Cloud certificationsAWSSecurity Specialty
AWS · SCS-C02
Updated April 2026

AWS Security Specialty Study Plan (SCS-C02)

The AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) validates deep knowledge of AWS security best practices including IAM, encryption, monitoring, incident response, and identity federation. Most respected AWS specialty for security-focused roles.

Typical prep
~120h
Timeline
~12w
Exam fee
$300 USD
Level
specialty
Plan tracker preview

SCS-C02 activity tracker

A visual preview of how exclam.ai turns a 12-week SCS-C02 plan into daily guide coverage, flashcard, quiz, review, and mock streaks.

Updates as you study
JunJul
lighter dayfull targetReview startsExam week

Exam format

65 questions, 170 minutes, multiple choice and multiple response.

Prerequisites

AWS recommends 5 years IT security experience and 2+ years AWS workloads.

Exam fee

$300 USD

Security Specialty exam domains

The 6 domains tested on SCS-C02, with approximate weights from the official exam guide. exclam.ai weights your study plan according to these percentages.

DomainApproximate weight
Threat Detection and Incident Response14%
Security Logging and Monitoring18%
Infrastructure Security20%
Identity and Access Management16%
Data Protection18%
Management and Security Governance14%

Source: official SCS-C02 exam guide published by Amazon Web Services.

Free official exam guide

Upload the SCS-C02 exam guide and exclam.ai builds your plan

Amazon Web Services publishes the SCS-C02 exam guide as a free PDF. Download it, upload it to exclam.ai, and get a fully guided study plan with adaptive flashcards and quizzes in minutes.

How exclam.ai helps with SCS-C02

Flashcards per domain

Upload the SCS-C02 exam guide and exclam.ai generates flashcards for each of the 6 domains, mapped to the approximate exam weights.

Practice quizzes with exam-weighted sampling

Quizzes pull more questions from heavier domains. exclam.ai tracks which domains you're weakest on and weights future practice accordingly.

~12-week adaptive schedule

Coverage phase, review phase, and mocks — distributed across your target timeline. Falls behind automatically rebalance without re-planning.

Popular SCS-C02 study vendors

exclam.ai works alongside whichever video course or practice exam provider you prefer. We do not reproduce or redistribute any commercial prep content — upload your own notes taken while studying.

Stéphane Maarek (Udemy)
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Adrian Cantrill
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Zeal Vora
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Tutorials Dojo
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SCS-C02 questions

Should I take SAA-C03 or SAP-C02 before SCS-C02?

SAA-C03 is typically enough if you have strong security background already. SAP-C02 is not required. Security Specialty assumes comfort with IAM, VPC, and encryption concepts — SAA covers the foundation.

How does SCS-C02 compare to CISSP?

Different focus. CISSP is broad information security governance and management. SCS-C02 is narrow AWS implementation of security controls. Most cloud security engineers hold both.

Start your SCS-C02 plan today

Upload the free AWS SCS-C02 exam guide and exclam.ai builds a fully guided study plan. Free to start.

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