DEA-C01 exam at a glance
AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate · Associate level
| Exam code | DEA-C01 |
|---|---|
| Certification | AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate |
| Level | Associate |
| Number of questions | 65 questions |
| Duration | 130 minutes |
| Passing score | 720 |
| Question formats | Multiple choice and multiple response |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Exam cost | 150 USD; additional pricing information includes foreign exchange rates |
| Languages | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese |
| Certification validity | 3 years |
| Retake policy | After a failed attempt, wait 14 calendar days before retaking. There is no limit on exam attempts, and the full registration fee applies to each attempt. |
| Prerequisites | No specific prerequisites are required |
The target candidate should have the equivalent of 2–3 years of experience in data engineering and at least 1–2 years of hands-on experience with AWS services. Candidates should understand how data volume, variety, and velocity affect data ingestion, transformation, modeling, security, governance, privacy, schema design, and optimal data store design.
Skills measured and their weighting
| Skill area | Weight |
|---|---|
| Data Ingestion and Transformation | 34% |
| Data Store Management | 26% |
| Data Operations and Support | 22% |
| Data Security and Governance | 18% |
Source: aws.amazon.com — official DEA-C01 certification page. Skills reflect AWS’s DEA-C01 exam guide, version 1.1, published December 12, 2025. Figures were checked against AWS’s official documentation. Confirm current details there before booking.
The full bank covers every domain, with timed mode and per-domain scoring.
DEA-C01 Practice Questions By Domains
4 domains covered1. Data Ingestion and Transformation
22 free questions available
2. Data Store Management
11 free questions available
3. Data Security and Governance
9 free questions available
4. Data Operations and Support
8 free questions available
Practice the full exam, not a sample
Unlock the full bank and practise every domain end to end.
Unlock all 288 questionsDEA-C01 Practice Test
Preparing for the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate exam becomes easier when you combine reliable study resources with realistic DEA-C01 practice questions. This page explains the exam format, current domains, important AWS services, scoring rules, study methods, and online testing options in clear language. You can also View the complete practice-test library when you want to compare certification paths or prepare for another technology exam.
What Is a DEA-C01 Practice Test?
A DEA-C01 practice test is a collection of exam-style questions designed for the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate certification. It helps you practice the decisions involved in collecting data, transforming it, selecting storage, building reliable pipelines, monitoring data quality, and protecting information on AWS.
According to the official AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate page, the certification validates skills in core AWS data services, ingestion, transformation, pipeline orchestration, data modeling, data lifecycle management, and data quality. The official DEA-C01 exam guide also includes monitoring, troubleshooting, cost and performance optimization, privacy, governance, encryption, and access control.
A useful practice test should therefore focus on realistic data-engineering situations rather than isolated definitions. A question might ask how to process continuously arriving events, how to reduce query cost in a data lake, how to recover a failed pipeline step, or how to grant analysts access to selected data without exposing the entire dataset.
Current DEA-C01 Exam Update
AWS periodically revises exam guides so they continue to reflect the target job role. The current DEA-C01 revision history lists Version 1.1, published December 12, 2025. AWS says exam-guide updates are published approximately one month before the changes appear on the exam.
The current outline added or expanded topics such as:
- Using large language models for data processing
- Managing open table formats such as Apache Iceberg
- Understanding vector index types such as HNSW and IVF
- Using business data catalogs and Amazon SageMaker Catalog
- Understanding vectorization for use cases such as Amazon Bedrock knowledge bases
- Using Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio concepts for data projects and access
- Applying governance frameworks and data-sharing patterns
These additions do not turn DEA-C01 into a machine-learning exam. The guide specifically places ML training and inference outside the target role. Students should understand how modern AI-related systems affect data pipelines, catalogs, vector storage, and governance without trying to master advanced model development.
Who Should Take the DEA-C01 Exam?
DEA-C01 is designed for people who build, operate, or support cloud data systems. It can be a suitable certification goal for:
- Data engineers
- Cloud data engineers
- Data architects
- Analytics engineers
- ETL developers
- Database professionals moving into cloud data platforms
- Software developers who build data pipelines
- DevOps professionals who support data workloads
AWS describes the ideal candidate as someone with the equivalent of two to three years of experience in data engineering or data architecture and at least one to two years of practical AWS experience. These are recommendations rather than mandatory eligibility requirements.
You should understand ETL and ELT pipelines, SQL, source control with Git, data lakes, storage, compute, networking, data quality, and language-independent programming ideas. Basic experience with Python, SQL, Java, Scala, Bash, or another data-related language is helpful, but the exam does not test detailed language syntax.
The official guide lists three job tasks as out of scope: performing machine-learning training and inference, demonstrating language-specific syntax, and drawing business conclusions from data. That boundary is useful. Focus on building and operating the data platform rather than becoming a data scientist for this exam.
If you want to compare this certification with other AWS options, Browse AWS exams by certification and select practice material that matches your exact exam code and current blueprint.
Why Use a DEA-C01 Practice Test?
The exam covers many services that can perform similar tasks in different ways. Practice questions help you compare those choices under time pressure.
Find learning gaps before exam day
Begin with a short diagnostic test. Record performance by domain rather than looking only at the total score. A low Data Ingestion and Transformation score may indicate problems with streaming, batch processing, file formats, or orchestration. A low Security and Governance score may point to IAM, encryption, Lake Formation permissions, audit logs, or privacy requirements.
Learn how scenario questions are written
Many AWS questions present several technically possible answers. The correct option best meets the stated priorities. Watch for phrases such as:
- Lowest operational overhead
- Near-real-time processing
- Most cost-effective
- Highly available and fault tolerant
- Least-privilege access
- Minimum query latency
- Repeatable deployment
- Data residency requirement
- Ability to replay events
These details determine the answer. A solution that works may still be wrong if it creates unnecessary management, costs more, or violates the security requirement.
Improve time management
With 65 questions in 130 minutes, the simple average is two minutes per question. Some questions take less time, leaving more time for longer scenarios. Timed mock tests teach you to move past difficult questions, flag them for review, and return if time remains.
Turn mistakes into a personal study list
For every incorrect or guessed answer, record:
- The domain and task statement
- The requirement you missed
- Why your selected option was weaker
- Why the correct answer fits
- The service behavior or limitation you need to review
- One short rule you can remember
This error log shows what to revise instead of forcing you to reread every topic equally.
DEA-C01 Exam Domains and Practice Topics
AWS uses compensatory scoring, which means candidates pass based on overall performance rather than meeting a separate passing score in every domain. However, domain weights show how scored content is distributed. Give every domain attention while spending extra practice time on the larger areas.
Domain 1: Data Ingestion and Transformation — 34%
This is the largest domain. The official Data Ingestion and Transformation outline covers ingestion, processing, orchestration, and programming concepts.
Batch and streaming ingestion
Batch systems collect and process data at intervals. Streaming systems process events continuously or with very short delays. Practice recognizing which pattern the requirement needs.
Important services and sources include:
- Amazon S3 for object-based data storage
- Amazon Kinesis Data Streams for streaming records
- Amazon Data Firehose for delivering streaming data to destinations
- Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka for managed Kafka workloads
- AWS Database Migration Service for database migration and change data capture
- Amazon DynamoDB Streams for item-level table changes
- Amazon AppFlow for moving data between supported SaaS applications and AWS
- AWS Glue and Amazon EMR for batch transformation and processing
Review event triggers, schedules, APIs, rate limits, replayability, fan-in, fan-out, and stateful versus stateless processing. A streaming pipeline must handle more than incoming speed; it should also consider retries, duplicates, ordering, checkpoints, failure recovery, and downstream capacity.
Transforming and processing data
Know how to choose between AWS Glue, Amazon EMR, AWS Lambda, Amazon Redshift, and container-based processing. A serverless option can reduce infrastructure management, while a managed cluster may offer more control for large or specialized workloads.
Practice common transformation decisions:
- Combining data from several sources
- Cleaning missing or invalid values
- Changing file formats, such as CSV to Apache Parquet
- Partitioning output data
- Removing duplicates
- Standardizing schemas
- Filtering unnecessary rows or columns
- Aggregating records
- Optimizing jobs for performance and cost
Columnar formats such as Parquet can reduce the amount of data scanned by analytical queries when the workload reads selected columns. Partitioning can help queries avoid scanning unrelated data, but too many tiny partitions or files can reduce efficiency.
The current guide also includes integrating LLMs for data processing. Student-friendly examples include classifying text, extracting structured fields from documents, or enriching records. For the exam, focus on where an LLM fits into a governed pipeline, how its input and output are validated, and how sensitive information is protected.
Pipeline orchestration
Orchestration coordinates the steps of a workflow. AWS Step Functions can manage serverless workflows and state transitions. Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow supports Apache Airflow workflows. AWS Glue workflows coordinate Glue components. Amazon EventBridge can start processing from a schedule or event.
Practice error handling, retries, timeouts, alerts, parallel steps, dependencies, and idempotency. An idempotent operation can safely run again without creating an incorrect duplicate result. This is especially useful when a failed step is retried.
Programming and infrastructure as code
The exam tests high-level programming concepts, not exact syntax. Review efficient code, Lambda concurrency, testing, logging, source control, CI/CD, AWS SAM, AWS CloudFormation, and AWS CDK. Infrastructure as code makes deployments repeatable and easier to review across development, testing, and production environments.
Practice goal: Given a source, volume, speed, and destination, choose a reliable ingestion and transformation design that can be monitored, retried, and deployed consistently.
Domain 2: Data Store Management — 26%
The official Data Store Management outline covers storage selection, catalogs, data lifecycle, models, schemas, open table formats, and vector concepts.
Choosing a data store
There is no single best AWS data store. Choose according to access pattern, structure, scale, latency, availability, and cost.
- Amazon S3: Object storage commonly used for data lakes, raw files, processed data, backups, and archives.
- Amazon Redshift: Managed data warehousing for large-scale analytical SQL workloads.
- Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora: Relational databases for structured transactional applications.
- Amazon DynamoDB: Serverless NoSQL database for low-latency key-value and document access.
- Amazon MemoryDB: In-memory database for use cases that require very fast access.
- Amazon OpenSearch Service: Search, log analytics, and related query use cases.
- Amazon Neptune: Graph database for highly connected data.
Do not select a service only because it can store the data. Ask how the data will be written, queried, updated, shared, protected, and retained. A practice question may distinguish transactional operations from analytical scans, frequent key lookups from complex SQL, or graph relationships from table joins.
Catalogs and schema discovery
The AWS Glue Data Catalog stores technical metadata such as table definitions, schemas, partitions, and locations. AWS Glue crawlers can inspect data sources and populate or update catalog information. A catalog makes it easier for services such as Athena, EMR, and Redshift Spectrum to understand stored data.
The current blueprint also includes business catalog concepts through Amazon SageMaker Catalog and SageMaker Unified Studio. At a simple level, a technical catalog describes how data is stored, while a business catalog helps users discover, understand, request, and govern trusted data products.
Data lifecycle management
Data should not remain in expensive storage forever without a reason. Review S3 Lifecycle policies, storage classes, expiration, S3 versioning, DynamoDB time to live, backup, replication, resiliency, and deletion requirements.
Lifecycle decisions must satisfy both cost and compliance. A policy may move old data to a lower-cost storage class, retain required records for a fixed period, and delete data when the legal retention period ends.
Data modeling, schemas, and open tables
Understand partition keys, sort keys, distribution, indexing, compression, and schema evolution. A good data model supports the expected query pattern while limiting unnecessary scanning and reshuffling.
Apache Iceberg is an open table format included in the current guide. In simple terms, it adds table-style metadata and management features to data stored in object storage. Review why open table formats help with schema changes, reliable updates, and analytical data-lake workloads.
The guide also mentions vectorization and vector indexes such as HNSW and IVF. A vector represents data numerically so systems can compare similarity. For DEA-C01, understand the data-engineering side: creating, storing, indexing, retrieving, and governing vectors for uses such as a knowledge base. Advanced model training is not required.
Practice goal: Select a storage, catalog, lifecycle, and schema design that supports the workload’s real access pattern, cost target, governance needs, and future changes.
Domain 3: Data Operations and Support — 22%
The official Data Operations and Support outline covers automation, analysis, monitoring, troubleshooting, and data quality.
Automating data processing
Review how Step Functions, Amazon MWAA, Lambda, EventBridge, AWS Glue, EMR, and SDKs can automate pipeline work. Automation may start from a schedule, file arrival, database change, API call, or another event.
A production pipeline should handle failures predictably. Practice recognizing when to retry, send an alert, move a message to a dead-letter queue, restart from a checkpoint, or stop the workflow. Logs should include enough context to identify the failed dataset, job, stage, and error without exposing sensitive data.
Analyzing and querying data
Amazon Athena runs SQL queries directly against supported data in Amazon S3. Amazon Redshift supports data-warehouse SQL and views. Amazon QuickSight supports visualization and dashboards. DataBrew, notebooks, and SageMaker Data Wrangler can help inspect or prepare data.
Review SQL operations used in data engineering, including filtering, joins, grouping, aggregation, window calculations, rolling averages, views, and pivoting. The exam focuses on using queries to verify and operate data systems rather than drawing business conclusions.
Understand the tradeoff between provisioned and serverless services. Provisioned capacity may give more control or predictable resources, while serverless services can reduce management and scale with use. The best choice depends on workload consistency, latency, cost, and operational requirements.
Monitoring and troubleshooting
Amazon CloudWatch provides logs, metrics, dashboards, and alarms. AWS CloudTrail records AWS API actions. Amazon OpenSearch Service and CloudWatch Logs Insights can help analyze logs. Practice distinguishing the evidence needed:
- Use application or job logs for processing errors.
- Use metrics for throughput, errors, latency, and resource use.
- Use CloudTrail when you need to identify an AWS API or configuration action.
- Use alerts to notify teams or trigger automated recovery.
Common performance problems include data skew, too many small files, insufficient partitions, excessive network movement, poor query design, limited capacity, throttling, or unsuitable file formats.
Data quality
Data quality includes completeness, validity, consistency, uniqueness, accuracy, and timeliness. Practice rules that detect empty fields, duplicate records, invalid ranges, unexpected schemas, or inconsistent values.
Checks should occur at useful points in the pipeline. Failed data can be quarantined for review rather than silently entering a trusted dataset. Sampling can reduce the cost of early exploration, but critical controls may require checking the complete dataset.
Practice goal: Choose monitoring, automation, query, and quality controls that make a pipeline reliable and easy to troubleshoot.
Domain 4: Data Security and Governance — 18%
The official Data Security and Governance outline covers authentication, authorization, encryption, masking, auditing, privacy, and governance.
Authentication and authorization
Authentication confirms identity. Authorization determines what that identity may do. Practice IAM roles, policies, temporary credentials, VPC security groups, AWS PrivateLink, S3 Access Points, database permissions, and secrets management.
Apply least privilege: grant only the required actions on the required resources. Avoid hardcoding database passwords or AWS access keys in scripts. AWS Secrets Manager and AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store can hold sensitive configuration, depending on the requirement.
AWS Lake Formation supports fine-grained access to governed data used through services such as S3, Athena, Redshift, and EMR. Review role-based, tag-based, and attribute-based access approaches and how they meet different organizational needs.
Encryption and masking
Know the difference between encryption at rest and encryption in transit. AWS KMS manages encryption keys used by many AWS services. Cross-account access may require permissions in both the calling identity policy and the KMS key policy.
Masking or anonymization reduces exposure of sensitive fields. A requirement may call for hiding most of a customer identifier, replacing direct identifiers, or preventing analysts from viewing raw personally identifiable information.
Audit logging
AWS CloudTrail tracks API calls, CloudWatch Logs stores and analyzes application logs, and CloudTrail Lake supports centralized queries over CloudTrail events. Audit logs should be protected against unauthorized changes and retained according to policy.
Privacy and governance
Governance defines who owns data, how it is classified, where it may be stored, who can access it, how it is shared, and when it must be deleted. Amazon Macie can help discover sensitive data in S3. AWS Config records resource configuration changes. Data residency and sovereignty requirements may restrict storage or replication to approved Regions.
The current guide also includes data-sharing patterns, SageMaker Catalog projects, domains, and governance frameworks. Focus on controlled discovery and access rather than assuming every dataset should be copied into a central account.
Practice goal: Protect data throughout its lifecycle while still allowing approved users and systems to discover and use it.
Important AWS Services for DEA-C01
AWS publishes a current DEA-C01 in-scope services list. The list is non-exhaustive and subject to change, so use it as a study boundary rather than a promise that every service receives equal attention.
| Study purpose | Important services and tools |
| Data lake and storage | Amazon S3, S3 Tables, S3 Glacier, Amazon EBS, Amazon EFS, AWS Backup |
| Batch processing | AWS Glue, Amazon EMR, AWS Lambda, AWS Batch |
| Streaming | Kinesis Data Streams, Amazon Data Firehose, Amazon MSK, Managed Service for Apache Flink |
| Analytics and warehouse | Amazon Athena, Amazon Redshift, Amazon OpenSearch Service, Amazon QuickSight |
| Databases | Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, DynamoDB, Amazon MemoryDB, DocumentDB, Neptune, Keyspaces |
| Orchestration | AWS Step Functions, Amazon MWAA, EventBridge, Glue workflows, Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS |
| Migration and transfer | AWS DMS, AWS DataSync, AWS Transfer Family, AWS Snow Family |
| Deployment and automation | AWS CloudFormation, AWS CDK, AWS SAM, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline |
| Monitoring and operations | Amazon CloudWatch, CloudWatch Logs, AWS CloudTrail, AWS Config, AWS Budgets, Cost Explorer |
| Security and governance | IAM, AWS KMS, Secrets Manager, Lake Formation, Amazon Macie, Amazon VPC, AWS PrivateLink |
| Current AI and catalog topics | Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Kendra, Amazon Q, SageMaker AI, SageMaker Unified Studio and Catalog concepts |
For each priority service, learn its main purpose, supported data pattern, scaling behavior, security model, failure behavior, pricing idea, and common integrations. Comparing services is more useful than memorizing a long list of product descriptions.
How Is the DEA-C01 Exam Scored?
AWS reports DEA-C01 results on a scaled range from 100 to 1,000. The minimum passing score is 720. Scaled scoring is not the same as calculating a simple raw percentage because different exam forms may vary slightly in difficulty.
The exam includes 50 scored questions and 15 unscored questions. AWS uses compensatory scoring, so you need to pass the exam overall rather than pass every domain separately. A weak domain can be balanced by stronger performance elsewhere, but ignoring an entire domain creates unnecessary risk.
Use practice-test scores as progress indicators, not guarantees. A stronger readiness check includes:
- Consistent results across all four domains
- Correct answers on new questions rather than repeated items
- Ability to explain why one option meets the requirement best
- Completion of a full timed test without notes
- Practical experience with basic pipelines, queries, monitoring, and IAM
How to Use DEA-C01 Practice Questions Effectively
Practice questions work best when they are combined with official documentation and small hands-on projects. Use reliable Study Materials and Practice Tests as part of a repeatable learning cycle instead of depending on a single final score.
Step 1: Take a diagnostic test
Complete a short mixed-domain test without notes. Do not worry if the initial result is low. Rank the four domains from weakest to strongest and begin with the largest weak domain.
Step 2: Study one task statement at a time
Read the official task, learn the related services, and build a simple example. Connecting a question to actual AWS behavior makes the answer easier to remember.
Step 3: Complete small hands-on exercises
Useful examples include:
- Upload CSV data to Amazon S3 and convert it to Parquet.
- Create an AWS Glue crawler and inspect the Data Catalog table.
- Query partitioned S3 data with Athena.
- Trigger a Lambda function from an S3 event.
- Build a simple Step Functions workflow with retry handling.
- Load data into a small Redshift environment and run an analytical query.
- Create a CloudWatch alarm for a pipeline metric.
- Review an IAM role and remove unnecessary permissions.
- Configure an S3 Lifecycle rule on nonessential sample data.
Use a sandbox account carefully, enable billing alerts, and delete chargeable resources when the exercise is finished.
Step 4: Answer domain-focused questions
After studying a task, complete questions focused on that area. Review every explanation, including questions answered correctly through guessing. Ask what detail in the scenario made the correct answer stronger.
Step 5: Revisit mistakes after several days
Do not memorize an answer letter. Solve a differently worded question on the same concept later. If you cannot explain the new answer, repeat the documentation review or lab.
Step 6: Take a full timed mock test
Use 65 questions and a 130-minute limit. Close notes, silence notifications, and flag difficult items for review. Afterward, analyze results by domain, service, and question pattern.
A Six-Week DEA-C01 Study Plan
Adjust the schedule to match your current experience. A working data engineer may move quickly, while a learner new to streaming, Redshift, or Lake Formation may need additional time.
| Week | Main focus | Practice activity |
| 1 | Exam overview, S3, data formats, batch ingestion, streaming basics | Diagnostic test; ingest a small batch and stream sample events |
| 2 | AWS Glue, EMR, Lambda, transformations, orchestration, and IaC | Build a short ETL workflow; answer Domain 1 questions |
| 3 | Data stores, Redshift, DynamoDB, catalogs, schemas, lifecycle, and Iceberg | Compare access patterns; answer Domain 2 questions |
| 4 | Athena, SQL, operations, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, troubleshooting, and data quality | Query and monitor a dataset; answer Domain 3 questions |
| 5 | IAM, Lake Formation, KMS, secrets, privacy, Macie, auditing, and governance | Create a security review checklist; answer Domain 4 questions |
| 6 | Vector and LLM data concepts, weak-topic review, and exam simulation | Complete two new full-length timed tests and review every error |
Write a one-page summary at the end of each week. Include comparisons that are easy to confuse, such as Kinesis Data Streams versus Data Firehose, Glue versus EMR, Athena versus Redshift, IAM versus Lake Formation permissions, and CloudWatch versus CloudTrail.
DEA-C01 Question-Answering Strategies
Identify source, processing, and destination
For a pipeline scenario, write a simple mental flow: where the data comes from, how it arrives, what changes are required, where it goes, and who will use it. This prevents you from choosing a service that solves only one unrelated part.
Decide whether the workload is batch or streaming
Look at arrival pattern and required delay. Hourly files suggest a different design from thousands of events per second that must be processed immediately.
Use volume, velocity, and variety
Volume describes amount, velocity describes speed, and variety describes different formats or structures. These properties help determine ingestion, processing, and storage choices.
Match storage to access pattern
Ask whether users need object access, transactional SQL, analytical SQL, low-latency key lookups, graph relationships, in-memory speed, or search. Do not select a store only because it is familiar.
Watch for operational-overhead requirements
If a question asks for minimal management, prefer an appropriate managed or serverless service over a custom cluster when both satisfy the workload.
Apply least privilege and protect secrets
Broad administrator permissions and hardcoded credentials are rarely the best choices. Prefer scoped roles, temporary credentials, governed access, encryption, and secret-management services.
Eliminate answers that ignore failure handling
A pipeline is not production-ready if it silently drops events or cannot recover from errors. Look for retries, checkpoints, dead-letter handling, alerts, and replay where the scenario requires them.
Manage time
Answer direct questions quickly. For a long scenario, remove clearly unsuitable options, select your best response, flag the item, and continue. Because unanswered questions are incorrect and guessing is not penalized, do not leave blanks.
Can You Take the DEA-C01 Exam Online?
Yes. AWS offers DEA-C01 through Pearson VUE at testing centers and through online proctoring. During an online exam, you use your own compatible computer in a private room while a remote proctor monitors your screen and webcam. Communication with the proctor is required.
Before exam day, review the current AWS exam scheduling and testing options and run the required Pearson VUE system test using the same computer and internet connection. Prepare acceptable identification, clear your desk, remove prohibited devices, and follow the instructions in your confirmation email.
A testing center may be less stressful if your connection is unreliable, your room cannot remain private, or your computer does not meet the requirements. The center provides testing equipment and on-site check-in support.
How to Schedule the DEA-C01 Exam
AWS currently directs candidates to use their AWS Certification Account and Pearson VUE:
- Sign in to your AWS Certification Account.
- Select the option to schedule a new exam.
- Find AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate (DEA-C01).
- Select scheduling with Pearson VUE.
- Choose online proctoring or a testing center.
- Select an available date and time.
- Pay the fee or use an eligible voucher.
- Review the complete confirmation email and verify your name, identification requirements, location, time zone, and check-in instructions.
According to the current AWS before-testing policy, an appointment can be rescheduled up to 24 hours before its scheduled time and each appointment can be rescheduled only twice. Changes within 24 hours generally are not permitted, and the fee may be forfeited. Verify the latest terms when scheduling.
DEA-C01 Exam-Day Checklist
For an online-proctored exam
- Run the system test in advance.
- Use the same computer, webcam, microphone, and network tested earlier.
- Close prohibited software and disconnect extra monitors if required.
- Prepare the exact identification listed in the provider instructions.
- Clear your desk and testing area.
- Ask others not to enter the room.
- Begin check-in at the permitted time.
For a testing-center exam
- Confirm the address and travel time.
- Arrive according to your confirmation instructions.
- Bring the required original identification.
- Store personal belongings as directed.
- Use the exam tutorial to understand navigation and question review.
The rules in your current confirmation email and the provider’s website always take priority over a general checklist.
What Happens After the DEA-C01 Exam?
AWS states that official results are normally available in the AWS Certification Account within five business days, although some results may take longer if a review is required. The certification is valid for three years.
If you fail, the current AWS after-testing policy requires a 14-calendar-day wait before another attempt. AWS does not state a limit on the number of attempts, but the full registration fee applies each time. Use the waiting period to review domain feedback, rebuild weak labs, and answer new practice questions rather than repeating memorized items.
Frequently Asked Questions About the DEA-C01 Practice Test
What is the AWS DEA-C01 exam?
DEA-C01 is the exam code for AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate. It validates the ability to ingest, transform, store, model, operate, monitor, secure, and govern data using AWS services.
How many questions are on DEA-C01?
The exam contains 65 questions. The official guide says 50 questions are scored and 15 are unscored. The unscored questions are not identified.
How long is the DEA-C01 exam?
The exam duration is 130 minutes, giving an average of two minutes per question.
What score is required to pass DEA-C01?
The minimum passing score is 720 on AWS’s scaled range of 100–1,000. A scaled score is not a direct raw percentage.
What question types appear on DEA-C01?
The exam contains multiple-choice and multiple-response questions. Multiple-choice items have one correct answer. Multiple-response items require two or more correct selections from five or more options.
How much does the DEA-C01 exam cost?
AWS lists the exam at USD 150. Taxes, exchange rates, and regional pricing may affect the final amount.
Does DEA-C01 have prerequisites?
There is no formal certification prerequisite. AWS recommends two to three years of data engineering or data architecture experience and at least one to two years of hands-on AWS experience.
Is DEA-C01 suitable for beginners?
A beginner can work toward the exam, but the target candidate has practical experience. Learn SQL, data formats, ETL, basic programming, S3, AWS Glue, Athena, Redshift, IAM, and monitoring before relying on full exam simulations.
Do I need to know programming?
You should understand language-independent programming concepts, efficient code, testing, logging, APIs, and infrastructure as code. The exam guide says detailed language-specific syntax is out of scope.
Do I need advanced SQL?
You should be comfortable structuring SQL queries and using filters, joins, grouping, aggregation, views, and analytical operations in services such as Athena and Redshift. The exam tests practical data-engineering use rather than obscure syntax memorization.
Is machine learning on the DEA-C01 exam?
ML training and inference are out of scope. However, the current blueprint includes data-engineering topics that support AI systems, such as LLM-based data processing, vectors, vector indexes, Amazon Bedrock knowledge-base concepts, and governed catalogs.
Is Apache Iceberg included in DEA-C01?
Yes. The current Version 1.1 guide includes managing open table formats such as Apache Iceberg. Understand its purpose in analytical data lakes and how metadata helps with table operations and schema changes.
Is DEA-C01 available online?
Yes. Candidates can choose a Pearson VUE online-proctored appointment or an in-person testing center, subject to current availability and requirements.
How many DEA-C01 practice tests should I take?
There is no fixed number. Take one diagnostic test, use domain-focused sets throughout study, and complete at least one or two unseen full-length timed tests near exam day. Reviewing explanations matters more than rapidly repeating the same questions.
Does a high practice-test score guarantee a pass?
No. AWS uses scaled scoring, and practice banks vary in difficulty. Use scores with domain consistency, hands-on ability, and your capacity to explain each answer.
Are practice-test questions the same as live AWS questions?
Legitimate practice questions should follow the official objectives and style without claiming to reproduce protected live exam content. Avoid unauthorized exam content and use mock tests to develop real skills.
How long should I study for DEA-C01?
Many candidates can organize preparation into six to ten weeks, but the correct timeline depends on prior data-engineering and AWS experience. Continue until you can explain all four domains, complete basic labs, and perform consistently on new timed questions.