What this course is, and is not
This course prepares you for the AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate (DEA-C01) exam. Three points before you start:
- It is independent of AWS. It is not produced, endorsed or sponsored by Amazon Web Services.
- Every practice question is original. None is a real exam question, and none is presented as one.
- It promises no pass. It teaches what the exam guide lists; the result depends on your study and hands-on practice.
The exam guide says the exam validates your ability to implement data pipelines and to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize cost and performance issues in accordance with best practices.
Task 1: Memorise the exam format
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 65 |
| Scored questions | 50 |
| Unscored questions | 15 (not identified on the exam) |
| Time allowed | 130 minutes |
| Result | Scaled score of 100–1,000 |
| Minimum passing score | 720 |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored |
What this means for you:
- Treat every question as scored. AWS uses the 15 unscored questions to evaluate them for future use, and you cannot tell which ones they are.
- Budget about 2 minutes per question (130 minutes ÷ 65 questions).
- Do not read 720 as "72% correct". The score is scaled so that exam forms of slightly different difficulty can be compared.
- Do not panic over one weak area. The exam uses a compensatory scoring model: you do not need a passing score in each section, only on the overall exam.
Task 2: Know the two response types
- Multiple choice: one correct response and three incorrect responses (distractors).
- Multiple response: two or more correct responses out of five or more options.
A distractor is an option that a candidate with incomplete knowledge or skill might choose. Distractors are generally plausible and match the content area, so expect wrong answers that name real, relevant services.
Rule to act on: unanswered questions are scored as incorrect, and there is no penalty for guessing. Never leave a question blank.
Task 3: Map the four domains and 17 tasks
The weightings apply to scored content. Out of 50 scored questions they work out to roughly 17, 13, 11 and 9.
Content Domain 1: Data Ingestion and Transformation (34%)
- Task 1.1: Perform data ingestion
- Task 1.2: Transform and process data
- Task 1.3: Orchestrate data pipelines
- Task 1.4: Apply programming concepts
Content Domain 2: Data Store Management (26%)
- Task 2.1: Choose a data store
- Task 2.2: Understand data cataloging systems
- Task 2.3: Manage the lifecycle of data
- Task 2.4: Design data models and schema evolution
Content Domain 3: Data Operations and Support (22%)
- Task 3.1: Automate data processing by using AWS services
- Task 3.2: Analyze data by using AWS services
- Task 3.3: Maintain and monitor data pipelines
- Task 3.4: Ensure data quality
Content Domain 4: Data Security and Governance (18%)
- Task 4.1: Apply authentication mechanisms
- Task 4.2: Apply authorization mechanisms
- Task 4.3: Ensure data encryption and masking
- Task 4.4: Prepare logs for audit
- Task 4.5: Understand data privacy and governance
That is 4 + 4 + 4 + 5 = 17 tasks. Each task contains numbered skills, such as Skill 1.1.7.
How the course follows the weightings: the 60 levels are spread across the domains roughly in proportion to these percentages. Domain 1 gets the most levels and Domain 4 the fewest. Split your own study hours the same way.
Note that Domain 4 has the most tasks but the lowest weighting. The number of tasks does not tell you the number of questions.
Task 4: Know what is out of scope
The guide says the target candidate is not expected to:
- Perform ML training and inferences.
- Demonstrate knowledge of programming language-specific syntax.
- Draw business conclusions based on data.
You will reason about concepts and services. You will not debug Python line by line.
Task 5: Apply a repeatable method to scenario questions
Most questions describe a situation and ask for the best answer. Several options may work technically, but only one fits the stated constraint. This is like a SQL query: the scenario is the table, and the constraint words are the WHERE and ORDER BY clauses that decide which row comes out on top.
Do this every time:
- Read the final sentence first. It holds the actual question.
- Mark the constraint words. Common ones are lowest cost / MOST cost-effective, LEAST operational overhead, near real time, MOST secure and without code changes.
- List the hard requirements in the scenario, such as data volume, latency, existing tools and compliance rules.
- Eliminate options that fail a hard requirement.
- Rank the survivors against the constraint word and choose the top one.
- Answer the question. If you are unsure, guess from the survivors.
Worked example (original practice question):
A team must run a short data-cleaning job once each night. The team has no staff to patch servers. Which solution meets these requirements with the LEAST operational overhead?
- The constraint is LEAST operational overhead.
- The hard requirements are a nightly schedule, a short job and no server maintenance.
- A fleet of servers that the team installs and patches would work, but it fails the constraint. That makes it a plausible distractor.
- A fully managed, serverless option on a schedule satisfies the requirements and the constraint.
Change the constraint to lowest cost or near real time and the best answer can change, even though the scenario stays the same.
Task 6: Check that your guide is current
AWS reviews exam guides periodically and publishes revisions at least one month before the changes appear on the exam. The current guide is Version 1.1, published December 12, 2025. Before you book, open the guide's Revisions section and confirm nothing has changed.
What the exam asks about this
The exam does not test its own format. This level matters because the method in Task 5 applies to every question:
- Expect plausible distractors built from real services.
- Expect one deciding constraint in most scenarios.
- Expect the option that is "technically possible but more work" to be wrong when the stem says LEAST operational overhead.
Key takeaways
- The exam has 65 questions, of which 50 are scored and 15 are unscored and unidentified, in 130 minutes.
- The scaled score runs from 100 to 1,000 and the minimum passing score is 720.
- Scoring is compensatory, so you pass on the overall exam and not section by section.
- There are two response types, multiple choice and multiple response, with no penalty for guessing.
- The four domains are weighted 34%, 26%, 22% and 18%, with 17 tasks split 4, 4, 4 and 5.
- For each scenario, read the question line first, mark the constraint words, eliminate, then rank.
- This course is independent of AWS, uses only original questions and promises no pass.