD plus applicable taxes, 65 questions in 130 minutes.

Is CloudOps Engineer harder than Solutions Architect Associate?

Many find it harder because it tests operational detail (CloudWatch, Systems Manager, CloudFormation behavior) rather than design choices.

Does SOA-C03 have hands-on labs?

AWS's current exam page lists the format as multiple choice or multiple response; check the exam guide before your test date for any change.

What should I take after CloudOps Engineer?

AWS DevOps Engineer - Professional is the natural next step and also renews your CloudOps certification.

Official page: aws.amazon.com. Reviewed November 2026. Vendors change fees and objectives, so confirm with the vendor before you book. Spot something out of date? Tell us.