AWS Certified Security - Specialty (SCS-C03): Cost, Exam Format, and the SCS-C02 Retirement

If you studied for this exam using material written even a year ago, you were studying for a different test. AWS retired SCS-C02 on December 1, 2025, and SCS-C03 has been the only version on offer since the next day. That switch, what changed in it, plus the real all-in cost, the exam format, and all six current domain weights, is what this page covers, checked directly against AWS’s own exam guide.

Who this cert is actually for

Security Specialty targets people already doing AWS security work, not people hoping the certificate will get them into it. AWS’s own target candidate description asks for three to five years of experience securing cloud solutions generally, plus two or more years of hands-on experience specifically securing AWS workloads. That is a steep bar for a “specialty” tier that sits parallel to, not above, the Professional level.

If you are still building toward that experience, AWS Solutions Architect Associate is the more realistic next step: its Design Secure Architectures domain touches real security content without demanding years of production security work you have not accumulated yet. If your target is a vendor-neutral senior security credential rather than an AWS-specific one, weigh this against ISC2 CISSP, which tests governance and architecture across eight domains instead of AWS services specifically, or against CompTIA Security+ if you are years earlier in your security career than this exam assumes.

What it costs all-in

The exam is $300 direct from AWS, the Specialty and Professional tier price and tied for the priciest AWS exam this site tracks, with no free retake. A failed attempt costs another $300 after a 14-day wait, making a wasted first attempt one of the two most expensive mistakes available on any AWS exam. AWS publishes local prices for this tier too: €256, A$449, ¥40,000, and ₹25,659 (rupee vouchers through Pearson’s Mindhub store only). If you already hold an active AWS certification, the 50 percent voucher in your AWS Certification Account cuts the attempt to $150.

Free and low-cost prep exists, but it matters more here than on an associate-level exam, since the material assumes years of production experience rather than fresh study. AWS’s own exam guide functions as the syllabus, and AWS Skill Builder offers official digital courses built from it at no cost. A well-regarded video course from a recognized AWS security instructor runs $20 to $30 on sale, and a dedicated SCS-C03 practice-question bank in the $20 to $30 range is worth the money, since the newer ordering and matching question types (beyond the associate-level multiple-choice and multiple-response format) reward candidates who have actually rehearsed the interaction style, not just the content. A realistic self-study budget is $300 for the voucher plus $40 to $60 in prep, assuming the years of hands-on experience are already in place. See how that all-in figure compares to every other credential on the ROI Index.

The exam itself

You get 65 questions in 170 minutes: 50 scored plus 15 unscored questions AWS is testing for future exams, unlabeled among the rest. SCS-C03 introduced two question types beyond the standard multiple-choice and multiple-response format used on AWS’s associate-level exams: ordering questions, where you arrange 3 to 5 responses into the correct sequence, and matching questions, where you pair items from two lists. Results are scored on a 100-to-1,000 scale, and 750 is the passing bar, the standard AWS sets for every Professional and Specialty exam.

The exam covers six domains under SCS-C03: Detection (16 percent), Incident Response (14 percent), Infrastructure Security (18 percent), Identity and Access Management (20 percent, the largest single share), Data Protection (18 percent), and Security Foundations and Governance (14 percent). Those six weights sum to exactly 100 percent. AWS does not publish a pass rate, so ignore any specific percentage circulating in prep communities.

What actually changed from SCS-C02: the old Domain 1 (Threat Detection and Incident Response) and Domain 2 (Security Logging and Monitoring) were reorganized into a cleaner Detection and Incident Response split, Domain 6 was renamed from “Management and Security Governance” to “Security Foundations and Governance,” and new task statements were added around generative AI guardrails (OWASP’s Top 10 for LLM applications), inter-resource encryption in transit, and data masking. If your prep material still references SCS-C02’s six domains at 14/18/20/16/18/14 percent, it is describing a retired exam.

Renewal math over 9 years

Security Specialty is valid for three years, and AWS charges no annual maintenance fee. Unlike Cloud Practitioner or Solutions Architect Associate, no higher-tier exam recertifies this credential. AWS’s recertification page lists two routes: pass the latest version of this exam, which can use the 50 percent voucher in your AWS Certification Account, or maintain the certification on AWS Skill Builder, which adds one year at a time, opens within 90 days of expiry, and requires a paid Skill Builder subscription.

Staying certified continuously through year nine takes the original exam plus two recertifications, at years three and six. On the voucher that is $300 plus $150 plus $150, or $600; at full price it is $900, still the most expensive AWS renewal picture this site tracks alongside Solutions Architect Professional. The Skill Builder path only wins if you would pay for the subscription anyway for its training content.

Nine-year cost of ownership: $600 to $900, the $300 exam plus two renewals at $150 each with the voucher or $300 each at full price. No annual fee applies either way. Certification renewal costs explained sets that against the rest of the registry.

What it does for the occupation you are entering

Security Specialty maps directly to the information security analyst occupation (BLS code 15-1212), the same BLS category every other security-focused certification on this site maps to. The panel on this page shows that occupation’s current national median wage and headcount, a picture of the field, not a premium this specific credential pays out. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects continued strong growth in information security roles, and what this certification concretely buys you is a specialized AWS credential that hiring teams treat as evidence you can secure real production AWS environments, not just describe security concepts in the abstract. What it converts into in take-home pay depends on the role, the employer, and the years of hands-on experience the exam already assumes you have.

Common mistakes

Attempting this exam without the assumed experience. AWS is explicit that the target candidate already has years of hands-on AWS security work. Candidates who try to compress that timeline with pure study time tend to struggle with scenario questions that assume judgment you build on the job, not in a course.

Studying from outdated SCS-C02 material. With SCS-C02 retired since December 1, 2025, any prep resource still describing the old six domains at their old weights, or missing the generative-AI-guardrails and data-masking content added for SCS-C03, is teaching a different exam than the one you will sit.

Underestimating the new question formats. Ordering and matching questions are unfamiliar to candidates coming from AWS’s associate-level exams, which use only multiple-choice and multiple-response. Rehearse the interaction style with SCS-C03-specific practice material, not leftover SCS-C02 question banks.