Terraform Tutorial — Terraform Certification
The HashiCorp Terraform Associate (003) certification validates your foundational Terraform skills.
Exam Overview
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Exam code | Terraform Associate 003 |
| Duration | 60 minutes |
| Questions | ~57 multiple choice |
| Passing score | ~70% |
| Cost | $70.50 USD |
| Validity | 2 years |
| Prerequisites | None (recommended 6+ months experience) |
Exam Objectives
- Understand IaC concepts
- Understand the purpose of Terraform (vs other IaC)
- Understand Terraform basics (install, providers, state)
- Use Terraform outside the core workflow (import, taint, workspaces)
- Interact with Terraform modules
- Use the core workflow (init, plan, apply, destroy)
- Implement and maintain state
- Read, generate, and modify configuration
- Understand HCP Terraform capabilities
Study Plan
Week 1 — Core Concepts
- Objectives 1-3 (IaC, Terraform purpose, basics)
- Review Chapters 1-5 of this tutorial
Week 2 — Workflow & Configuration
- Objectives 6, 8 (workflow, HCL)
- Review Chapters 6-10 of this tutorial
Week 3 — State & Modules
- Objectives 5, 7 (modules, state)
- Review Chapters 8, 11-13 of this tutorial
Week 4 — Advanced & Review
- Objectives 4, 9 (import, workspaces, Terraform Cloud)
- Practice exams
Tips
- Hands-on practice matters more than memorization
- Use the free tier on AWS/Azure/GCP for practice
- Read the official documentation — many questions are doc-based
- Take practice exams to identify weak areas
- Focus on understanding state management and module patterns
