General Information

AWS Certification follows industry best practices in exam development and incorporates individuals with subject matter expertise in every step. Subject matter experts (SMEs) are trained in question development techniques and are a critical part of every step of the process, including determining the content outline, writing questions, reviewing questions for technical accuracy and clarity, and establishing the passing standard for the exam.

In addition to content-level reviews prior to administration, every question is first administered in beta as an unscored question on an exam. Every test form includes a small subset of these questions so that AWS can evaluate how these questions perform when actual candidates answer them. Statistics are calculated on each question and reviewed against stringent criteria before the question can be deemed acceptable to become a scored question on an AWS Certification exam. Statistics for every question, as well as comments left by candidates, are also routinely reviewed to confirm that the question remains acceptable.

AWS Certification is reducing the reading load in some exams by using official short names of well-known AWS service names that contain initials or parenthetical information. Each of the following AWS services might appear as its short name in your exam questions.

Potential and current candidates, as well as AWS Certified individuals, can submit general inquiries to AWS Training and Certification Customer Service by filling out a ticket with all relevant and required information. Remember that it is a violation of the AWS Certification Program Agreement to disclose or disseminate the content of any AWS Certification exam, so customer service inquiries are not permitted to include references to exam content.

There are multiple ways that a certification can be verified:

• Digital badge: You can download your digital badge, which can be used as a verification. Digital badges can be managed and shared under the Digital Badges tab in your AWS Certification Account.
• Validation number: You can access your validation number from your AWS Certified PDF certificate found under Achieved Certifications in your AWS Certification Account. This 16-digit alphanumeric code can used to authenticate the credential by anyone with whom you have shared it with at the public URL http://aws.amazon.com/verification.
  
  

Once you earn an AWS Certification, you will receive benefits such as a digital badge. Learn more at our AWS Certification Benefits page.