AWS SAA-C03 Exam Check-in Guide 2026: OnVUE Step by Step

Most people who lose an AWS exam fee on an online attempt lose it before the first question: a name that does not match the ID, a work laptop that blocks the proctoring software, a second monitor still plugged in, or a check-in started 20 minutes late. This guide covers check-in for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam as of October 2026, using AWS and Pearson VUE’s own pages. Where the two disagree, AWS’s rule applies, and the difference is noted.

How the SAA-C03 Exam Is Delivered

AWS certification exams are delivered by one provider: Pearson VUE. You have two options, and both are open for SAA-C03. You can sit the exam at a Pearson VUE test center, or you can take it at home through OnVUE, Pearson VUE’s online proctoring system. AWS states that online proctoring is available for every AWS exam Pearson VUE delivers. If you remember PSI being an option, it no longer is: AWS’s scheduling instructions and FAQ now name Pearson VUE only.

Regional Restrictions

AWS does not offer its exams in sanctioned or embargoed countries, and the list of countries where you can book appears during scheduling. For online delivery, Pearson VUE’s AWS page lists IDs from Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and restricted regions of Ukraine as not accepted. Pearson VUE’s general testing guide, last updated in 2024, also names Sudan; the AWS-specific page does not, so treat the AWS page as current and check it if this affects you (confirm on the official page).

The proctor works in English around the clock. AWS also lists Japanese, Latin American Spanish, and Mandarin (for candidates in Mainland China) proctors during limited weekday hours, so pick a slot inside those hours if you need one (confirm on the official page).

Pre-exam Preparation

Hardware and Network Requirements

These come from Pearson VUE’s AWS online testing page. Failing any of them on exam day can cancel the exam with no refund.

• A desktop or laptop running Windows 10 or later, or macOS 14 or later. Linux is not on the list. Beta operating systems are prohibited.
• A working webcam, microphone, and speaker. Headphones, headsets, and earbuds are not allowed, so the sound has to come from the computer’s own speakers.
• One display only. Unplug the second monitor’s cable from the computer the night before; switching it off is not enough. If a secondary or touchscreen display cannot be removed, disconnect it and cover it.
• A stable connection of at least 6 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. Pearson VUE recommends a wired connection over Wi-Fi.
• No VPN, no corporate network, no public or shared network. Disconnect the VPN client completely before you launch OnVUE.
• No virtual machines.
• The ability to close every application except OnVUE. If you do not have admin rights to quit a background agent, that computer will not work.
• No touchscreen input, stylus, or drawing tablet during the exam. A tablet can only act as a screen with an external keyboard.

Exam Tip: Do not use a work laptop. Pearson VUE itself advises against employer-issued computers, and corporate networks and VPNs are on the prohibited list. Security agents that cannot be closed and firewalls that block video streaming are the usual reason the system test passes at the office on Monday and the real exam fails to launch on Saturday. Run the AWS OnVUE system test on the exact computer and network you will use, about a week ahead and again two or three days before.

ID Requirements

Name matching is where first-time candidates get turned away, so start here. The first and last name in your AWS Certification account must match the first and last name on the ID you show. AWS spells out a few details:

• The AWS Certification account accepts Roman (English) letters only. Replace characters such as ü or ö with their plain Roman equivalents.
• A middle name, title, or suffix does not need to be in your profile, even if it is printed on your ID.
• If you have only one name, enter a period (.) in the empty first-name or last-name field.
• If the names do not match, the exam administrator is not allowed to let you test.

Open your AWS Certification account today and compare the profile name with your ID letter by letter. If it is wrong, fix it under your profile or open a ticket with AWS Training and Certification support. AWS asks for this to be done at least two business days before the exam, and tells you not to hold a booking while a name change is in progress.

For the online exam, AWS requires one primary ID. A primary ID is an original, unexpired, government-issued document with your name, a recent recognizable photo, and a visible signature. Test centers ask for more, which is covered in the comparison section below.

Accepted for OnVUE, per Pearson VUE’s AWS page:

• International passport
• Plastic driver’s license
• National, state, provincial, or EU ID card
• Alien registration card (green card or permanent resident visa)
• Government-issued PVC Aadhaar card only. Paper, laminated-paper, and digital Aadhaar are rejected.
• Non-U.S. military ID
• In Japan: an employee or student ID with photo, together with a Japanese health insurance document

Not accepted: expired, damaged, photocopied, or digital IDs; privately issued IDs; birth certificates; Canadian health cards; U.S. military and other secure-access IDs that cannot legally be photographed. Paper IDs are accepted only in Algeria, Brazil, Cameroon, and the Dominican Republic.

Which ID should a global candidate use? A passport is the safest choice everywhere. It is accepted in every eligible country, it carries your name in Roman letters to match your AWS account, and AWS requires it anyway if you do not hold a government ID from the country you are testing in (EU ID cards used within the EU are the exception). AWS does say that local-language, non-Roman IDs are accepted for online exams if they meet the OnVUE ID rules. If your national ID card shows your name only in a non-Roman script, how the greeter matches it against a Roman-letter account name is not explained on the official pages, so use a passport or ask Pearson VUE before booking (confirm on the official page).

Exam Tip: Check the expiry date on your ID tonight, not on exam morning. An ID that expired last week is treated the same as no ID, and an ID problem at check-in can cost you the fee with no reschedule.

Testing Environment

You need an enclosed, private room with a door you can close. Bathrooms and public spaces such as offices, libraries, and coffee shops are prohibited. Nobody else may enter or pass through once the exam starts, and nobody may be able to see your screen, even from a distance, so avoid sitting with a window or glass wall behind you.

Your desk must be empty apart from:

• The computer you are testing on
• A beverage in an unmarked container
• Pre-approved items and items on Pearson VUE’s comfort aid list

Remove everything else that is on, under, or within arm’s reach of the desk:

• Phones, tablets, watches, earbuds, smart speakers, smart glasses, and any other electronics. Disconnect and cover anything that cannot be moved.
• Books, notes, paper, pens, and any writing tools
• Food, gum, and smoking products
• Tissue boxes, makeup, handkerchiefs
• Bags, wallets, coats, glasses cases
• Anything written on a wall-mounted whiteboard or notice board. Wipe it or take it down.

You must be fully dressed. Pearson VUE’s guide rules out coats and jackets during the exam. Head coverings are fine as long as your eyes stay visible.

Step-by-Step Check-in Walkthrough

The order below follows Pearson VUE’s online testing guide. The check-in is self-guided: software walks you through it, a greeter reviews what you submit, and then a proctor takes over for the exam.

1. Sign in 30 minutes before your appointment. Go to your AWS Certification account, open your Pearson VUE exams, find the appointment, and select the button to begin the exam. Sticking point: candidates go to Pearson VUE’s homepage and cannot find the exam. Always enter through the AWS account. AWS will not let you launch if you are more than 15 minutes late, and the fee is not refunded.
2. Copy the access code. It identifies your session. You will need it if you complete the photo steps on your phone.
3. Download and run OnVUE. A final system check runs and you download the application again, even if you installed it for the system test. It does not start by itself; open it from the page or from your downloads folder. Sticking point: other applications still running. Quit chat clients, cloud sync, screen recorders, and anything that shows pop-up notifications before you launch. On Windows use Task Manager; on a Mac use Force Quit. If OnVUE has to close them for you, the exam may fail to load.
4. Take your headshot. Sit in front of a plain background with light on your face, not behind you. Follow the on-screen prompts until the photo is accepted. It is compared with your ID photo.
5. Photograph your ID. For a card, capture front and back with all four corners visible. For a passport, capture the photo page only, all four corners visible. Sticking point: glare and blur. Lay the ID flat on a dark surface and avoid the phone’s flash. Using a phone for the photo steps generally gives a sharper image than a laptop webcam.
6. Photograph your testing space. You take four photos of the room: typically the desk from the front, back, left, and right. Step back far enough that the whole desk and the floor around it are in frame. AWS’s Pearson VUE page describes this stage as a 360° room scan, and a greeter can ask for a live scan with the webcam during check-in or mid-exam.
7. Put the phone away. Once the photos are submitted, place the phone in the same room but out of arm’s reach, for example on a table behind you. Do not take it out of the room: if the proctor needs to call you about a technical problem, you have to be able to reach it with their permission.
8. Wait for the greeter. The greeter checks your ID and room photos. They may ask you to show your ears, roll up your sleeves, empty your pockets, or move something off the desk. Stay seated and in view while you wait.
9. Confirm the exam and accept the terms. Check that the name and exam on screen are yours. AWS gives you five minutes to read and accept the Candidate Code of Conduct. If you decline or let the timer run out, the exam ends with no refund. Sticking point: people step away for a drink at this screen. Do not.
10. The exam starts. The 130-minute clock begins with the first question. The proctor can contact you through chat at any time.

Exam Tip: The check-in window is 30 minutes before to 15 minutes after your slot, but treat the appointment time itself as your deadline. If an ID photo is rejected three times at minute 14, you have no margin left. Start at minute minus 30, every time.

What the Proctor Looks For During the Room Scan

The greeter and proctor are checking three things: that you are alone, that nothing in reach could hold or deliver answers, and that nothing in the room could capture the questions. In practice that means they look at:

• The desk surface and the space under it. Anything other than the computer and your drink will be questioned.
• Screens. A second monitor, a TV, or a tablet in view must be disconnected and, if it cannot be removed, covered.
• Walls. Whiteboards and note boards must be blank. Sticky notes around the monitor are a common miss.
• Doors and windows. The door should be closed. A window or glass partition that lets someone see your screen is a problem.
• You. Ears (for earbuds), wrists (for watches), sleeves and forearms (for writing), and pockets.
• Smart devices. Smart speakers and smart glasses are specifically named as prohibited. Unplug the speaker and take it out of the room.

Rules During the Exam

Pearson VUE describes a graded response: for some violations the proctor first sends a warning and a reminder of the rule, and revokes the session only if the behavior continues; other violations are serious enough for immediate revocation with no warning. Neither AWS nor Pearson VUE publishes a full behavior-by-behavior table, and Pearson VUE’s AWS page states flatly that violations result in the exam being revoked and the fee forfeited. So read the first tier below as “you may get one chance,” not as “this is allowed.”

Tier 1: Behaviors That Usually Draw a Warning First

These are covered by the proctor-discretion language rather than by an explicit revocation statement (confirm on the official page):

• Reading a question aloud or mouthing words. Read silently.
• Looking away from the screen repeatedly. Your eyes are expected to face forward.
• Covering your mouth or face with a hand, or resting your chin so your face is partly hidden.
• Leaning partly out of frame, or bumping the webcam so it no longer shows you. Do not move the webcam unless the proctor asks.
• Background noise or a voice from another room.

If the proctor messages you, read the chat and comply immediately. The proctor cannot pause or extend the clock.

Tier 2: Behaviors That Lead to Revocation, Invalidation, or a Ban

These are stated outright in the official material:

• Leaving the webcam’s view or standing up for any reason, including the bathroom. AWS allows no breaks online; Pearson VUE says a break on an exam that does not allow one means revocation.
• Another person entering the room or appearing on camera.
• Using your phone without the proctor’s explicit permission, including to call support.
• Letting someone else take the exam, or any other form of cheating.
• Recording, photographing, sharing, or letting anyone else see your screen, even while troubleshooting.
• Copying, memorizing for reuse, or discussing exam questions afterward.
• Declining the Candidate Code of Conduct or not accepting it within five minutes: the exam ends with no refund.
• Leaving the camera’s view before you have closed OnVUE properly at the end. Follow the on-screen exit steps first.

A revoked session is not the end of it. AWS lists its own sanctions for rule violations and for statistically anomalous results: a warning, terminating the exam, invalidating the result, requiring a retake under set conditions, restricting your access to online testing, revoking one or all of your AWS certifications, and suspending you from the program temporarily or permanently. AWS does not publish fixed ban lengths.

You can appeal. AWS emails you the sanction with appeal instructions, and you have 14 calendar days: from the exam or the sanction (whichever is later) for most sanctions, or from the notice for a suspension. For a suspension, put your full written statement and all evidence in the first submission; a new reviewer can uphold, reduce, overturn, or increase the sanction, and that decision is final. Write down what happened straight away, including what the proctor said in chat, and keep the email address on your AWS Certification account current.

Breaks, Scratch Paper, and Drinks

Breaks. AWS exams have no scheduled breaks. Online, you may not stand up or leave the camera’s view for any reason for the full 130 minutes. Use the bathroom immediately before you start check-in, and go easy on coffee.

Scratch paper. Not allowed online. No paper, no pen, no physical whiteboard. AWS candidates get OnVUE’s built-in digital whiteboard, which has a text area and a drawing area and stays available across the whole exam. It works with a mouse or trackpad only, and Pearson VUE warns that its contents are wiped if your connection drops. Try the practice whiteboard on Pearson VUE’s site beforehand; drawing a VPC diagram with a trackpad is slower than you expect.

Drinks. Pearson VUE’s AWS page allows a beverage in an unmarked container. Pearson VUE’s general guide says any container is fine; the AWS page is stricter and is the one to follow, so peel the label off the bottle or use a plain glass.

Food, gum, smoking. None of them, at any point.

Medication and comfort aids. Items on Pearson VUE’s comfort aid list can be used without advance approval. Anything beyond that list needs an accommodation, which must be requested before you book.

Exam Tip: If English is not your first language and you are taking the exam in English, request the “ESL +30 minutes” accommodation in your AWS Certification account before you register. It adds 30 minutes, you only request it once, and it applies to later bookings. It cannot be added to an appointment that already exists.

Online Proctored vs. Test Center

Online suits you if you have a personal computer you control, a reliable home connection, and a room nobody will enter for two and a half hours, or if you have no test center nearby or want a slot at an odd hour.

A test center suits you if your home connection is shared or unstable, you only have a work laptop, you live with children or flatmates, you want the option of a bathroom break, or you know that being watched on a webcam will distract you. For a first AWS exam where the fee matters to you, the test center removes most of the ways to fail before question one.

Exam Day Checklist

The Night Before

• Compare the name on your AWS Certification account with your ID. Check the ID’s expiry date.
• Unplug the second monitor and any docking station. Remove or cover any screen that stays in the room.
• Clear the desk, the floor under it, and the wall in front of you. Wipe the whiteboard.
• Run the system test again on the exam computer and network.
• Restart the computer and install pending OS updates now, so they do not start mid-exam.
• Tell everyone in the house when you will be unavailable and ask them to stay off streaming and large downloads.

60 Minutes Before

• Restart the computer. Plug in the power cable.
• Disconnect the VPN and quit everything that runs in the background.
• Plug in the Ethernet cable if you have one.
• Eat, then use the bathroom.
• Pour your drink into an unmarked container.
• Take off your watch. Put earbuds, wallet, and bag in another room.

30 Minutes Before

• Sign in to your AWS Certification account and begin the exam. Do not wait for the appointment time.
• Have your ID and phone on the desk for the photo steps.
• Close the door. Put a note on the outside.
• After the photos, silence the phone and put it behind you, out of arm’s reach but in the room.
• Stay seated and in frame while you wait for the greeter.

During the Exam

• Read silently. Keep your eyes on the screen and your hands away from your face.
• Do not stand up. Do not reach for the phone unless the proctor tells you to.
• Use the chat icon if something goes wrong. The proctor cannot answer content questions or stop the clock.
• At the end, follow the on-screen exit steps and close OnVUE before you leave your seat.

FAQ

Check-in and Technical Questions

What happens if my internet drops during the exam?

Pearson VUE’s instruction is to close OnVUE and relaunch it from your downloads folder. The proctor cannot pause or extend your exam or fix your network, and the digital whiteboard is wiped when connectivity is lost. Whether the exam timer keeps running while you are disconnected is not stated on the official pages (confirm on the official page). If you cannot get back in, use the chat on Pearson VUE’s AWS online testing page, then submit a ticket to AWS Training and Certification customer service within 14 calendar days describing the problem and its effect on your exam. Tickets filed later may not be reviewed.

Can I use my laptop’s built-in webcam?

Yes. The requirement is a working webcam, microphone, and speaker; nothing says they must be external. You only need an external webcam if you test on an external monitor with the laptop lid closed. Built-in microphone and speakers are also what you should use, because headphones and headsets are prohibited.

What if check-in times out or I start late?

You can begin check-in from 30 minutes before to 15 minutes after the appointment time. AWS’s policy is that if you are more than 15 minutes late, or your computer fails the system test, you cannot launch the exam and the fee is not refunded. A missed appointment does not count as a failed attempt, but AWS makes you wait 24 hours before you can register again. If the cause was illness or an emergency you can document, contact Pearson VUE; AWS says the fee can be waived in those cases.

Rules and Results Questions

Do I need two IDs for the online exam?

No. AWS requires one primary ID for OnVUE. Two IDs are a test center requirement. If you are not testing with an ID from the country you are in, that one ID should be your passport.

Will I see my result when I finish?

AWS says most of its exams do not show pass or fail on screen. The result is posted to the Exam History section of your AWS Certification account within five business days, and you get an email when it is there. If you do not pass, you must wait 14 calendar days before retaking and pay the full fee again.

References

• AWS: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam page
• AWS: SAA-C03 exam guide
• AWS Certification policies: Before testing (scheduling, accommodations, online proctoring, rescheduling)
• AWS Certification policies: During testing (check-in, ID requirements, breaks, exam functionality)
• AWS Certification policies: After testing (results, passing scores, retakes)
• AWS Certification general policies (sanctions and appeals)
• AWS Certification FAQs
• Pearson VUE: OnVUE online testing requirements for AWS
• Pearson VUE: AWS Certification program page
• Pearson VUE Online Testing Guide (PDF)
• Pearson VUE: Using the whiteboard during an OnVUE exam
• Pearson VUE: Comfort aid list
• Pearson VUE: OnVUE system test for AWS

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