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Professional Cloud Architect Exam Guide

A comprehensive 8-week study plan to help you prepare for the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification exam.

Exam Information

120 minutes

Duration

50-60 questions

Questions

Not published

Passing Score

$200 USD

Exam Cost

Recommended Study Plan

Week 1

GCP Fundamentals

Design and plan cloud solutions

12-14 hours

GCP global infrastructure
Compute options (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run)
Storage options (Cloud Storage, Persistent Disks)
Networking basics (VPC, subnets, firewall rules)

Recommended Resources:

Google Cloud Skills Boost

Documentation

Week 2

Compute & Containers

Manage and provision cloud infrastructure

14-16 hours

Compute Engine instance management
Managed instance groups and autoscaling
Google Kubernetes Engine architecture
Cloud Run and Cloud Functions

Recommended Resources:

Qwiklabs

GCP Console

Week 3

Storage & Databases

Design for reliability

12-14 hours

Cloud Storage classes and lifecycle
Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner
Cloud Bigtable and Firestore
BigQuery architecture

Recommended Resources:

Hands-on Labs

Documentation

Week 4

Networking

Design for security and compliance

14-16 hours

VPC design and shared VPC
Cloud Load Balancing options
Cloud CDN and Cloud Armor
Hybrid connectivity (VPN, Interconnect)

Recommended Resources:

Network Labs

Architecture Center

Week 5

Security & Identity

Design for security and compliance

12-14 hours

IAM roles and service accounts
Organization policies
Cloud KMS and Secret Manager
VPC Service Controls

Recommended Resources:

Security Labs

Best Practices

Week 6

Data & ML

Analyze and optimize processes

12-14 hours

Data processing (Dataflow, Dataproc)
Pub/Sub messaging
AI/ML services overview
Data analytics with BigQuery

Recommended Resources:

Data Labs

ML Documentation

Week 7

Case Studies

All domains

10-12 hours

Mountkirk Games case study
Dress4Win case study
TerramEarth case study
Architecture decision making

Recommended Resources:

Case Study Documents

Solution Guides

Week 8

Review & Practice

All domains

15-20 hours

Full practice exams
Weak area review
Case study practice
Final preparation

Recommended Resources:

Practice Exams

Qwiklabs

Exam Tips & Strategies

Know the Case Studies

Review all official case studies thoroughly. Many questions reference specific scenarios from these cases.

Time Management

With 120 minutes for 50-60 questions, spend about 2 minutes per question. Flag and return to difficult ones.

Hands-On Experience

Use Qwiklabs and the free tier to build real architectures. Understanding practical implementation is crucial.

Think Google Way

Prefer managed services over self-managed. Google rewards solutions that leverage their platform capabilities.

Key Topics to Master

GCP global infrastructure and regions

Compute Engine machine types and pricing

GKE cluster architecture and node pools

Cloud Storage classes and lifecycle

VPC network design patterns

Cloud Load Balancing types

IAM best practices

Service accounts and workload identity

Cloud SQL vs Cloud Spanner

BigQuery optimization

Pub/Sub messaging patterns

Hybrid connectivity options

Disaster recovery strategies

Cost optimization techniques

Logging and monitoring with Operations Suite

For the most up-to-date exam information, visit the official exam guide.

View Official Exam Guide

Back to GCP Architect

Professional Cloud Architect Exam Guide

A comprehensive 8-week study plan to help you prepare for the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification exam.

Exam Information

120 minutes

Duration

50-60 questions

Questions

Not published

Passing Score

$200 USD

Exam Cost

Recommended Study Plan

Week 1

GCP Fundamentals

Design and plan cloud solutions

12-14 hours

GCP global infrastructure
Compute options (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run)
Storage options (Cloud Storage, Persistent Disks)
Networking basics (VPC, subnets, firewall rules)

Recommended Resources:

Google Cloud Skills Boost

Documentation

Week 2

Compute & Containers

Manage and provision cloud infrastructure

14-16 hours

Compute Engine instance management
Managed instance groups and autoscaling
Google Kubernetes Engine architecture
Cloud Run and Cloud Functions

Recommended Resources:

Qwiklabs

GCP Console

Week 3

Storage & Databases

Design for reliability

12-14 hours

Cloud Storage classes and lifecycle
Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner
Cloud Bigtable and Firestore
BigQuery architecture

Recommended Resources:

Hands-on Labs

Documentation

Week 4

Networking

Design for security and compliance

14-16 hours

VPC design and shared VPC
Cloud Load Balancing options
Cloud CDN and Cloud Armor
Hybrid connectivity (VPN, Interconnect)

Recommended Resources:

Network Labs

Architecture Center

Week 5

Security & Identity

Design for security and compliance

12-14 hours

IAM roles and service accounts
Organization policies
Cloud KMS and Secret Manager
VPC Service Controls

Recommended Resources:

Security Labs

Best Practices

Week 6

Data & ML

Analyze and optimize processes

12-14 hours

Data processing (Dataflow, Dataproc)
Pub/Sub messaging
AI/ML services overview
Data analytics with BigQuery

Recommended Resources:

Data Labs

ML Documentation

Week 7

Case Studies

All domains

10-12 hours

Mountkirk Games case study
Dress4Win case study
TerramEarth case study
Architecture decision making

Recommended Resources:

Case Study Documents

Solution Guides

Week 8

Review & Practice

All domains

15-20 hours

Full practice exams
Weak area review
Case study practice
Final preparation

Recommended Resources:

Practice Exams

Qwiklabs

Exam Tips & Strategies

Know the Case Studies

Review all official case studies thoroughly. Many questions reference specific scenarios from these cases.

Time Management

With 120 minutes for 50-60 questions, spend about 2 minutes per question. Flag and return to difficult ones.

Hands-On Experience

Use Qwiklabs and the free tier to build real architectures. Understanding practical implementation is crucial.

Think Google Way

Prefer managed services over self-managed. Google rewards solutions that leverage their platform capabilities.

Key Topics to Master

GCP global infrastructure and regions

Compute Engine machine types and pricing

GKE cluster architecture and node pools

Cloud Storage classes and lifecycle

VPC network design patterns

Cloud Load Balancing types

IAM best practices

Service accounts and workload identity

Cloud SQL vs Cloud Spanner

BigQuery optimization

Pub/Sub messaging patterns

Hybrid connectivity options

Disaster recovery strategies

Cost optimization techniques

Logging and monitoring with Operations Suite

For the most up-to-date exam information, visit the official exam guide.

View Official Exam Guide