How AWS exam scoring works: the 100–1000 scaled score explained
Updated
AWS certification exams are reported on a scaled score from 100 to 1000, not as a percentage of correct answers. Each exam has a fixed pass mark on that scale — foundational and associate exams set it in the low-to-mid 700s — and your scaled score reflects your performance after adjusting for the difficulty of the specific question set you received. There is no fixed "number of questions right" that guarantees a pass.
Why a scaled score instead of a percentage
AWS maintains many versions ("forms") of each exam, and they cannot all be exactly equally difficult. Scaled scoring equates them: your raw performance is mapped onto the 100–1000 scale in a way that compensates for form difficulty, so a scaled score means the same thing regardless of which questions you happened to draw.
The practical consequence: nobody can tell you the exact percentage needed to pass, because it varies slightly by form. Treat rough percentage equivalents as orientation, not targets — the only reliable target is clearing the pass mark on realistically scored mock exams.
Unscored questions are mixed in
A portion of the questions on each AWS exam are unscored pilot items — new questions being evaluated for future exam forms. They are indistinguishable from scored questions and are scattered through the exam, so treat every question as if it counts.
This is also why post-exam question counting is futile: some of the questions you agonised over may not have counted at all, in either direction.
Scoring is compensatory — no per-domain minimum
AWS exams use a compensatory model: only your overall scaled score decides the result. A strong domain can carry a weak one, and there is no requirement to pass each section individually.
That cuts both ways for strategy. You cannot fail on one bad domain alone — but the weightings mean a weak heavy domain drains more score than a weak light one, which is exactly why studying in weight order pays.
No penalty for guessing
Unanswered and wrong answers score identically: zero for that item. There is no deduction for guessing, so leaving anything blank is strictly worse than picking your best remaining option. Eliminate what you can, choose, flag it if you want another look, and move on.
What the score report shows
Results arrive through the certification portal within a few days of your sitting. The report shows your scaled score, the pass/fail outcome, and per-section performance indicators — coarse signals of which domains were weaker.
You never see which individual questions you missed. If you need to retake, those per-section indicators plus your practice history are the targeting data: drill the flagged domains, not the whole syllabus.