AWS SAP-C02 to SAP-C03: What's Changing and Which Exam to Take

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional is getting a new version. SAP-C02 is on its way out and SAP-C03 replaces it. AWS announced this in its September 2026 Training and Certification update, and the certification page now says the same thing.

If you're halfway through studying for C02, the short version is this: you have until November 16 to sit the current exam. After that, it's C03 only.

The dates

AWS says the full C03 exam guide, with the detailed task statements, comes out when registration opens on October 27. Until then we only have domain names and skill themes.

Format: mostly the same

For C03, AWS lists 180 minutes, 75 questions and a $300 USD fee, delivered through Pearson VUE at a test center or online. All currently supported languages are available at launch.

That matches the current exam. One thing I'd watch: the C02 guide says 65 scored plus 10 unscored questions and a passing score of 750 out of 1,000. AWS hasn't published a passing score for C03 yet, so don't assume 750 carries over until the new guide says so.

Domains: four become five

SAP-C02 has four domains with published weights:

SAP-C03 moves to five domains. AWS named them, but there are no percentages yet:

1. Cloud-native architecture design and implementation
2. Security, compliance, and governance
3. Cost-optimized architecture design
4. Resilience, migration, and business continuity
5. Operational excellence and automation

You'll probably see "C03 weights" floating around on forums before October 27. They aren't official. I'd ignore them.

What's actually new

AWS grouped the additions into themes. The biggest one by far is AI:

• GenAI and agentic AI (11 new skills). Bedrock integrations, AgentCore, RAG architectures, Guardrails and human-oversight workflows.
• Resilience engineering. Fault Injection Service, Resilience Hub, Application Recovery Controller and Systems Manager automation.
• Cloud-native patterns (7 new skills). Serverless data pipelines, Step Functions durable workflows, VPC Lattice and ECS Service Connect, container image security, multi-tenant and real-time data designs.
• DevSecOps and observability (6 new skills). Pipeline scanning, multi-account deployments, monitoring for containers and AI/ML workloads, synthetic and real-user monitoring.
• Data and analytics (3 new skills). Lakehouse with Lake Formation and Apache Iceberg, analytics pipelines, Clean Rooms for cross-account sharing.
• Post-quantum cryptography. AWS KMS with ML-DSA and ML-KEM.

Well-Architected trade-offs are still the core of the exam. The new stuff sits on top of that, it doesn't replace it.

C02 now or wait for C03?

AWS's advice is simple. If you're ready, take C02 by November 16. Your certification stays valid until its normal expiry date, so there's no penalty for picking the old version.

Here's how I'd decide. If your practice scores on C02 material are already solid and you can get a slot before mid-November, finish C02. Slots near a retirement date tend to fill up, so book soon. If you're still early in your prep, or you work with Bedrock and agents anyway, switch to C03 and wait for the guide.

Studying during the switch

• Pick one version and use only its guide. Mixing the two is how people waste weeks.
• On the C02 path, spend most of your time on Design for New Solutions (29%) and Organizational Complexity (26%).
• On the C03 path, start hands-on labs now: Bedrock, the resilience services, multi-account pipelines, a small lakehouse. You don't need the percentages for that.
• Do at least a couple of full timed runs. 180 minutes and 75 long scenario questions is tiring, and stamina matters on this exam.

Dates and details come from the AWS September 2026 update and the official certification page. Check both again before you book.

💡 Want to check if you're ready? Try the sample exam quiz on testimea.

Originally published on testimea.