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AWS DEA-C01 Study Plan: Ingestion, Catalogs, and Lakehouse in 30, 60, and 90 Days

March 28, 2026

AWS DEA-C01 30-, 60-, and 90-day study plan for ingestion, catalogs, lakehouse, review loops, and final-week priorities.

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This page answers the question most candidates actually have: “How do I structure my DEA‑C01 prep?” Below are three realistic schedules (30/60/90 days) based on the current AWS Documentation exam guide and the way DEA‑C01 questions are written: scenario-driven, trade-off heavy, and operationally practical.

Use the plan that matches your available time, then follow the loop: Resources → drills → review misses → mixed sets → timed runs.

How long should you study?

Typical ranges based on background:

Your starting point Typical total study time Best-fit timeline
You build data pipelines on AWS already 40–60 hours 30–60 days
You know data engineering but are newer to AWS services 60–90 hours 60–90 days
You’re newer to data platforms and analytics services 90–120+ hours 90 days

Choose a plan based on hours per week:

Time you can commit Recommended plan What it feels like
10–15 hrs/week 30‑day intensive Fast learning + lots of practice
6–9 hrs/week 60‑day balanced Steady progress + room for review
3–5 hrs/week 90‑day part‑time Slow-and-solid with repetition

Use the exam weights to allocate time

DEA‑C01 domain weights:

Domain Weight Prep focus
Domain 1: Data Ingestion and Transformation 34% Ingestion patterns, ETL/processing choices, orchestration
Domain 2: Data Store Management 26% Store selection, catalogs, lifecycle, modeling + schema evolution
Domain 3: Data Operations and Support 22% Automation, analytics, monitoring, data quality
Domain 4: Data Security and Governance 18% IAM/Lake Formation, encryption/masking, audit logs, privacy

If you want one rule: spend ~60% learning + 40% practice early, then invert it to ~30% learning + 70% practice in the final 1–2 weeks.

Best way to use this plan

Use the plan as a weighted review order, not as a rigid calendar.

  • Start each block from the official scope in Resources
  • Use the Cheat Sheet to build service-selection instincts
  • Use the Glossary only when terms blur together
  • End each week with a short miss log: 3 to 7 rules from what you got wrong

30-Day Intensive Plan

Target pace: ~10–15 hours/week. Goal: cover the blueprint quickly, then harden instincts through drills and mixed sets.

Week Focus (domains/tasks) What to do Links
1 Domain 1 foundations
• Task 1.1
• Task 1.2		 Build ingestion + ETL service pickers (Kinesis/MSK/DMS/AppFlow; Glue/EMR/Lambda/Redshift). Do 2–3 focused drills and start a miss log. Resources • Cheat Sheet • Glossary
2 Domain 1 orchestration + programming + start Domain 2
• Task 1.3
• Task 1.4
• Task 2.1		 Focus on orchestration trade-offs (MWAA vs Step Functions vs Glue workflows) + IaC/SQL basics. End the week with a 30–40Q mixed set. Cheat Sheet • Glossary
3 Domain 2 store management + modeling
• Task 2.2
• Task 2.3
• Task 2.4		 Catalog + partitions + lifecycle policies + schema evolution. Drill data format/partitioning questions until they feel automatic. Resources • Glossary
4 Domain 3 ops + Domain 4 governance + review
• Task 3.1
• Task 3.2
• Task 3.3
• Task 3.4
• Task 4.1–Task 4.5		 Do 2 mixed sets + 1 timed run (65Q/130m). Review every miss and re-drill weak tasks until misses repeat less. FAQ • Glossary

60-Day Balanced Plan

Target pace: ~6–9 hours/week. Goal: spaced repetition and deeper drills while steadily building practice volume.

Weeks Focus What to do
1–2 Domain 1 (Tasks 1.1–1.4) Ingestion, ETL/processing, orchestration, SQL/IaC basics; do 2 drills per week.
3–4 Domain 2 (Tasks 2.1–2.4) Store selection, catalog/partitions, lifecycle, modeling/schema evolution; end week 4 with a mixed set.
5–6 Domain 3 (Tasks 3.1–3.4) Automation, analytics choices, monitoring, data quality; do weekly mixed sets.
7–8 Domain 4 (Tasks 4.1–4.5) + final review IAM/Lake Formation, encryption, audit logs, privacy; 2 timed runs and re-drill weak tasks.

Use task links from the Resources to drill each area as you go.

90-Day Part-Time Plan

Target pace: ~3–5 hours/week. Goal: slow repetition with consistent drills and periodic mixed sets.

Week Focus (tasks) What to do
1 Task 1.1 Batch vs streaming + triggers/schedules; do one drill set.
2 Task 1.2 Glue vs EMR vs Redshift; drill.
3 Task 1.3 MWAA vs Step Functions vs Glue workflows; drill.
4 Task 1.4 SQL + IaC basics; drill.
5 Task 2.1 Store selection + access patterns; drill.
6 Task 2.2 Glue catalog + crawlers + partitions; drill.
7 Task 2.3 Lifecycle + retention + TTL; do a mixed set.
8 Task 2.4 Modeling + schema evolution; drill.
9 Task 3.1 Automation + orchestration patterns; drill.
10 Task 3.2 Athena/Redshift + QuickSight; drill.
11 Task 3.3 + Task 3.4 Monitoring + data quality; drill.
12 Domain 4 (Tasks 4.1–4.5) + final review Security/governance; 2 timed runs and re-drill weak tasks.

How to use timed practice without turning it into guesswork

Use timed practice to turn the reading layer into a repeatable loop:

  1. Start in the Resources and open a task.
  2. Run a short set in the matching AWS practice flow on MasteryExamPrep.com.
  3. After each set, write 3–5 “rules” from your misses (for example: Parquet + partitions for Athena, Lake Formation for fine-grained access).
  4. Re-run weak tasks 48–72 hours later (spaced repetition).

Last-week compression plan

If you have less than a week left, compress your review into this order:

  1. Domain 1 and Domain 2 first, because they carry the most weight and the most service-choice traps
  2. Domain 3 next, especially monitoring, troubleshooting, and data quality
  3. Domain 4 last, but do not skip IAM versus Lake Formation, encryption versus masking, or CloudTrail versus Config

The final two days should be mostly:

Revised on Sunday, May 10, 2026
4. Data Security and Governance
Cheat Sheet