CLF study guide
CLF · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (often abbreviated CLF, and currently offered as CLF-C02) is AWS's foundational certification. It is aimed at people who need a working command of cloud vocabulary and the AWS service catalogue rather than deep hands-on engineering: sales and marketing staff, project and product managers, finance and procurement analysts, support staff, and career changers preparing for a more technical role. The exam is delivered in English and other languages, in multiple-choice and multiple-response format, and is scored against four domains: Cloud Concepts (24%), Security and Compliance (30%), Cloud Technology and Services (34%), and Billing, Pricing, and Support (12%). Expect questions that test whether you can choose the right service or pricing model for a described scenario, not whether you can configure it. The CLF study guide has 4 sections and about 1,522 words.
01Cloud Concepts: value, global infrastructure, and AWS frameworks
Cloud Concepts carries about 24% of the CLF-C02 exam and asks you to justify cloud adoption, describe how AWS is organised globally, and name the frameworks that structure a migration or a workload review. Expect scenario questions rather than definitions.
311 words, about 2 min02Security and Compliance: shared responsibility, IAM, and detection services
Security and Compliance is the largest domain at 30%, so precision about who secures what earns more marks than breadth. AWS is responsible for security of the cloud : facilities, hardware, the hypervisor, and the managed-service layer.
380 words, about 2 min03Cloud Technology and Services: choosing the right service category
Cloud Technology and Services is 34% of the exam. You are not designing architectures; you are picking the right service category for a one-paragraph scenario.
413 words, about 2 min04Billing, Pricing, and Support: cost tools and support plan boundaries
Billing, Pricing, and Support is the smallest domain at 12% but offers easy marks if you know exactly where each tool and plan boundary sits. Pay-as-you-go for what you consume; pay less when you commit (Reserved Instances, Savings Plans); pay less when you use more (volume tiering, consolidated billing).
418 words, about 2 min