Question 1

What is the AWS Certified Database - Specialty (DBS-C01) exam?

Accepted Answer

The DBS-C01 is an advanced AWS certification that validates expertise in designing, deploying, and managing databases on AWS. It covers both relational and non-relational database services, including RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, and others. The exam is targeted at database professionals with significant AWS experience and covers practical aspects of database architecture, migration, security, and optimization.

Question 2

How many questions are on the DBS-C01 exam?

Accepted Answer

The DBS-C01 exam contains 65 questions total, presented in multiple-choice (select one correct answer from four options) and multiple-response (select two correct answers from five options) formats. Of these 65 questions, 50 are scored and contribute to your final result, while 15 are unscored experimental questions used by AWS for future exam development. You will not be able to distinguish between scored and unscored questions during the exam.

Question 3

What is the passing score for the DBS-C01?

Accepted Answer

The DBS-C01 uses a scaled scoring model with results reported from 100 to 1000. The minimum passing score is 750 out of 1000. The scaled scoring system accounts for variations in question difficulty and ensures consistent standards across all exam versions. Your raw score (number of correct answers) is converted to the scaled score, so it's important to achieve strong performance across all five domains.

Question 4

What AWS database services does the DBS-C01 cover?

Accepted Answer

The DBS-C01 covers AWS's full portfolio of database services including Amazon RDS (for relational databases), Amazon Aurora (MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible), Amazon DynamoDB (NoSQL), Amazon Redshift (data warehousing), Amazon ElastiCache (in-memory caching), Amazon DocumentDB (MongoDB compatible), Amazon Neptune (graph databases), and Amazon QLDB (ledger database). You should understand when to use each service, their strengths and limitations, and how to design solutions combining multiple services.

Question 5

How long is the DBS-C01 exam valid for?

Accepted Answer

AWS Certified Database - Specialty certification is valid for three years from the date you pass the exam. To maintain your certification, you can retake the DBS-C01 before expiration, or pass a higher-level AWS certification such as Solutions Architect Professional or DevOps Engineer Professional. Additionally, passing certain other specialty certifications may also renew your database specialty certification.

Question 6

What is the time limit for the DBS-C01 exam?

Accepted Answer

You have 170 minutes (approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes) to complete the DBS-C01 exam. This works out to an average of about 2.6 minutes per question. The exam is proctored and timed, so effective time management is crucial. Many candidates recommend spending more time on scenario-based questions and less on straightforward recall questions to optimize your score.

Question 7

What experience is required to take the DBS-C01?

Accepted Answer

AWS recommends that candidates have at least 5 years of general database experience and a minimum of 2 years of hands-on experience with AWS database services. You should have practical experience designing and implementing database solutions in production environments, understand different database paradigms (relational and NoSQL), and be familiar with AWS database services and their use cases.

AWS Certified Database - Specialty (DBS-C01) Practice Exams

🔗Useful Links

Official Exam Page

Exam Guide PDF

AWS Documentation

AWS Skill Builder Training