DVA-C02 Exam Guide: Cost, Format and Study Plan

The AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) exam proves you can build, deploy, secure and troubleshoot applications on AWS. You pass with a score of 720 or higher on a scale of 100 to 1000. Most candidates with some hands-on AWS time are ready in 6 to 8 weeks.

Our voucher for this exam costs $48.99. It is emailed within 12 hours of payment. See the cost section for delivery and refund terms.

What the DVA-C02 exam proves and who should take it

This is a developer exam, not an architecture exam. It checks that you can write and ship code that uses AWS services correctly. Think Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, S3, SQS, SNS, IAM, CloudFormation and CI/CD tools.

It fits you if you are a software developer moving to cloud work, a backend engineer who already deploys to AWS, or a DevOps beginner who writes code. AWS recommends about one year of hands-on experience, but no prerequisite certification is required.

If you have never opened the AWS console, start with Cloud Practitioner first. The CLF-C02 voucher covers that exam. It is optional, but it makes this exam's vocabulary familiar.

Exam format at a glance

The figures below are the commonly published ones. Confirm them on the AWS Certification page before you book.

Multiple response questions ask you to pick two or more correct answers. Read the number of required answers carefully before you choose.

Skills measured and what each domain really tests

DVA-C02 has four domains. The weights below are the commonly published ones.

Development with AWS Services (32%)

This is the biggest slice. Expect Lambda (event sources, concurrency, environment variables, layers), DynamoDB (partition keys, indexes, capacity modes, conditional writes), S3, SQS, SNS and API Gateway. You also need to know when to pick one service over another.

Security (26%)

IAM roles and policies come up constantly. Learn how a Lambda execution role differs from a resource policy. Know Cognito user pools versus identity pools, KMS encryption, and Secrets Manager versus Systems Manager Parameter Store.

Deployment (24%)

This covers CloudFormation, AWS SAM, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline and Elastic Beanstalk. Know deployment strategies such as all-at-once, rolling and blue/green, and what each risks.

Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%)

This tests CloudWatch Logs and metrics, X-Ray tracing, throttling errors and caching. Be ready to read a symptom and name the likely cause, such as a DynamoDB ProvisionedThroughputExceededException or a Lambda timeout.

Cost: list price, our voucher price and our policy

Our price for the DVA-C02 voucher is $48.99 USD as of November 1, 2026. AWS sets its own list price for exam registration, so check the current figure on the official AWS Certification site before you compare.

Here is how our voucher works:

• The code is emailed within 12 hours of payment. It also appears in your account.

• You can cancel an order for a full refund before delivery.

• A delivered code is non-refundable. The exception is a code the test provider rejects as invalid, already used or expired on first use.

• In that case, contact support within 14 days with your order number and a screenshot. We replace or refund the code.

You can buy the DVA-C02 voucher here.

An 8-week study plan with weekly hours

This plan assumes about 8 hours per week, or 64 hours in total. If you already build on AWS at work, cut it to 5 or 6 weeks.

Split each week the same way: about 3 hours reading or video, 4 hours in a real AWS account, and 1 hour of review notes. Labs matter most. Reading about DynamoDB is not the same as hitting a throttle error yourself.

A worked example: one lab for weeks 2 and 3

Build a tiny serverless API that reads and writes a DynamoDB table. It covers Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, IAM and CloudWatch in one afternoon.

Start with the SAM Hello World template. Then add a table to template.yaml under Resources, with provisioned capacity so you can lower it later:

NotesTable:
  Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
  Properties:
    TableName: Notes
    AttributeDefinitions:
      - AttributeName: pk
        AttributeType: S
    KeySchema:
      - AttributeName: pk
        KeyType: HASH
    BillingMode: PROVISIONED
    ProvisionedThroughput:
      ReadCapacityUnits: 5
      WriteCapacityUnits: 5

Under your function's Properties, grant access with a SAM policy template: Policies: [DynamoDBCrudPolicy: {TableName: !Ref NotesTable}]. Then build, deploy and test:

sam init --runtime python3.12 --name notes-api
cd notes-api
sam build
sam deploy --guided
aws lambda invoke --function-name <your-function-name> out.json
aws dynamodb query --table-name Notes --key-condition-expression "pk = :p" --expression-attribute-values '{":p":{"S":"user#1"}}'

Run sam init first and edit template.yaml before sam build. Have the function write an item with pk set to user#1, or the query returns nothing.

Then break it on purpose. Remove an IAM permission and read the error. Lower the table's write capacity to 1 and send many writes to watch the throttling. Check the logs in CloudWatch. Each failure maps to a troubleshooting question.

A quick readiness checklist

• You can explain the difference between a Lambda execution role and a resource-based policy.

• You can choose between a DynamoDB Query and a Scan, and say why.

• You can name two deployment strategies and their rollback behavior.

• You score above 80% on timed practice exams from more than one source.

Common mistakes that cost points

• Memorizing instead of building. Scenario questions describe a problem and ask for the best fix. Hands-on practice helps far more than flashcards.

• Using exam dumps. Leaked questions break the testing agreement and can get your result revoked. They also teach answers without understanding. Use legitimate practice exams and your own lab notes.

• Skipping IAM detail. Security is 26% of the exam, and IAM shows up in every other domain too.

• Ignoring the question's constraint. Words like "least operational overhead" or "most cost-effective" decide between two valid answers.

• Weak time control. You have 130 minutes for 65 questions, about two minutes each. Flag hard ones and return to them.

• Skipping the CLI and SAM. Many questions assume you know what a command or template does.

What to do after you pass

AWS certifications are commonly valid for three years, and you recertify by passing the current exam again. Confirm the renewal rules on your AWS Certification account page.

Passing opens a few next steps. If you want to automate delivery, look at the DOP-C02 DevOps Engineer Professional voucher later. For data pipelines, read our DEA-C01 guide. Put the badge on your resume and LinkedIn, and keep building small projects so the skills stay fresh.

Sources

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