Introduction
The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty (ANS-C01) exam is intended for individuals who perform an AWS networking specialist’s role. The exam validates a candidate’s ability to design, implement, manage, and secure AWS and hybrid network architectures at scale.
The exam is for individuals who perform complex networking tasks, and validates an individual’s ability to perform the following tasks:
- Design and develop hybrid and cloud-based networking solutions by using AWS
- Implement core AWS networking services according to AWS best practices
- Operate and maintain hybrid and cloud-based network architecture for all AWS services
- Use tools to deploy and automate hybrid and cloud-based AWS networking tasks
- Implement secure AWS networks using AWS native networking constructs and services
Target candidate description
The target candidate possesses the knowledge, skills, experience, and competence to design, implement, and operate complex AWS and hybrid networking architectures. The target candidate is expected to have 5 or more years of networking experience with 2 or more years of cloud and hybrid networking experience.
Recommended AWS knowledge
The target candidate should have the following knowledge:
- AWS networking nuances and how they relate to the integration of AWS services
- AWS security best practices
- AWS compute and storage options and their underlying consistency models
To view a detailed list of specific tools and technologies that might be covered on the exam, as well as lists of in-scope and out-of-scope AWS services, refer to the Appendix.
Exam content
Response types
There are two types of questions on the exam:
- Multiple choice: Has one correct response and three incorrect responses (distractors)
- Multiple response: Has two or more correct responses out of five or more response options
Select one or more responses that best complete the statement or answer the question. Distractors, or incorrect answers, are response options that a candidate with incomplete knowledge or skill might choose. Distractors are generally plausible responses that match the content area.
Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; there is no penalty for guessing. The exam includes 50 questions that will affect your score.
Unscored content
The exam includes 15 unscored questions that do not affect your score. AWS collects information about candidate performance on these unscored questions to evaluate these questions for future use as scored questions. These unscored questions are not identified on the exam.
Exam results
The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty (ANS-C01) exam is a pass or fail exam. The exam is scored against a minimum standard established by AWS professionals who follow certification industry best practices and guidelines.
Your results for the exam are reported as a scaled score of 100–1,000. The minimum passing score is 750. Your score shows how you performed on the exam as a whole and whether or not you passed. Scaled scoring models help equate scores across multiple exam forms that might have slightly different difficulty levels.
Your score report may contain a table of classifications of your performance at each section level. This information is intended to provide general feedback about your exam performance. The exam uses a compensatory scoring model, which means that you do not need to achieve a passing score in each section. You need to pass only the overall exam.
Each section of the exam has a specific weighting, so some sections have more questions than other sections have. The table contains general information that highlights your strengths and weaknesses. Use caution when interpreting section-level feedback.
Content outline
This exam guide includes weightings, test domains, and task statements for the exam. It is not a comprehensive listing of the content on the exam. However, additional context for each of the task statements is available to help guide your preparation for the exam. The following table lists the main content domains and their weightings. The table precedes the complete exam content outline, which includes the additional context. The percentage in each domain represents only scored content.
Domain | % of Exam |
Domain 1: Network Design | 30% |
Domain 2: Network Implementation | 26% |
Domain 3: Network Management and Operation | 20% |
Domain 4: Network Security, Compliance, and Governance | 24% |
TOTAL | 100% |