A one-page Google Cloud Architect reference: exam facts plus the services you must know. Use it for final review, not as a substitute for hands-on experience and the case studies. Confirm all current details on the Google Cloud certification page.
Exam facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Questions | ~50-60, including case studies |
| Time | ~120 minutes |
| Pass mark | Not published (pass/fail) |
| Cost | ~US$200 (confirm with Google) |
| Validity | 2 years |
| Delivery | Online-proctored or test centre |
Compute
- Compute Engine - virtual machines (IaaS).
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) - managed Kubernetes.
- Cloud Run - serverless containers.
- Cloud Functions - event-driven serverless code.
- App Engine - managed application platform.
Storage and data
- Cloud Storage - object storage; storage classes.
- Cloud SQL - managed relational (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server).
- Spanner - globally distributed relational database.
- Bigtable - wide-column NoSQL for large analytical/operational workloads.
- BigQuery - serverless data warehouse and analytics.
- Firestore - document NoSQL database.
Networking
- VPC - virtual private cloud; global by design.
- Cloud Load Balancing - global and regional load balancing.
- Cloud CDN - content delivery.
- Cloud Interconnect / VPN - hybrid connectivity.
Security and operations
- IAM - identity and access; design for least privilege.
- Cloud KMS - key management.
- Cloud Monitoring and Logging - observability and reliability.
- Resource hierarchy - organisation, folders, projects.
Exam approach
- Read the published case studies in advance; some questions depend on them.
- Choose the service that meets the stated requirement (cost, security, availability, performance), not the flashiest option.
- Mind the resource hierarchy and IAM least privilege in security questions.