AWS exam changes / Developer – Associate
DVA-C02 vs DVA-C03: what changes in the AWS Developer – Associate exam
DVA-C03 replaces DVA-C02. The last day to take DVA-C02 is November 30, 2026, and DVA-C03 starts on December 1, 2026.
Last updated .
Key dates
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| DVA-C03 exam guide published (done) | |
| Last day to take DVA-C02 | |
| First day to take DVA-C03 |
What changes in DVA-C03
DVA-C03 keeps the same format and passing score. It renames the Deployment domain to Testing and Deployment, moves weight toward Troubleshooting and Optimization, and adds a new security task on the risks of using AI services in your applications.
| DVA-C02 | DVA-C03 | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 65 (50 scored) | 65 (50 scored) |
| Time | 130 minutes | 130 minutes |
| Price | $150 | $150 |
| Passing score | 720 | 720 |
| Question types | Multiple choice, multiple response | Multiple choice, multiple response |
Domains and weightings
| DVA-C02 | DVA-C03 |
|---|---|
| 1. Development with AWS Services (32%) | 1. Development with AWS Services (30%) |
| 2. Security (26%) | 2. Security (26%) |
| 3. Deployment (24%) | 3. Testing and Deployment (22%) |
| 4. Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%) | 4. Troubleshooting and Optimization (22%) |
Task changes
- New: “Identify and mitigate security risks associated with using and integrating AI services into application development” (Task 2.3).
- Merged: encryption and managing sensitive data are now one task (2.2).
- Merged: testing in development environments and automating deployment testing are now one task, “Implement and automate application testing in AWS environments” (3.2).
- Reworded: “Instrument code for observability” becomes “Apply logging, monitoring, and observability best practices” (4.2).
- Reweighted: Troubleshooting and Optimization rises from 18% to 22%, while Development with AWS Services (32% to 30%) and Deployment (24% to 22%) each drop two points.
New skills in existing tasks
AWS’s comparison of DVA-C02 and DVA-C03 lists what was added. Besides the new AI security task:
- AI-assisted development (1.1): use AI tools to generate, review and optimize code, and integrate managed AWS AI services into applications.
- Presigned URLs (2.1): give secure, time-limited access with Amazon S3 and Amazon CloudFront.
- Container images (3.1): build and manage images with Amazon ECR, Dockerfiles, image tags and lifecycle policies.
- Container deployments (3.3): deploy with Amazon ECS task definitions, Amazon EKS manifests, AWS Fargate and rolling updates.
- AI tools across the lifecycle: generate tests and automate testing (3.2), support CI/CD workflows (3.3), analyze errors (4.1) and find optimization opportunities (4.3).
Nothing was removed. A few skills moved: unit testing with AWS SAM moves to Testing and Deployment, Lambda performance tuning moves to Troubleshooting and Optimization, and API Gateway stages and custom domains move into Task 3.1.
Services in scope
The in-scope list adds Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, Kiro and Amazon Quick for AI, plus Amazon Data Firehose, AWS PrivateLink, AWS Certificate Manager, AWS Private CA and Amazon S3 Glacier. AWS SAM and Amazon CloudWatch Logs are now listed by name. AWS AppSync and Amazon Q Developer are no longer listed: Q Developer’s IDE plugins closed to new customers in May 2026, and AWS points developers to Kiro instead. Amazon ECR, Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS were already in scope, but DVA-C03 now names container skills in its tasks.
The out-of-scope list now also names Amazon SageMaker AI, Strands Agents and AWS Transfer Family, and no longer names Amazon Chime. Amazon Quick Sight stays out of scope even though Amazon Quick is in. Our DVA-C03 study guidelists every added and removed service with what to know about each.
What to study differently
Our reading of AWS’s changes, not AWS’s wording.
- Learn the security risks of calling AI services from your code and how to reduce them: model access, private connectivity, Amazon Bedrock Guardrails, securing agents and keeping prompts out of logs. This is the one new task.
- Get hands-on with containers: build an image, push it to Amazon ECR and deploy it to Amazon ECS on Fargate.
- Learn Kiro’s basics (specs, steering, hooks) and how to call Amazon Bedrock from an SDK.
- Give troubleshooting and optimization more time: it’s now worth as much as testing and deployment, and observability now covers logging and monitoring practice, not just instrumenting code.
- Treat testing as its own skill, not just part of deployment.
- Everything else carries over, so DVA-C02 study material is still most of what you need.
The DVA-C03 exam guide
65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored) in 130 minutes, $150, passing score 720 out of 1,000. Multiple choice and multiple response.
Development with AWS Services (30%)
- Develop code for applications that are hosted on AWS
- Develop code for AWS Lambda
- Use data stores during application development
Security (26%)
- Implement authentication and authorization mechanisms for applications and AWS services
- Implement encryption and manage sensitive data by using AWS services
- Identify and mitigate security risks associated with using and integrating AI services into application development
Testing and Deployment (22%)
- Prepare application artifacts to be deployed to AWS
- Implement and automate application testing in AWS environments
- Deploy code by using AWS continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) services
Troubleshooting and Optimization (22%)
- Assist in a root cause analysis
- Apply logging, monitoring, and observability best practices
- Optimize applications by using AWS services and features
Source: AWS DVA-C03 exam guide.
The DVA-C02 exam guide
65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored) in 130 minutes, $150, passing score 720 out of 1,000. Multiple choice and multiple response.
Development with AWS Services (32%)
- Develop code for applications hosted on AWS
- Develop code for AWS Lambda
- Use data stores in application development
Security (26%)
- Implement authentication and/or authorization for applications and AWS services
- Implement encryption by using AWS services
- Manage sensitive data in application code
Deployment (24%)
- Prepare application artifacts to be deployed to AWS
- Test applications in development environments
- Automate deployment testing
- Deploy code by using AWS Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) services
Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%)
- Assist in a root cause analysis
- Instrument code for observability
- Optimize applications by using AWS services and features
Source: AWS DVA-C02 exam guide.
Which version should you take?
- Ready by November 30, 2026: take DVA-C02. Its exam guide and most study material match it.
- Sitting on or after December 1: you’ll take DVA-C03. Add the AI security task and more troubleshooting practice to your plan.
- Either version earns the AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification.
Practicing on ExamPark
Our free Developer – Associate practice exam and theDVA-C03 study guide follow the DVA-C03 exam guide. Because DVA-C03 keeps everything DVA-C02 tests, the same questions prepare you for DVA-C02 until November 30, 2026: just skip the topics on Amazon Bedrock, AI security, Kiro and containers.