The Terraform Associate (003) exam is organised into objective areas, with no published percentage weights. Study all of them, and give extra attention to the core workflow and state, which are central. Confirm the current objectives on the HashiCorp certification page, since they change between versions.
| Objective | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Understand IaC concepts | What infrastructure as code is, and its advantages |
| Understand the purpose of Terraform | Why Terraform (provider-agnostic, plan-based) over other tools |
| Understand Terraform basics | Providers, terraform init, plugins, resource and data blocks |
| Use the core Terraform workflow | write -> plan -> apply (and destroy) |
| Read, generate and modify configuration | Variables, outputs, built-in functions, dependencies |
| Implement and maintain state | Local vs remote state, locking, backends |
| Interact with Terraform modules | Sources, inputs/outputs, the public registry, versioning |
| Use Terraform outside the core workflow | terraform import, state manipulation, workspaces |
| Understand HCP Terraform capabilities | Remote runs, state and collaboration features |
How to study it
Run the workflow yourself rather than only reading. Write a small configuration, plan it, apply it, inspect the state, then destroy. Give state extra attention - local vs remote, locking and backends are among the most tested and most misunderstood topics. Try a module from the public registry. Confirm you are on version 003 and check the current objectives on the HashiCorp certification page.