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AWS DEA-C01 Study Plan (30 / 60 / 90 Days)

A practical DEA-C01 study plan you can follow: 30-day intensive, 60-day balanced, and 90-day part-time schedules with weekly focus by domain, suggested hours/week, and tips for using the Mastery Cloud practice app.

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This page answers the question most candidates actually have: “How do I structure my DEA‑C01 prep?”
Below are three realistic schedules (30/60/90 days) based on the official domain weights and the way DEA‑C01 questions are written (scenario + trade-offs + operational best practices).

Use the plan that matches your available time, then follow the loop: Syllabus → drills → review misses → mixed sets → timed runs.

How long should you study?

Typical ranges based on background:

Your starting point Typical total study time Best-fit timeline
You build data pipelines on AWS already 40–60 hours 30–60 days
You know data engineering but are newer to AWS services 60–90 hours 60–90 days
You’re newer to data platforms and analytics services 90–120+ hours 90 days

Choose a plan based on hours per week:

Time you can commit Recommended plan What it feels like
10–15 hrs/week 30‑day intensive Fast learning + lots of practice
6–9 hrs/week 60‑day balanced Steady progress + room for review
3–5 hrs/week 90‑day part‑time Slow-and-solid with repetition

Use the exam weights to allocate time

DEA‑C01 domain weights:

Domain Weight Prep focus
Domain 1: Data Ingestion and Transformation 34% Ingestion patterns, ETL/processing choices, orchestration
Domain 2: Data Store Management 26% Store selection, catalogs, lifecycle, modeling + schema evolution
Domain 3: Data Operations and Support 22% Automation, analytics, monitoring, data quality
Domain 4: Data Security and Governance 18% IAM/Lake Formation, encryption/masking, audit logs, privacy

If you want one rule: spend ~60% learning + 40% practice early, then invert it to ~30% learning + 70% practice in the final 1–2 weeks.

30-Day Intensive Plan

Target pace: ~10–15 hours/week.
Goal: cover the blueprint quickly, then harden instincts through drills and mixed sets.

Week Focus (domains/tasks) What to do Links
1 Domain 1 foundations
• Task 1.1
• Task 1.2		 Build ingestion + ETL service pickers (Kinesis/MSK/DMS/AppFlow; Glue/EMR/Lambda/Redshift). Do 2–3 focused drills and start a miss log. Syllabus • Cheatsheet • Practice
2 Domain 1 orchestration + programming + start Domain 2
• Task 1.3
• Task 1.4
• Task 2.1		 Focus on orchestration trade-offs (MWAA vs Step Functions vs Glue workflows) + IaC/SQL basics. End the week with a 30–40Q mixed set. Cheatsheet • Practice
3 Domain 2 store management + modeling
• Task 2.2
• Task 2.3
• Task 2.4		 Catalog + partitions + lifecycle policies + schema evolution. Drill data format/partitioning questions until they feel automatic. Syllabus • Practice
4 Domain 3 ops + Domain 4 governance + review
• Task 3.1
• Task 3.2
• Task 3.3
• Task 3.4
• Task 4.1–Task 4.5		 Do 2 mixed sets + 1 timed run (65Q/130m). Review every miss and re-drill weak tasks until misses repeat less. Practice • FAQ

60-Day Balanced Plan

Target pace: ~6–9 hours/week.
Goal: spaced repetition and deeper drills while steadily building practice volume.

Weeks Focus What to do
1–2 Domain 1 (Tasks 1.1–1.4) Ingestion, ETL/processing, orchestration, SQL/IaC basics; do 2 drills per week.
3–4 Domain 2 (Tasks 2.1–2.4) Store selection, catalog/partitions, lifecycle, modeling/schema evolution; end week 4 with a mixed set.
5–6 Domain 3 (Tasks 3.1–3.4) Automation, analytics choices, monitoring, data quality; do weekly mixed sets.
7–8 Domain 4 (Tasks 4.1–4.5) + final review IAM/Lake Formation, encryption, audit logs, privacy; 2 timed runs and re-drill weak tasks.

Use task links from the Syllabus to drill each area as you go.

90-Day Part-Time Plan

Target pace: ~3–5 hours/week.
Goal: slow repetition with consistent drills and periodic mixed sets.

Week Focus (tasks) What to do
1 Task 1.1 Batch vs streaming + triggers/schedules; do one drill set.
2 Task 1.2 Glue vs EMR vs Redshift; drill.
3 Task 1.3 MWAA vs Step Functions vs Glue workflows; drill.
4 Task 1.4 SQL + IaC basics; drill.
5 Task 2.1 Store selection + access patterns; drill.
6 Task 2.2 Glue catalog + crawlers + partitions; drill.
7 Task 2.3 Lifecycle + retention + TTL; do a mixed set.
8 Task 2.4 Modeling + schema evolution; drill.
9 Task 3.1 Automation + orchestration patterns; drill.
10 Task 3.2 Athena/Redshift + QuickSight; drill.
11 Task 3.3 + Task 3.4 Monitoring + data quality; drill.
12 Domain 4 (Tasks 4.1–4.5) + final review Security/governance; 2 timed runs and re-drill weak tasks.

How to integrate the Mastery Cloud app

Use the app to turn the syllabus into a repeatable loop:

  1. Start in the Syllabus and open a task.
  2. Drill that task in Practice.
  3. After each set, write 3–5 “rules” from your misses (for example: Parquet + partitions for Athena, Lake Formation for fine-grained access).
  4. Re-run weak tasks 48–72 hours later (spaced repetition).

Direct practice link: /app/cloud/#/topic-selection/aws_dea-c01

Overview
Syllabus