Failed Your AWS Certification Exam? Here's What to Do Next
Quick answer: You can retake a failed AWS certification exam after a 14-day waiting period, with no limit on attempts and the full fee due each time. Use the score report in your AWS Certification account to find the domains marked "Needs improvement," study those with hands-on labs and timed practice sets, and book the retake 2 to 10 weeks out depending on how far your scaled score was from 720.↗ Share on X
If you fail your AWS certification exam, you can retake it after a 14-day waiting period, there is no limit on how many times you can try, and you pay the full exam fee each time. The useful part of failing is the score report: it shows which exam domains you scored well in and which ones you need to improve, and that report should drive exactly what you study in the next two to four weeks. Most people who fail by a small margin pass on the second attempt when they stop re-reading everything and focus only on the weak domains.
Here is what to do in the first hour, the first week, and the weeks until your retake.
What happens right after you fail?
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Free AWS Labs for Cert Study: 5 Sources and a 4-Week Plan →When you finish the exam, the screen shows a pass or fail result (for some exams, the result arrives by email within a few hours instead). Your detailed score report appears in your AWS Certification account, usually within five business days.
The report has two parts that matter:
1. Your scaled score, on a scale of 100 to 1,000. The passing mark is 700 for the Cloud Practitioner exam and 720 for Associate, Professional, and Specialty exams.
2. A table of exam domains with a label for each one: either "Meets competencies" or "Needs improvement." This table does not show a percentage per domain, but it tells you where you fell short.
Do not throw this report away or ignore it. It is the single most useful document you have for the retake.
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How far from passing were you?
Your scaled score tells you how to plan. Use this table as a rough guide.
| Your scaled score | Distance from passing | What it usually means | Suggested time before retake |
|---|---|---|---|
| 680 to 719 (or 660 to 699 for Cloud Practitioner) | Very close | A few weak topics, maybe exam nerves or time pressure | 2 to 3 weeks |
| 600 to 679 | Moderate gap | Two or three domains need real study | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Below 600 | Large gap | The study plan itself needs to change | 6 to 10 weeks |
A score of 700 on an Associate exam feels like a near miss, and it is. But "near miss" does not mean "retake next week with no changes." The 14-day waiting period exists for a reason. Use it.
Step 1: write down what you remember, today
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Explain Your Cloud Projects in Plain English to Recruiters →Within an hour of leaving the test center, or while it is still fresh if you tested at home, sit down and write a list of every question topic you remember being unsure about. Do not try to recall exact questions; that is against the AWS exam agreement and it is not useful anyway. Write topics: "VPC peering versus Transit Gateway," "S3 storage class costs," "IAM permission boundaries," "which database for a specific latency requirement."
You will remember 15 to 30 topics if you do this right away. You will remember five if you wait until tomorrow. This list, combined with the score report, becomes your study plan.
Step 2: read the score report domain by domain
When the report arrives, match each "Needs improvement" domain to the list of topics you wrote down. For example, on the Solutions Architect Associate exam, the domains are:
| Domain | Share of the exam |
|---|---|
| Design Secure Architectures | 30% |
| Design Resilient Architectures | 26% |
| Design High-Performing Architectures | 24% |
| Design Cost-Optimized Architectures | 20% |
If "Design Secure Architectures" says "Needs improvement," that is 30 percent of the exam, and it is where your retake score will move the most. Study that domain first and longest. Check the exam guide for your specific certification on the AWS Certification website, because the domains and weights differ between exams and change when a new exam version is released.
Step 3: change how you study, not just how much
If you studied by watching a full video course and reading notes, and you still failed, doing the same thing again for longer rarely works. These changes help the most:
Do hands-on labs for every weak domain. Reading about a VPC and building one are different kinds of knowledge. The exam tests whether you can pick the right service for a scenario, and that judgment comes from having touched the services. Use the AWS Free Tier and shut down resources when you finish so you do not get a bill.
Take practice exams in review mode, then read every explanation. The right answer is only half the lesson. The explanation of why the three wrong answers are wrong is the other half, and it is where scenario-based questions are won.
Study the "why" behind the services AWS wants you to pick. Many exam questions have two answers that both technically work. The correct one is usually the one that is more managed, more cost-effective, or more scalable, depending on what the question emphasizes. Learn to spot the key phrase: "most cost-effective," "least operational overhead," "highly available."
Practice with a timer. If you ran out of time on the first attempt, do timed sets of 20 questions in 30 minutes until the pace feels normal. Associate exams give you 130 minutes for 65 questions, which is two minutes per question.
Step 4: schedule the retake with a date, not "when I feel ready"
Book the retake as soon as the 14-day window allows, but set the date based on the table above, not on the earliest slot. Having a fixed date on the calendar is what makes people actually study.
Before you pay, check the AWS Training and Certification website for any current retake offer. AWS has run promotions in the past that reduced the cost of a second attempt, but these come and go, so confirm what is available at the time you book instead of assuming one exists.
Standard exam fees at the time of writing:
| Exam level | Fee in US dollars |
|---|---|
| Foundational (Cloud Practitioner, AI Practitioner) | 100 |
| Associate | 150 |
| Professional | 300 |
| Specialty | 300 |
Fees can change and are different in some countries, so confirm the price when you register.
Step 5: plan the exam day differently
Many near-miss failures come from the day itself rather than the knowledge. Fix these before the retake:
- If you tested at home and had technical problems, book a test center this time. Online proctoring is convenient but check-in delays, webcam issues, and strict room rules add stress.
- If you tested at a center and were rushed, arrive 30 minutes early and bring two forms of ID so there is no check-in problem.
- Use the flag feature. Mark hard questions, move on, and come back. A question you spend six minutes on costs you three other questions.
- Read the last sentence of each question first. It usually contains the actual ask ("which solution is MOST cost-effective?"). Then read the scenario knowing what you are looking for.
What if you fail a second time?
It happens, and it does not mean the certification is out of reach. Two things to do differently:
1. Compare the two score reports. If the same domain says "Needs improvement" both times, your study material for that domain is not working. Switch sources: a different course, the AWS documentation itself, or the AWS Skill Builder exam prep course for that certification.
2. Consider a step down. If you are attempting the Solutions Architect Professional and failing by a wide margin, passing the Associate first builds the foundation the Professional exam assumes you have. The same applies to attempting an Associate exam without having done the Cloud Practitioner if you are new to cloud.
There is no limit on attempts, and each attempt still requires the 14-day wait. Failing twice costs money and time, but it does not count against you in any permanent way, and employers do not see failed attempts.
Does a failed exam show up anywhere?
No. Your AWS Certification account shows only certifications you have earned. There is no public record of failed attempts, and your Credly badge profile shows only what you passed. If you are worried about explaining a gap to an employer, you do not need to mention the failed attempt at all; "I am scheduled to take the exam on this date" is a complete answer.
Your next step right now
Open a note on your phone and write down every topic you remember struggling with on the exam, before you do anything else today. Then log in to your AWS Certification account, check whether the score report has arrived, and list the "Needs improvement" domains next to your topic list. Pick the heaviest-weighted weak domain, find the hands-on lab or practice set that covers it, and block three study sessions for it on your calendar this week. Book the retake date once you have the score report, using the timing table above.
FAQ
How long do I have to wait to retake an AWS certification exam?
AWS requires a 14-day waiting period after a failed attempt before you can take the same exam again. There is no limit on the number of attempts, but you pay the exam fee for each one.
What is the passing score for AWS certification exams?
The scaled score runs from 100 to 1,000. The passing mark is 700 for the Cloud Practitioner exam and 720 for Associate, Professional, and Specialty exams. Your score report also labels each exam domain as either meeting competencies or needing improvement.
Do employers see failed AWS exam attempts?
No. Your AWS Certification account and your Credly badge profile show only the certifications you have earned. There is no public record of failed attempts, and you are not required to mention them.