Every single day there is a question from someone here saying "where do I start for AWS Cloud Practitioner" when there are a few hundred articles from those who passed already.

So here is a master list of resources to help those who have this question.

Last Updated : 13-Nov--2025

Links to some of my other posts which you may find useful :

Foundational Level Resource Guides : CCP/CLF AIF

Associate Level Resource Guides : SAA DVA DEA MLA SOA

Professional Level Resource Guides : SAP DOP

Specialty Level Resource Guides : SCS ANS

2025 Vouchers / Discounts

Free Learning / Digital Badges : Beginner level Intermediate Level

If you find this post useful - please upvote so it shows high up on any search. This post is written for benefit of this community and please comment with any constructive feedback / suggestions / changes required.

tl;dr

Get 1 video course and watch it end to end

Study CAF & WAF in a bit more detail

Do some decent practice exams (NOT dumps) from one provider

Take and Pass exam!

Subreddit Search

Following my own usual guidance, you can always use the subreddit search feature and read articles from everyone in the last month who posted about this exam / passed it. There is a wealth of detail / experience here to learn from :

Link : https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/search/?q=clf-c02+cloud+practitioner+pass&type=link&t=month

Exam Details

If you have absolutely no clue about the exam - start here.

The exam code is CLF-C02 and its also commonly referred to as CCP as short for Certified Cloud Practitioner.

AWS page with all the details : https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-cloud-practitioner/

Always read the Cloud Practitioner Exam Guide v1.2 as of Sept-2025 - it tells you what is in scope and out of scope.

There is a nice Exam Guide from Tutorialsdojo that goes into a lot more depth and introduces their own resources but is a good general overview of this exam : https://tutorialsdojo.com/aws-cloud-practitioner-clf-c02-exam-guide/

Minimum Viable Path to Certification

Most people usually need 3 things to pass the exam

1. A single video based course introducing AWS and all the key exam topics

Typically these are courses where someone reads from some slides, shows you the AWS console and how to use it and then gives you tips on what to remember - there are free and paid versions of these.

2. Additional material on key topics.

For CLF-C02 - these included the "CAF" and "WAF" -more details on these below.

3. One good quality practice exam

Note : do not fall for some random "dump" found on internet or a file your mate gave you to study.

Also note - you do NOT need more than 1 of each category. You can buy more than one practice exam for sure but doing one is enough IMHO.

1. Video Courses

Free Video based Courses

Free from AWS's own training service (Skillbuilder) :

UPDATE: All the AWS official materials for this certification is now free till end of 2025 - read https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/s/6mgeFdQ3aG

AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials

https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/external/view/elearning/134/aws-cloud-practitioner-essentials

Please note that this course is not enough on its own to pass and you may want to try additional material below.

YouTube based video course

This course below is a better alternative to the Cloud Practitioner Essentials mentioned above.

Andrew Brown is an AWS community hero who runs his own training site called exampro.co but offers most of the material for free on FreeCodeCamp's YouTube channel.

The 2024 refresh of the Cloud Practitioner course is here : https://youtu.be/NhDYbskXRgc

This is my personal favourite and is highly recommended.

Andrew also has additional (free / paid) content on his site to check out.

PAID Video based courses

Udemy Courses :

Udemy is a marketplace for courses created by independent authors.

Two of the well known authors are mentioned below but please note that Udemy's pricing model can be a bit weird. One day it may show 150 USD for a course and another day 15 USD. This price it high and discount it heavily model catches out most people - so NEVER pay more than USD 20 for anything on Udemy.

Just wait for a day or so and prices may change. Opening Udemy in another incognito browser etc usually yields a different price or follow the authors on social media for codes that shrink the cost.

Stephane Maarek :

Go via his site : https://courses.datacumulus.com/ for links to his Cloud Practitioner course with the best available coupon.

Neil Davis :

https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-training-course/

Either one of these Udemy courses is sufficient. You still need to combine it with practice exams but you do not need more than 1 video course.

Exampro.co

As mentioned above Andrew Brown has his own site with additional material over his YouTube course.

2. Additional Material

Two of the main exam items noted recently are the

CAF - Cloud Adoption Framework https://aws.amazon.com/cloud-adoption-framework/

The link above has lot of details, ebook, infographic etc.

If you need some additional training - consider this free one :

https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/external/view/elearning/189/introduction-to-the-aws-cloud-adoption-framework-caf

WAF - Well Architected Framework

https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected/

You need to know at a high level what the pillars are and the main ideas behind them. You do not need to know every single one in depth. Quickly skimming some of the pillars maybe of benefit.

If you need additional training - consider this free one :

https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/external/view/elearning/108/aws-well-architected-foundations

Cheat Sheets

If you are revising towards the latter part of the learning journey - consider using these cheat sheets to quickly review details (dont use these as primary material)

Cheat Sheets from TutorialsDojo

Cheats Sheets from DCT / Neil Davis

3. Practice Exams

Please do NOT fall for "dumps" - if anyone offers you the EXACT list of AWS questions or guarantees the question bank matches the exam - these are dumps. The links below are either official or well regarded sources.

Free :

AWS skillbuilder has one free official exam with just 20 free questions.

To be honest its not really worth it.

exampro.co

Has 1 free practice exam you can sign up to.

Paid :

Official Practice exam

https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/external/view/elearning/14637/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-official-practice-exam-clf-c02-english - (used to have a free trial - it's now gone).

Tutorialsdojo.com

Highly recommended independent resource for practice exam questions with a very useful "review mode" and every question comes with detailed explanations on answers

Udemy

Stephane Maarek : again go via his site : https://courses.datacumulus.com/

Neal Davis : https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-practice-exams-c/

Exampro.co

Andrew Brown has I believe 3 practice exams as well on his site. One is free - the other two you pay for.

Whizlabs

I havent used them personally but try https://www.whizlabs.com/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner/

Not Recommended sites :

Sites that are sadly NOT recommended anymore - Avoid A Cloud Guru / Pluralsight as their courses are not considered the best anymore. They used to be leaders but somehow have fallen behind and their subscription model doesnt work in a world with cheap one time purchase courses.

Miscellanous support material

Highly Recommended : AWS Cloud Quest : Cloud Practitioner

https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/internal/view/elearning/11458/aws-cloud-quest-cloud-practitioner

I usually say "Can you learn to swim watching swimming videos? Or do you need to jump into the learner pool and actually learn?

If you want to put all the theory into practice and learn in a slightly gamified way - you can play the Free Cloud Quest : Cloud Practitioner game.

In this game you navigate through a dozen skills covering Compute, Storage etc and each assignment is an actual hands on lab and you do this in the actual AWS Console. This is all free of cost and finishing all dozen assignments will yield you a free digital badge too.

This game alone is not enough to pass the exam but it reinforces many of the fundamental services with real hands on work.

SkillBuilder ExamPrep course

If you want to know the exam domains etc in more detail - this course (4.5 hrs) maybe useful.

Note it does NOT teach you the basics as much as the others above - it covers the various domains and what you are expected to know and offers sample questions.

https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/external/view/elearning/16434/exam-prep-standard-course-aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-clf-c02-english

These CLF notes from u/cgreciano seem to be popular with this community. So including that here with a caveat that you should use this as complementary resource than the only source. You can also check his website which had additional material and donation links. I also believe making your own notes / flashcards is always the way to go as its the act of writing the notes that helps with recollection and understanding.

There are a few other practice exams / flash cards etc floating around but none of the authors seem to hang around here to help the community with Q&A - so not including them yet.

FAQ

1. Do I need ALL this material

A. No. Just one of each is fine. Example : get the free YouTube course + tutorialsdojo and you can pass

2. Do I really need to do hands on work

A. It is recommended but at this level optional

3. Where can I find vouchers for the exam

A. Check the 2025 ultimate list of all Vouchers / Discounts / Offers

4. Can I cheat my way using Dumps that I found online / my mate gave me / found on GitHub / YouTube?

A. You can but there is a high chance you fail and/or get caught / banned - the risk isnt worth it. Stick with genuine resources.

5. Can I pass with just free resources as I cannot afford the resources

A. Its possible but please it is recommended to atleast spend on decent practice exams. If you cannot afford the exam / resources - just get the free digital badges (Cloud Essentials / Cloud Quest)

6. Can I skip CCP / CLF and move to Associate level

A. Absolutely - if you are aiming higher than just foundational level I recommend you go directly to Associate level skipping CCP.

7. Can someone who is new to IT do this exam

A. Yes - this is designed for beginners - be ready to use google to help you with things you do not fully understand first time

8. Is it worth it?

A. Plenty of threads on this subreddit covering this. You have to make up your own mind if its worth it to you or not.

9. I dont code or want to - is this course for me?

A. This course is a beginner level course - there is no coding involved

Good Luck folks!