Review a compact AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) cheat sheet for cloud concepts, AWS shared responsibility, security, core services, billing, pricing, and support before using IT Mastery practice.
Use this cheat sheet to organize the broad CLF-C02 fundamentals before practicing. The exam usually tests whether you can choose the right AWS concept, service family, security boundary, or billing/support answer without overengineering.
| Item | Review cue |
|---|---|
| Exam route | AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner |
| Exam code | CLF-C02 |
| Items | 65 total |
| Time | 90 minutes |
| Practice option | Live IT Mastery practice available |
| Best use | Build AWS vocabulary and service-selection judgment before deeper Associate routes |
| Domain | Weight | What to know | Common trap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Concepts | 24% | cloud value, elasticity, scalability, fault tolerance, managed services | confusing scalability with high availability |
| Security and Compliance | 30% | shared responsibility, IAM basics, encryption, monitoring, compliance support | assigning AWS-owned duties to the customer or customer-owned duties to AWS |
| Cloud Technology and Services | 34% | compute, storage, database, networking, analytics, AI, migration, management tools | memorizing service names without the use case |
| Billing, Pricing, and Support | 12% | pricing models, cost tools, support plans, billing controls | treating every discount model as interchangeable |
| Distinction | Exam reflex |
|---|---|
| AWS responsibility vs customer responsibility | AWS secures the cloud; the customer secures what they put in the cloud. |
| Availability vs durability | Availability is service access. Durability is data survival. |
| Region vs Availability Zone | Regions are geographic areas. Availability Zones are isolated locations inside a Region. |
| EC2 vs Lambda | EC2 gives server control. Lambda runs event-driven code without server management. |
| S3 vs EBS vs EFS | Object storage, block storage, and shared file storage solve different problems. |
| IAM user vs role | Users are identities. Roles are assumed for temporary permissions. |
| Reserved Instances vs Savings Plans | Both can reduce cost, but coverage and flexibility differ. |
CLF-C02 misses usually come from vocabulary, shared responsibility, or service fit. Review the missed domain, then use a focused topic page before another mixed run. Move to SAA-C03 only after AWS service families and basic security boundaries feel natural.