AWS · DVA-C02
AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) Practice Test
Validates ability to develop, test, deploy, and debug AWS Cloud-based applications using AWS services.
Exam Details
Questions
536
Duration
130 minutes
Passing Score
720/1000
Difficulty
AssociateLast Updated
Jan 2026
Topics Covered
Development with AWS ServicesSecurityDeploymentTroubleshooting and Optimization
AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) Practice Exam Preparation
Use this DVA-C02 practice exam to prepare for AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) with realistic questions, detailed explanations, and focused study modes. The practice bank includes 536 questions for AWS DVA-C02, so you can review the exam steadily instead of relying on one long cram session.
As you practice, pay extra attention to recurring topics such as Development with AWS Services, Security, Deployment, and Troubleshooting and Optimization. Start with short sessions to identify weak areas, then move into timed quizzes once your accuracy is consistent.
The explanations are especially useful when you want to connect exam wording to the responsibilities and scenarios described in the official certification guidance. Use the free preview first, then unlock the full question bank when you are ready to build a complete study routine.
Exam Domain Breakdown
Development with AWS Services32%
Security26%
Deployment24%
Troubleshooting and Optimization18%
Exam Overview
The AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) is an intermediate-level certification from Amazon Web Services that validates a candidate's proficiency in developing, testing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications on the AWS platform. It demonstrates hands-on competency with core AWS developer services including AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon S3, Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS, AWS CodePipeline, AWS CodeBuild, AWS CodeDeploy, and the AWS SDKs and CLI. The exam was updated in December 2024 (Version 2.1) to include 18 new skills, incorporating topics such as Amazon Q Developer, event-driven architecture patterns with Amazon EventBridge, and resilience patterns like retry logic and circuit breakers.
The certification covers four weighted domains: developing applications with AWS services (32%), implementing security controls (26%), automating deployment workflows (24%), and troubleshooting and optimizing applications (18%). It is recognized globally as a benchmark for cloud developers and is valid for three years, after which holders can recertify by retaking the current exam version or by earning the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional credential.
Who Should Take This Exam
This certification is designed for software developers and cloud engineers who spend at least a portion of their role building and maintaining applications on AWS. Relevant job titles include Cloud Developer, Backend Developer, Full-Stack Developer, DevOps Engineer, and Solutions Developer. Candidates typically have one or more years of hands-on experience writing application code using AWS services, familiarity with at least one high-level programming language (such as Python, Java, JavaScript, or Go), and practical knowledge of cloud-native development patterns.
Developers who are new to cloud but hold strong general programming backgrounds will also find this exam accessible, though AWS recommends that individuals with no prior IT experience first earn the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner to build foundational knowledge before attempting this associate-level exam.
Prerequisites
There are no formal prerequisites required to register for the DVA-C02 exam. However, AWS recommends that candidates have one or more years of practical experience developing and maintaining applications using AWS services before sitting the exam. Candidates should be comfortable with at least one high-level programming language and have working knowledge of AWS core services such as IAM, S3, DynamoDB, Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, and SNS.
Familiarity with CI/CD concepts and hands-on experience with AWS developer tools (CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline) is also strongly advised. Candidates should understand RESTful API design, serverless architectures, and basic cloud security principles including authentication via Amazon Cognito and secrets management via AWS Secrets Manager and AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store.
Exam Format
The DVA-C02 exam consists of 65 total questions: 50 scored questions and 15 unscored pretest questions that do not affect the final score (unscored questions are not identified during the exam). Question types are either multiple choice (one correct answer from four options) or multiple response (two or more correct answers from five or more options). The time limit is 130 minutes, and the exam is proctored via Pearson VUE either at an authorized testing center or through an online proctored session. The exam is available in English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America).
Scores are reported on a scaled score of 100–1,000, with a minimum passing score of 720. Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; there is no penalty for guessing. The exam fee is $150 USD, and AWS provides certified holders with a 50% discount voucher for their next certification exam.
Skills Measured
- 1.Domain 1 – Development with AWS Services (32%): Writing and optimizing application code hosted on AWS; developing and deploying AWS Lambda functions including event source mappings, layers, and environment variables; using AWS data stores in application development (DynamoDB, ElastiCache, RDS, S3, Amazon Kinesis); integrating applications using Amazon API Gateway, SQS, SNS, EventBridge, and Step Functions; applying event-driven architecture patterns and resilience patterns such as retry logic and exponential backoff.
- 2.Domain 2 – Security (26%): Implementing authentication and authorization using Amazon Cognito user pools and identity pools; managing API access with IAM policies, resource-based policies, and Lambda authorizers; encrypting data at rest and in transit using AWS KMS and ACM; handling sensitive application credentials securely using AWS Secrets Manager and SSM Parameter Store; applying the principle of least privilege to Lambda execution roles and application IAM roles.
- 3.Domain 3 – Deployment (24%): Preparing and packaging application artifacts for deployment to AWS (ZIP packages, container images, SAM templates, CloudFormation); configuring and using AWS CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodePipeline for CI/CD workflows; deploying serverless applications using AWS SAM and the AWS CDK; using deployment strategies including canary, linear, and all-at-once via CodeDeploy; testing applications in development environments using AWS services and local emulation tools.
- 4.Domain 4 – Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%): Using Amazon CloudWatch Logs, CloudWatch Metrics, and AWS X-Ray to instrument and trace applications; performing root cause analysis on application errors including Lambda timeouts, throttling, and cold starts; optimizing Lambda performance through memory allocation, provisioned concurrency, and code profiling; using Amazon Q Developer for code suggestions and debugging assistance; optimizing DynamoDB access patterns and S3 performance configurations.
Study Tips
- Start with the official AWS Exam Prep Standard Course on AWS Skill Builder, which follows the four-step exam prep plan and maps directly to DVA-C02 domains. Complete the official practice question set (20 questions) to calibrate your readiness before purchasing the full practice exam.
- Download and study Version 2.1 of the official DVA-C02 Exam Guide from aws.amazon.com. Review the in-scope and out-of-scope task statements carefully — architectural design and VPC networking design are explicitly out of scope, so avoid over-indexing on those areas.
- Build hands-on experience with Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, SQS/SNS, and Cognito. The exam heavily tests code-level integration knowledge — understand how to configure event source mappings, DynamoDB Streams, SQS triggers for Lambda, and how retry behavior works for each invocation type (synchronous vs. asynchronous).
- Focus significant study time on the Security domain (26% weighting). Understand the difference between Cognito user pools and identity pools, when to use AWS Secrets Manager vs. SSM Parameter Store, how KMS envelope encryption works, and how to scope IAM policies for Lambda execution roles.
- Study the AWS CI/CD toolchain (CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline) end-to-end. Know the deployment configuration options in CodeDeploy (canary, linear, all-at-once), how buildspec.yml is structured in CodeBuild, and how appspec.yml works for Lambda and EC2 deployments.
- Practice with AWS X-Ray to understand how to instrument Lambda functions and trace requests across distributed services. The Troubleshooting domain (18%) tests your ability to identify bottlenecks and errors using CloudWatch Logs Insights, X-Ray service maps, and CloudWatch Metrics.
- Review the December 2024 exam updates if using older study materials. Version 2.1 added Amazon Q Developer usage, EventBridge event patterns, and resilience patterns (circuit breakers, exponential backoff) — topics not covered in pre-2024 resources.
Career Benefits
The AWS Certified Developer – Associate is one of the highest-compensating associate-level cloud certifications available. AWS-certified developers in the United States report average salaries of approximately $130,000–$133,000 per year, with senior roles exceeding $150,000. According to industry salary surveys, AWS-certified IT professionals earn on average 27.5% more than non-certified counterparts, and 19% of certification holders report a direct salary increase following certification. The credential is recognized globally and is frequently listed as a required or preferred qualification in cloud developer job postings across financial services, healthcare, technology, and e-commerce sectors.
Beyond compensation, 63% of certified AWS professionals report receiving or expecting a promotion after certification, and 41% report increased workplace engagement. The DVA-C02 serves as a natural step toward higher-level credentials including the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional and AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional. Compared to vendor-neutral developer certifications, the AWS Developer Associate carries stronger market specificity, particularly for organizations running workloads on AWS — which represents the majority of enterprise cloud deployments.
Sample Questions
5 sample questions with answers and explanations. Start a practice session to test yourself across all 536 questions.
Preview — answers shown1. A company runs a content management system (CMS) on a fleet of EC2 instances spread across multiple Availability Zones. All instances need to access and modify a shared file system where user-uploaded media is stored. Which storage service is designed for this multi-instance, multi-AZ shared access pattern?
AAmazon EBS with Multi-Attach
BEC2 Instance Store
CAmazon EFS (Elastic File System)
DAmazon S3
Explanation
This scenario requires a POSIX-compliant file system that can be mounted and shared by many instances simultaneously. Why it's correct: Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable file system that uses the NFS protocol. It is designed to be mounted concurrently by thousands of clients (including EC2 instances in different AZs). This makes it the perfect solution for use cases like shared web server content, data sharing for HPC clusters, and content management systems. Why others are incorrect: EBS Multi-Attach is limited to a single AZ and a small number of instances. Instance Store is local and not shared. S3 is object storage, not a file system that can be mounted like a network drive.
2. A Java application uses a dependency injection framework like Spring. A service class requires a timeout value from the application's configuration. What is the best practice for providing this value to the service class?
AThe service class should read the value directly from a static global configuration object.
BThe service class should make an API call to Parameter Store itself to get the value.
CThe dependency injection framework should read the configuration and 'inject' the value into the service class's constructor or a field annotated with @Value.
DThe value should be hardcoded as a constant in the service class.
Explanation
Dependency Injection (DI) is a design pattern used to implement Inversion of Control (IoC). It makes code more modular, testable, and maintainable. Why it's correct: With DI, components declare their dependencies rather than creating them. The DI framework is responsible for creating the objects and injecting the required dependencies, including configuration values. This decouples the service class from the source of the configuration, making it much easier to test in isolation (by injecting a mock value) and to manage. Why others are incorrect: Using global objects creates hidden dependencies. Having the class call Parameter Store directly makes it hard to test and couples it to AWS. Hardcoding is inflexible.
3. A team wants to deploy a new version of their application running on a single EC2 instance with the fastest possible deployment time, and they can accept a brief period of downtime. Which CodeDeploy deployment configuration for EC2 should they choose?
AOneAtATime
BHalfAtATime
CAllAtOnce
DBlue/Green
Explanation
The 'AllAtOnce' strategy prioritizes speed over availability. Why it's correct: The AllAtOnce deployment configuration attempts to deploy the new version to all target instances simultaneously. For a single instance, this means the CodeDeploy agent will stop the old application, install the new one, and start it. This is the fastest method but also incurs downtime while the application is stopped. Why others are incorrect: OneAtATime and HalfAtATime are for multi-instance fleets and are slower. Blue/Green is a separate strategy that prioritizes zero downtime but is slower and more complex.
4. An application is making too many GetObject API calls to S3 and is receiving a ThrottlingException. The AWS SDK is not being used. What should the developer implement in their code to handle this error gracefully?
AImmediately retry the request in a tight loop.
BRequest a service quota increase for S3 GetObject.
CImplement a retry mechanism with exponential backoff and jitter.
DSwitch to using the PutObject API.
Explanation
Exponential backoff is the standard algorithm for handling rate-limiting and transient server-side errors. Why it's correct: When an API throttles a request, it means the client is calling it too frequently. The correct response is to wait and try again later. Exponential backoff (waiting progressively longer between retries) combined with jitter (a small random delay) is the recommended pattern. This prevents the client from hammering the service and helps spread out retry attempts from multiple clients, giving the service time to recover. Why others are incorrect: Immediate retries will worsen the problem. A quota increase might be needed for a consistent high load, but handling the transient throttling exception correctly is the immediate coding requirement. PutObject is for a different action.
5. A team needs to provide two different sets of cache settings for their CloudFront distribution. Requests for /images/* should be cached for one day. Requests for /api/* should not be cached at all. How should this be configured?
ACreate two separate CloudFront distributions, one for each path.
BCreate a single distribution with two Cache Behaviors: one for /images/* with a caching policy, and one for /api/* with a 'caching disabled' policy.
CSet the TTL on the origin S3 bucket to one day.
DUse AWS WAF to block caching for the /api/* path.
Explanation
Cache Behaviors are the mechanism for applying different configurations to different URL paths within a single distribution. Why it's correct: This is the exact use case for cache behaviors. You would create a behavior with the path pattern /images/* and attach a cache policy with the desired TTL. You would then create another behavior with the path pattern /api/* and attach a managed policy like CachingDisabled, which forwards all headers and does not cache responses. The default behavior /* would handle all other requests. Why others are incorrect: Two distributions would work but is more complex and less efficient than using behaviors. The origin TTL is just one part of the configuration. WAF is a firewall, not a caching control tool.
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