AWS will let you renew some certs without re-sitting the exam. Just not all of them yet.
What is actually new
The new option lives in AWS Skill Builder. Instead of re-sitting your exam, you choose your certification, work through a set of curated digital courses and hands-on labs tied to that cert’s domains, and once you hit the target your certification is automatically extended by a year from the day you finish. For associate-level certs the target is 500 points, and at least one of those activities has to be a practical, hands-on lab rather than just watching content.
You become eligible once you are within 90 days of your expiry date, and you work through it at your own pace. No testing-centre appointment, no proctor, no single high-stakes exam day. You meet the requirements before your cert lapses, and the extension applies automatically.
Which certs today, and which are coming
Be clear-eyed about the scope, though, because this is open beta and right now it covers one path. The live one is the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate, which you can use to maintain the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate. AWS has said more are coming later this year and named three: the Data Engineer - Associate, the Security - Specialty, and the Machine Learning Engineer - Associate.
Everything else, including the big-ticket ones like Solutions Architect Associate and Cloud Practitioner, still renews the old way for now: you re-sit the exam, or you earn a higher-level certification that carries the lower one forward. So if your cert is expiring soon, check whether it is actually on the list before you count on skipping the exam. For most people, today, the exam is still the path.
Is it worth it, or should you just re-sit?
Whether you take this route comes down to how you learn and how much time you have. The training path is not a shortcut on hours. Five hundred points of courses and labs is a real chunk of work, and for a lot of people it is more total time than cramming for the exam would be. What you trade that time for is no exam-day pressure, no pass-or-fail cliff, and material that has been refreshed to current AWS rather than whatever the exam version froze in.
So if exam anxiety is the thing that makes you keep putting off your renewal, this is built for you, and the hands-on labs mean you come out the other side actually sharper. If you would rather block out a weekend, sit the exam, and be done, that option has not gone anywhere, and it is still the faster way to a renewed cert.
The bigger shift this points to
This is AWS moving in the same direction Microsoft already did. Microsoft certs renew through a free yearly online assessment rather than a full re-sit, and now AWS is offering a continuous-learning version of the same idea.
The logic behind it is sound. A certification is meant to prove you are current, and someone quietly keeping their skills sharp through training is arguably better evidence of that than someone who crammed an exam once every three years and has not touched the material since. Beta or not, expect more certs to move this way over time, and expect "staying certified" to look less like a test you re-sit and more like learning you keep doing.
Either way, the work underneath is the same
Whichever way you renew, the actual job is identical: staying sharp on the material. ReadRoost covers the AWS associate and specialty tracks, so whether you are keeping a cert current or studying one of the many that still need the exam, you can drill the real content the same way, in short sessions that stick.
And the training-based renewal rewards exactly that. It is built for people who know the current material, not people who can pass once and forget, which is the whole point of practising little and often rather than cramming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I renew any AWS certification without the exam now?
No. It is open beta and currently covers the CloudOps Engineer - Associate (which maintains the SysOps Administrator - Associate). AWS has named Data Engineer - Associate, Security - Specialty, and ML Engineer - Associate as coming later in 2026. Most certs, including Solutions Architect Associate and Cloud Practitioner, still re-sit for now.
How many points do I need to renew through training?
For associate-level certifications, 500 points on AWS Skill Builder, and at least one of the activities must be a practical hands-on lab, not just course content.
When can I start the training renewal?
Once you are within 90 days of your certification’s expiry date. You can work through it at your own pace before it lapses, and the one-year extension applies automatically when you finish.
Is the training faster than just re-sitting the exam?
Usually no. It is more total hours than exam prep, but it is self-paced with no exam-day pressure and keeps you on current material. Re-sitting is still the quicker route to a renewed badge.
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