AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam is changing to SAP-C02

If you’re planning on earning the extremely valuable AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification, you need to know that AWS are just about to release a new version of the exam. The SAP-C02 will replace the SAP-C01 on November 15th 2022.

What’s up with the new exam version?

This new version of the exam includes a LOT of NEW services! In fact, the SAP-C01 had around 100 services in scope and the SAP-C02 has over 150! That’s a big change for sure, so you’ll need to put in quite a bit of extra time to get your skills up to speed.

What exactly has changed?

Let’s first look at the domains of the new AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam guide and how they compare to the old exam.

OLD Exam (SAP-C01)	NEW Exam (SAP-C02)
Domain 1: Design for Organizational Complexity	Domain 1: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
Domain 2: Design for New Solutions	Domain 2: Design for New Solutions
Domain 3: Migration Planning	Domain 3: Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions
Domain 4: Cost Control	Domain 4: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
Domain 5: Continuous Improvement

As you can see, there are 4 domains rather than 5 in the new exam guide. Cost Control has been removed though services related to this domain are still in scope for the exam. For the other domains, the naming has changed a bit but they are mainly covering the same topics.

Next, we will investigate what new services are appearing on the SAP-C02 version of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam. The following services are NEW in the SAP-C02 exam:

Click the image above to watch our video about the New SAP-C02 Exam for the AWS Solutions Architect Professional from our youtube channel

Does this mean the exam will be harder?

We believe that the overall difficulty of the exam will not change too much. However, as there are many more services in the new exam – this does pose a challenge will learning these extra services. However, we suspect that for many of the new services you’ll only need to know the high level. Rest assured that the core of the exam will be very similar to the previous exam version.

When will the Digital Cloud Training courses be updated?

We are already in the process of adding new videos and practice tests to our training courses to cover the new topics in the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam guide. Over the next few weeks, more content will be added as we get first-hand experience of the exam and feedback from our thousands of students.

What do I need to do to prepare for the SAP-C02?

Enroll in the training for the AWS Solutions Architect Professional that will fully prepare you for your exam. Make sure you watch all new videos marked with [SAP-C02] at the beginning of the lesson name. We’ll remove that tag a few weeks after the new exam is released.

You should also take the practice tests until you are consistently scoring above 80%. To avoid disappointment, it’s best to not book your exam until you have reached this level.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to pay for the updated course? If you have an active enrollment in our training courses or membership, you’ll get the new content at no extra charge.

I am already certified, what do I need to do? Absolutely nothing! Certifications do not show an exam version and are valid for 3 years. If you are currently AWS certified you don’t need to do anything until you reach the end of your 3 year period at which time you will need to retake the exam.

When will the updates be made? We have already started updating the courses and we’ll be adding more content to our training courses in the next few weeks. Look out for announcements – there’s no need to contact us.

Is the new SAP-C02 exam harder? The overall difficulty should be very similar to the SAP-C01 but there are more services you need to understand.

Does the SAP-C02 include exam labs / hands-on labs? No, there is no hands-on testing component of the exam, it is pure multi-choice and multi-response only.

What is the length and number of questions in the exam? There are 75 questions and you get 180 minutes to complete the exam. You must achieve at least 750 points out of 1000 points. It’s worth noting that only 65 questions actually affect your score, the other 10 are experimental questions (unfortunately you won’t know which ones they are).

What is the cost of the exam? The exam costs $300 USD but make sure you use your discount coupon if you’ve previously passed another AWS exam to get 50% off.

Get Started Now

Enroll in our comprehensive training courses for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification. We are the only certification training provider to offer excellent video courses, practice test courses, and cheat sheets (PDF). Our courses are kept up-to-date to ensure you pass your exam the first time.

Not only do we offer many follow-along hands-on exercises in our courses, we also have AWS Challenge Labs so you can test your hands-on skills! These challenges are offered in a sandbox environment and are a great way to build and test your hands-on skills.