AWS is replacing DVA-C02 with DVA-C03 on December 1, 2026. This material targets DVA-C02, which is still the exam you sit today; DVA-C03 registration opens October 27, 2026.
See the full timelineValidate your ability to develop, test, deploy, and debug AWS Cloud-based applications. This exam covers development with AWS services, security, deployment strategies, and troubleshooting.
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Every Lambda limit, DynamoDB pattern, CI/CD service and IAM rule the DVA-C02 exam actually tests — organised the way developers build, not the way services are catalogued
The AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02) validates your ability to develop, test, deploy, and debug cloud-based applications using AWS. It focuses on core developer services like Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, and the AWS SDK, and tests your understanding of CI/CD, security, and serverless architectures.
This exam is for software developers, backend engineers, and full-stack developers who build applications on AWS. It's also valuable for DevOps-leaning developers who want to prove they understand deployment and operational aspects of their applications. One year of hands-on development experience with AWS is recommended.
The DVA-C02 exam has 65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored) in multiple-choice and multiple-response format. You get 130 minutes, and the passing score is 720/1000 (approximately 72%). The exam costs $150 USD.
Recommended experience: One year of hands-on experience developing, deploying, and maintaining cloud-based applications using AWS.
Written in the style of the real exam. Answer each one, then open the answer to check.
Question 1 · Development with AWS Services
A developer has an AWS Lambda function that processes messages from an Amazon SQS standard queue through an event source mapping with a batch size of 10. When one message in a batch fails validation, the function throws an exception, and all 10 messages return to the queue and are processed again. The developer wants only the failed messages to be retried, without reducing the function's throughput. Which solution will meet these requirements?
Answer: C
Option C is correct: with ReportBatchItemFailures turned on, the function returns a batchItemFailures list with the message IDs that failed, and Lambda deletes the successful messages so only the failed ones become visible again for retry. Option A would isolate failures but cuts the number of messages handled per invocation, which reduces throughput. Option B does not apply because an SQS event source mapping invokes the function synchronously, so asynchronous invocation destinations are never used. Option D only controls when a message becomes visible again; the whole batch is still returned to the queue when the function throws an exception.
Sources: AWS documentation
Question 2 · Security
A developer is writing an application that must encrypt files of up to 50 MB before it uploads them to Amazon S3. Company policy requires the application to encrypt each file itself under an AWS KMS customer managed key and to be able to decrypt the file later. Which combination of steps should the developer take to meet these requirements? (Select TWO.)
Answers: A, D
Options A and D describe envelope encryption: GenerateDataKey returns a plaintext data key to encrypt the file locally plus a copy of that key encrypted under the KMS key, and storing only the encrypted copy lets the application call KMS Decrypt on it later. Option B fails because the KMS Encrypt operation accepts at most 4,096 bytes of plaintext. Option C exposes the key that protects the file to anyone who can read the object's tags. Option E rotates the KMS key's backing material once a year; it does not create a separate key for each file.
Sources: AWS documentation 1, AWS documentation 2
Question 3 · Deployment
A company runs a web application in an AWS Elastic Beanstalk environment that has 8 Amazon EC2 instances behind a load balancer. A developer must choose a deployment policy for new application versions. The environment must keep full capacity during every deployment, and a failed deployment must not affect any of the instances that are currently serving traffic. Which deployment policy meets these requirements?
Answer: B
Option B is correct: an immutable deployment launches a full set of new instances in a temporary Auto Scaling group, moves them into the environment only after they pass health checks, and terminates them if the deployment fails, so the original instances are never touched. Option A keeps full capacity by adding a batch first, but later batches deploy onto existing instances, so a failure can leave serving instances on the bad version. Option C takes each batch out of service while it updates, which reduces capacity. Option D deploys to every instance at the same time and can cause downtime.
Sources: AWS documentation 1, AWS documentation 2
These sample questions are not part of the DVA-C02 practice exam, so you won't meet them again when you take it.
This practice exam has 65 questions, and exam mode gives you 130 minutes to answer them. The real DVA-C02 exam has 65 questions (50 scored and 15 unscored) in 130 minutes, so a full attempt here is the same length. Practice mode has no timer.
In format, yes: questions are multiple choice (one correct answer) or multiple response (two or more), spread across the 4 exam domains in close to the weights the official exam guide gives them. Scoring differs: AWS reports a scaled score from 100 to 1,000 and you pass at 720, while this practice exam shows the raw percentage you got right. For how hard the exam is, whether it is worth it and how long to study, read our AWS Developer Associate certification guide.
Aim for 80% or more, consistently, on full-length attempts in exam mode, not just once. That leaves a margin over the 720 out of 1,000 you need on the real DVA-C02 exam, whose questions will all be new to you. Repeat attempts here show the same questions, so judge yourself by first attempts and by whether you can explain each answer. No practice score guarantees a pass.
No. The DVA-C02 practice exam is free and needs no account. Your progress and score history are saved in this browser, so they stay on this device and are lost if you clear your browser data.
Start in practice mode, which tells you after each question whether you were right and explains the answer. When you score well there, switch to exam mode: 130 minutes and no feedback until the end, like test day. Your results break the score down by domain, so you can see which domains to study before your next attempt.
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