30 Top AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam Questions 2023

Are you someone who is looking for a leap over to Cloud Computing? Then the official AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification is mandatory for you to excel in the exam to enter into the world of AWS. And if you are all set to give it a try for the AWS CCP exam, you would be wondering about the kind of questions asked for the exam. 

Although exploring the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification course on the official AWS website and proper training in a reliable online AWS certification training platform is recommended to clear the certification exam successfully, skimming through the kind of AWS cloud practitioner sample questions that can be expected in the exam give you a clear picture of how much should you prepare for the exam to ace it in the first go.

Let us have a quick glance over some of the AWS cloud practitioner certification exam questions that are updated as of 2023, which are very similar to both the practice test and the real exam.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Sample Questions 2023

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam is designed to assess and acknowledge your understanding of AWS cloud infrastructure, compliance and security, billing and pricing, and operating/deploying concepts in the AWS cloud environment. Consider going through the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Guide before embarking on the AWS Cloud Practitioner journey. 

The below sample questions can help you in filling the knowledge gaps and make you better understand the way you need to perceive the real exam. 

1. Cosmo Property has its data centres on-premises. They are planning to move to the AWS cloud. What is the primary value proposition of cloud computing?

a. Reduced effort and investment in staff training

b. Less expenditure as changing from Operational Expenses to Capital Expenses

c. Less expenditure as changing from Capital Expenses to Operational Expenses

d. Resource sharing and parallel executions of applications on multiple on-premises data centres

Rationale (Explanation): Changing from capital expense (CAPEX) to operating expense (OPEX) is an advantage of cloud computing. Instead of investing in capital costs such as data centres, servers, networking equipment, and storage arrays, the cloud offers a subscription-based costing model (or pay-as-you-go). Running workloads in the cloud means no upfront costs, and savings can be made by only paying for the used resources.

2. Auto Car is planning to move their customer care website and other workloads from their traditional data centres to an EC2 instance in AWS. What is the advantage of this?

a. Physically isolating the data centres from the internet

b. It will allow Auto Car to avoid expensive IT bills

c. It will allow Auto Car not to take care of Operating System and Software patching

d. It will allow Auto Car to focus on their business goals rather than the IT infrastructure investments and implementations

Rationale (Explanation):  Migrating workloads to the cloud, such as AWS, allows organisations to focus on their business goals. Many businesses move to the cloud to achieve organisational objectives such as growing revenue streams and increasing operational efficiency while reducing business risk. Companies do not need to invest their capital, human resources, and financial assets in IT infrastructure by moving to the cloud. The agile nature of the AWS cloud means that IT infrastructure can scale with business success or reduce costs if business requirements decline.

3. An AWS solution architect at Cosmo Property is describing the benefits of moving a data centre to the cloud. What is one primary benefit of this?

a. Avoiding patch management and its associated costs

b. Eliminating dependence on internet connections

c. Cost savings due to provisioning and decommissioning of resources based on varying traffic and workloads.

d. Secured storage, retrieval and transmission of data

Rationale (Explanation): Moving a data centre to the AWS cloud will increase elasticity in response to seasonal workload. Since it relates to IT infrastructure resources, elasticity can expand or reduce allocated resources based on compute and storage requirements. For example, an e-commerce site could scale out its web server during busy shopping times or seasons.

4. Auto Car is considering moving some of its services to the AWS cloud. They have contacted an AWS service provider to implement the services. How can the service provider correctly describe AWS cloud to Auto Car?

a. Deployment of applications is fast; however, provisioning assets takes time.

b. Economies of scale are reduced

c. Organisations are required to put in additional efforts for security

d. Operational expenses replace capital expenses

Rationale (Explanation): Operational costs on the AWS cloud replace capital expenses. Building and maintaining data centres requires an upfront and ongoing cost, which the organisation incurs. However, servers and resources are provisioned when needed in the AWS cloud, resulting in the organisation charging only when any help is used.

5. Which ongoing aspect of operations will be reduced if Sun Solar moves its servers to the AWS cloud?

a. Idle Capacity

b. Software Patching

c. Software Licenses

d. Redundant Servers

Rationale (Explanation): Idle capacity is most likely to be reduced by moving services to the AWS cloud. In traditional data centres, resources are provisioned based on assumed demand. If there is a requirement for more resources, they can be purchased. However, it is doubtful that these resources will be used at total capacity. Using AWS services like Auto Scaling and help reduce the idle capacity of resources.

6. Cosmo Property is looking to stop patching and managing backups of its Microsoft SQL Server Database. Which AWS service should they use to achieve this?

a. Amazon Lambda

b. Amazon Aurora

c. Amazon DynamoDB

d. Amazon RDS

Rationale (Explanation): Migrating Microsoft SQL Server databases to Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) will allow any organisation to stop taking backups and patching its SQL Server. This will enable organisations to maintain backups of critical data reliably and cost-effectively while also reducing operational overhead. This is part of the Operational Excellence pillar in AWS.

7. How will Sun Solar reduce their Total Cost of Ownership when they use AWS instead of traditional data centres?

a. Encryption

b. Identity and Management

c. Shared Security Model

d. Elastic Computing

Rationale (Explanation): The AWS Elastic Compute instances can reduce a customer’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared to the legacy data centres. This is because customers only pay for the resources being used. Elastic Compute is the equivalent of a physical server or a VMware / Hyper-V virtual machine.

8. How can you define cloud computing?

a. Provisioning IT resources in advance using a fixed pricing model over the internet

b. Provisioning IT resources on the fly using a fixed pricing model over the internet

c. Provisioning IT resources whenever required using a pay-as-you-go pricing model over the internet

d. Provisioning IT resources in advance  a pay-as-you-go pricing model over the internet

Rationale (Explanation): AWS defines cloud computing as the on-demand delivery of IT resources over the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing. It allows customers to provision resources like computing, storage and networking at a moment’s notice. Another feature of cloud computing is the ability to scale up and down.

9. Sun Solar wants to use an AWS feature that will help them reduce their expenses by spinning up EC2 instances based on demand. Which feature is that?

a. Availability Zones

b. Amazon Lambda

c. Elastic Container Service

d. Auto Scaling

Rationale (Explanation): Auto Scaling reduces expenses by provisioning and decommissioning EC2 instances based on workload. Auto Scaling Groups can be defined to optimise the number of running EC2 instances.

10. Auto Car uses Amazon FSx to deploy S3 storage to on-premises Windows users so that they can save money. Which is the other service that they can use?

a. NAT Gateway

b. AWS Direct Connect

c. Amazon EFS

d. Amazon EBS

Rationale (Explanation): Amazon FSx and AWS Direct Connect are used to achieve this goal. Providing cloud-based storage seamlessly to on-premises users is a cost-saving component in AWS cloud economics. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server delivers a managed service that natively supports file sharing using Server Messaging Blocks (SMB). Direct Connect allows an organisation to connect directly to the AWS cloud without requiring an internet service provider.

11. What benefit will Sun Solar realise if they migrate its on-premises databases to Amazon Aurora?

a. AWS manages scaling for NoSQL database workloads

b. Configuration and management of MySQL clustering is automated

c. Oracle read replicas can be used to increase performance and scaling

d. SQL can be used to query exabyte-scale data warehouses

Rationale (Explanation): Configuration and management of MySQL clustering are automated with Amazon Aurora. This is part of the Performance Efficiency framework pillar and an essential element in AWS cloud economics. Aurora is compatible with PostgreSQL and MySQL, which can perform automated storage scaling, replication, configuration and database clustering.

12. Cosmo Property has historical data that they no longer frequently access and need to archive. Which Amazon S3 feature can they use to reduce costs in doing so?

a. Elastic File System (EFS)

b. Storage Classes

c. Object Tagging

d. S3 Versioning

Rationale (Explanation): When data is no longer frequently used but should be archived, Storage classes can help reduce costs. Every object in S3 is associated with a storage class. This dictates how and when data is stored, the expenses related to that storage and the subsequent costs incurred when the information is retrieved.

13. The Solution Architect at Auto Car is designing various services and resources architecture to be deployed on AWS. Which of the following should they not do as part of the general design principle of Well-Architected Framework in AWS?

a. Stop guessing your capacity needs

b. Drive architectures using data

c. Test systems at production scale

d. Create static architecture

Rationale (Explanation): Traditional data centres usually follow a static architecture, where designs and architectures are created as one-time events and do not change. AWS design principles allow for dynamic, flexible architecture that evolves. The design framework offers best practices for designing and operating reliable, secure, efficient and cost-effective systems in the cloud.

14. Sun Solar needs to keep using on-premises data centres due to government requirements. However, they want to augment some of their on-premises resources by providing overflow capacity. Which cloud model can they adopt?

a. Private Cloud

b. Public Cloud

c. Hybrid Cloud

d. GovCloud

Rationale (Explanation): In the hybrid cloud model, the organisation does not control all resources. When two or more cloud models, public and private, are used together, it is known as a hybrid cloud. An organisation might deploy a hybrid cloud to provide additional support to on-premises resources.

15. Which type of Cloud Model is AWS GovCloud?

a. Community

b. Hybrid

c. Private

d. Public

Rationale (Explanation): GovCloud comes under the category of a community cloud. Dedicated cloud providers provide community clouds. In GovCloud, all resources are hosted by the cloud provider, and access to any of these resources is restricted to the government entities, contractors, and partners.

16. Auto Car needs to deploy AWS resources on-premises without letting the traffic go through the public internet. What should they configure to achieve this?

a. NAT Gateway

b. Virtual Private Cloud

c. AWS Site-to-Site Virtual Private Network (VPN)

d. AWS Direct Connect

Rationale (Explanation): Organisations should use Direct Connect to connect directly to the AWS cloud without using the public internet. To use this, the organisation will need to acquire or lease a connection to an AWS Direct Connect location.

17. How can EC2 instances access internet resources using a shared address?

a. Route 53

b. AWS Direct Connect

c. Deploy a Network Address 

Translation (NAT) gateway

d. Deploy instances in the same AZ

Rationale (Explanation): By deploying a Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway, EC2 instances can access internet resources using a shared address. It is a crucial cloud design component that sits between public and private networks. Without a NAT gateway, EC2 instances with a private IP address cannot access the internet.

18. According to the Shared Responsibility Model, what is Sun Solar’s responsibility for various AWS resources?

a. Encryption of Data

b. Infrastructure Security

c. Network Cabling

d. Hardware Firmware

Rationale (Explanation): As defined under the Shared Responsibility Model, data encryption is what the customer is responsible for. However, AWS offers encryption services; it is the customer who is responsible for protecting their data.

19. According to the Shared Responsibility Model, AWS manages hypervisors. What is the other resource that AWS manages?

a. Firmware Updates

b. Instance Settings

c. Encryption

d. Containers

Rationale (Explanation): Amazon Web Services manage AWS hypervisors and firmware updates. Firmware sits between virtual machines and physical hardware, whereas hypervisor is the hardware and software. Users are responsible for managing the VMs that run on top of a hypervisor. However, Amazon operates the hypervisor itself.

20. Under the Shared Responsibility Model, Auto Car and AWS share configuration management. Which is the other control that will be shared between them?

a. Physical Controls

b. Environmental Controls

c. Zone Security

d. Patch Management

Rationale (Explanation): The Shared Responsibility Model defines which aspects of the cloud are managed by AWS and the customer. Infrastructure management and configuration is the responsibility of AWS. However, Configuration management and patching of the virtual machines and the applications is the customer’s responsibility.

21. Under the Shared Responsibility Model, what needs to be done when A lambda function is throwing errors?

a. The customer should report all code errors to AWS

b. AWS support will access and troubleshoot the error

c. The customer should troubleshoot the server hosting Lambda

d. The customer needs to debug the function and fix errors

Rationale (Explanation): A Lambda function is a serverless compute solution that allows customers to run code without provisioning any servers. If a Lambda function throws an error, the customer should debug and fix errors and rerun them. 

22. How can Cosmo Property provide secure internet access to its EC2 instances deployed in a Virtual Private Cloud?

a. Configure IAM Policy

b. Configure Network ACLs

c. Deploy a NAT Gateway

d. Create a Security Group

Rationale (Explanation): A NAT Gateway sits between the public network and private networks. This allows privately addressed EC2 instances to access and be accessed by publicly addressed nodes. Hence, the user should deploy a Network Address Translation gateway to achieve this requirement.

23. Cosmo Property wants to host its PCI-DSS compliance reports. Which of the following resources can be used to achieve this?

a. AWS CloudTrail

b. AWS Audit Manager

c. AWS Artifact

d. AWS Certificate Manager

Rationale (Explanation): AWS artifacts provide compliance-related information for all cloud resources. These documents may be required to prove compliance with government or other regulations such as PCI-DSS or HIPAA.

24. Auto Car wants to automate their discovery of Personal Health Information (PC) stored in Amazon S3. What can they use to achieve this?

a. AWS Artifact

b. AWS CloudTrail

c. Amazon Macie

d. AWS Audit Manager

Rationale (Explanation): Amazon Macie is a machine learning-based managed data privacy and data security platform that can automate the discovery of Personal Health Information (PHI) stored in Amazon S3.

25. What AWS feature can Auto Car use to evaluate their control settings for compliance with government regulations?

a. Amazon CloudTrail

b. Amazon Inspector

c. Amazon CloudWatch

d. Audit Manager

Rationale (Explanation): Audit Manager can be used to evaluate control settings for compliance with government regulations. Using Audit Manager, an assessment can be created using a standard, predefined framework. For example, an assessment can be made to evaluate control settings for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

26. Sun Solar wants to provide an added layer of security by enabling multi-factor authentication when accessing different AWS services. Which AWS resource can be used to allow for this?

a. Elastic Container Service

b. AWS Certificate Manager

c. Identity and Access Management

d. AWS CloudTrail

Rationale (Explanation): An Application Programming Interface (API) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) provides multi-factor authentication to access AWS service APIs.

27. How can Sun Solar use an AWS IAM policy to define different policies for users and resources?

a. IAM policies define permissions for a group

b. IAM policies block firewall services for instances

c. IAM policies group users based on job functions

d. IAM policies block traffic based on IP addresses

Rationale (Explanation): AWS IAM policies define permissions for a group. IAM policies are generally used to manage access to AWS resources. Policies can be assigned to users, resources or groups and can also be identity-based.

28. Which security issue is primarily addressed by using multi-factor authentication?

a. A stolen password

b. Open ports on a server

c. A stolen hard drive

d. Unencrypted network traffic

Rationale (Explanation): Multi-factor authentication (MFA) acts as a second layer of authentication. This addresses the issue of a stolen password. MFA helps mitigate phishing and other social engineering attacks.

29. Cosmo Property wants to facilitate attribute-based control (ABAC) for IAM users. What can be used to facilitate this?

a. Tags

b. Access Control Lists

c. Multi-Factor Authentication

d. Identity and Access Management

Rationale (Explanation): Tags are used to facilitate attribute-based access control for IAM users. It allows access to resources to be granted based on an attribute with an entity. This feature is useful where the access required is temporary or project-based.

30. Auto Car wants to provide its employees limited and secure access to compute resources. Which security principle should be used?

a. Least privilege

b. What AWS has defined

c. Highest privilege

d. What the user wants

Rationale (Explanation): Users should be given access by using the principle of least privilege. So basically, users should have Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), which allows access to applications and data as necessary. The least privilege is a security principle that gives users access to what they need as required.

How to Maximise Your Chances of Clearing the Cert Exam?

Do you think just glancing through some of the top questions of the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam is all sufficient to ace the cert exam? No! Enrol in the AWS Cloud Practitioner course at saasguru, get hold of n number of practice tests, and prepare thoroughly for the exam without any shortcuts.

Take the mock exam for free and understand the level of preparation you need to put on for the exam. Sign up with saasguru and get benefitted hugely. Get hold of the latest AWS cloud practitioner exam questions, mock tests, 1:1 mentoring, updated content, personalised study guide, and career coaching. Good Luck!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How many possible questions are on the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam?

There are 65 multiple-choice questions in the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification exam, and you have 90 minutes to complete them.

2. Do questions repeat in the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam? 

There is no guarantee that the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam questions will be the same as the previous years. The questions can be based on similar scenarios or completely different ones. That is why it is essential to not rely on exam dumps and practice as much as possible by giving practice exams.

3. What is the passing score on the Cloud Practitioner Exam?

The AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam has a passing score of 750. If we talk about the percentage of candidates who pass the exam, 97% of the candidates are able to pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam.