Use this checklist to track your study progress across every domain and topic tested on the AWS CLF-C02 exam. Work through it linearly if you’re following one of the study schedules, or jump to specific sections to identify gaps as you get closer to exam day. The goal is to reach 100% before you sit for the real exam — but more importantly, to do it with genuine understanding, not just box-ticking.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/roxsross/aws-cloud-practitioner-complete-guide/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Check off each item only when you can explain the concept in your own words or apply it to a scenario — not just when you’ve read about it once. Active recall beats passive recognition every time.
Domain 1: Cloud Concepts (24%)
- Can define cloud computing and its key characteristics (on-demand, broad access, resource pooling, elasticity, measured service)
- Know all six advantages of cloud computing (TV-GAPS: Trade capital, Volume discounts, Guess capacity gone, Agility, Physical data centers managed by AWS, Speed to global)
- Can explain Public, Private, and Hybrid cloud models and give a use case for each
- Understand IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS with concrete AWS service examples (EC2 = IaaS, Elastic Beanstalk = PaaS, Chime = SaaS)
- Know the difference between Region, Availability Zone, and Edge Location — and when each matters
- Understand the scale and purpose of AWS global infrastructure
Domain 2: Security & Compliance (30%)
- Can explain the Shared Responsibility Model for EC2, RDS, and Lambda — know exactly where the AWS boundary ends and yours begins
- Know IAM Users, Groups, Roles, and Policies — what each is and when to use it
- Understand the Principle of Least Privilege and can apply it to a scenario
- Know when to use IAM Roles vs IAM Users (roles for services and cross-account; users for humans with long-term credentials)
- MFA: know what it is, when it’s required, and which account types must have it enabled
- Know the purpose of GuardDuty (threat detection), Macie (S3 data classification), Inspector (EC2/container vulnerability scanning), Shield (DDoS protection), and WAF (web application firewall)
- Know what AWS CloudTrail does: records all API calls for auditing and compliance
- Know what AWS Config does: tracks resource configuration history and evaluates compliance against rules
- Know how to access compliance documents and audit reports through AWS Artifact
- Know the major compliance frameworks covered by AWS: PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001
Domain 3: Technology & Services (34%)
Compute
- Know EC2 instance types (General Purpose, Compute Optimized, Memory Optimized, etc.) and their intended workloads
- Know all EC2 pricing options: On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Spot, Savings Plans, Dedicated Hosts (O-R-S-S-D)
- Understand when to use Lambda vs EC2 vs Fargate — event-driven/short tasks vs persistent servers vs containerized workloads
Storage
- Know S3 storage classes and their use cases: Standard, Intelligent-Tiering, Standard-IA, One Zone-IA, Glacier Instant, Glacier Flexible, Glacier Deep Archive
- Understand the difference between S3 (object), EBS (block, EC2-attached), and EFS (file, shared across EC2)
- Know AWS Snow Family use cases: Snowcone (edge/small), Snowball Edge (TB-scale migration), Snowmobile (EB-scale data center moves)
Networking
- Understand VPC architecture: subnets (public vs private), security groups (stateful), NACLs (stateless), internet gateway, NAT gateway
- Know CloudFront’s purpose: CDN that caches content at edge locations to reduce latency globally
- Know Route 53 routing policies: Simple, Weighted, Latency-based, Failover, Geolocation, Geoproximity, Multi-value
Databases
- Understand when to use RDS (relational, structured, SQL) vs DynamoDB (NoSQL, key-value, millisecond latency at any scale)
- Know ElastiCache use case: in-memory caching layer (Redis/Memcached) to reduce database read load
Additional Services
- Know the difference between SQS (queue: decouples producers and consumers, messages pulled) and SNS (pub/sub: pushes notifications to multiple subscribers)
- Know the difference between CloudWatch (metrics, logs, alarms, dashboards) and CloudTrail (API call history and audit trail)
- Know 5 AWS AI/ML services: Rekognition (image/video analysis), Comprehend (NLP/sentiment), Translate (language translation), Lex (chatbot/voice), SageMaker (build/train/deploy ML models)
Domain 4: Billing & Support (12%)
- Know all four EC2 and compute pricing models: On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Spot, Savings Plans
- Understand the AWS Free Tier tiers: always-free (e.g., Lambda 1M requests/month), 12-months free (e.g., EC2 t2.micro), and short-term trials
- Know AWS Cost Explorer (analyze past spend), Budgets (set spend/usage alerts), and Cost and Usage Report (detailed billing data for S3 export)
- Understand AWS Organizations and how consolidated billing aggregates charges across member accounts for volume discounts
- Know all four support plans: Basic (free), Developer (business-hours email), Business (24/7 phone, Production SLA), Enterprise (TAM, Mission-Critical SLA)
- Know which plan includes 24/7 phone and chat access: Business and above
- Know which plan includes a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM): Enterprise only
Practice Exams
Work through all three practice exams under timed, exam-like conditions (90 minutes, no notes).- Completed Practice Exam 1 — Score: ___
- Reviewed all incorrect answers from Exam 1 and re-studied those topics
- Completed Practice Exam 2 — Score: ___
- Reviewed all incorrect answers from Exam 2 and re-studied those topics
- Completed Practice Exam 3 — Score: ___
- Reviewed all incorrect answers from Exam 3 and re-studied those topics
- Achieving 80% or higher on practice exams consistently
Final Steps
Complete these in the days immediately before your exam.- Reviewed the service cheat sheet (quick-reference scan, not deep re-reading)
- Read the exam tips page for strategy and question-elimination techniques
- Scheduled your exam date on the AWS Certification portal
- Confirmed exam ID requirements for your specific testing method (online or test center)
- Set up your exam environment: quiet room, stable internet, cleared desk, tested camera and microphone
- Planned for a good night’s sleep the night before — no late-night cramming
Keep Going
Practice Exam 1
Start your timed practice runs here. Simulate real exam conditions — no notes, 90 minutes.
Exam Tips
Time management strategies, question elimination techniques, and mental preparation for exam day.
Final Prep Overview
The 7-day review plan, day-of checklist, and memory techniques to finish strong.
Service Cheat Sheet
A condensed reference of every major AWS service, its purpose, and when to choose it.