Understanding the Exam Format and Domain Weights
Break down the four SAA-C03 domains—Design Secure Architectures, Resilient Architectures, High-Performing Architectures, Cost-Optimised Architectures—and their weightings.
SAA-C03 Exam at a Glance
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam consists of 65 questions to be answered in 130 minutes (~2 minutes per question). The passing score is 720 out of 1000. Questions are either multiple-choice (one correct answer) or multiple-response (two or more correct answers from five options). The exam is scenario-based — you must apply AWS knowledge to business and technical scenarios, not recall isolated facts.
The Four Exam Domains
SAA-C03 is divided into four scored domains. Domain 1 – Design Secure Architectures: 30%. Domain 2 – Design Resilient Architectures: 26%. Domain 3 – Design High-Performing Architectures: 24%. Domain 4 – Design Cost-Optimised Architectures: 20%. Security is the heaviest domain, reflecting AWS's security-first ethos. Note that Operational Excellence and Sustainability (from the Well-Architected Framework) are not separate domains — they appear within the other four domains.
# Domain weights as percentage of total score:
# Domain 1: Secure Architectures 30% (~20 questions)
# Domain 2: Resilient Architectures 26% (~17 questions)
# Domain 3: High-Performing Arch. 24% (~16 questions)
# Domain 4: Cost-Optimised Arch. 20% (~13 questions)
# Total: 100% (65 questions)All lessons in this course
- Understanding the Exam Format and Domain Weights
- Identifying Keywords and Service Signals in Questions
- Process of Elimination and Distractor Patterns
- Time Management and Review Techniques