Terraform Associate Exam Cram - Introduction

This series of guides is designed to assist you in preparation for the Terraform Associate Certification exam.

The tutorials are not full-length courses - instead, they are focused summaries, quick-reference guides, cheat sheets helping you refresh your knowledge and review the material efficiently before the test.

For your convenience, below is the list of Terraform Associate Certification exam objectives together with the topics you need to know for each. Click on the links provided in the Objective column to access the corresponding tutorials.

Objective	Extended Topics / Sub-Objectives
1. Understand Infrastructure as Code (IaC) concepts	What IaC is: defining infrastructure in human-readable files vs manual / imperative changes. Advantages / benefits of IaC patterns: reproducibility, versioning, automation, collaboration, drift detection, etc.
2. Understand the purpose of Terraform (vs other IaC)	Multi-cloud / provider-agnostic benefits: ability to target many providers, abstracting infrastructure differences. Purpose and benefits of Terraform state: what state stores, how it tracks resources, uses in planning & apply, why it matters (drift, dependencies).
3. Understand Terraform basics	Installing Terraform; defining provider requirements. Versioning: Terraform versions, provider versions, how to lock / upgrade them. Plugin-based architecture: providers and how Terraform uses them. Writing configurations using multiple providers. How Terraform finds and fetches providers (initialization, registry, plugin cache etc.).
4. Use Terraform outside the core workflow	`terraform import`: when + how to import existing infra into Terraform state. Using `terraform state` commands to inspect/manipulate state. Enabling verbose / debug logging; diagnosing issues and logs.
5. Interact with Terraform modules	Different module source types: local modules, modules from registry, remote modules. Module inputs (variables) & outputs; how to pass values in and read values out. Variable scope: root vs child modules; how variables flow. Versioning of modules; pinning module versions when using the registry.
6. Use the core Terraform workflow	Workflow steps: Write configuration `terraform init` `terraform validate` `terraform plan` `terraform apply` `terraform destroy` `terraform fmt` (formatting / style) Knowledge of what each step does internally, when you'd use each, what outcomes to expect.
7. Implement and maintain state	Default (local) backend: what local state means, pros/cons. State locking: why and how, to prevent concurrent writes. Backend & cloud integration authentication: how Terraform authenticates to use remote backends or services (e.g. HCP) etc. Remote backend types: S3, GCS, Azure Storage, etc.; advantages / trade-offs. Resource drift: what drift means; detecting drift; syncing state; using `terraform refresh` or refresh-only mode. The backend block in configuration; how to configure backend settings. Secret management in state files: what sensitive data is, securing state, protecting inputs, etc.
8. Read, generate, and modify configuration	Variables and outputs: definition, default values, overriding, outputs use. Secure secret injection best practices: avoiding putting secrets in plain text in configs; using providers like Vault; environment variables etc. Collection / structural types: lists, maps, objects, tuples; nesting etc. Resource vs data configurations: what each is used for; how data sources differ from resources. Resource addressing & parameters; references: referring to attributes, dependencies, resource names, count, for_each etc. Using HCL functions, expressions, dynamic blocks. Built-in dependency management: resource graph; implicit dependencies; ordering; how Terraform figures out what to create first, etc.
9. Understand HCP Terraform capabilities	What HCP Terraform (or Terraform Cloud / Enterprise) offers: workspaces, private registry, collaboration, governance. How it helps manage infrastructure: teams; version control; sharing modules; private module registry. Permissions, policy enforcement (Sentinel or other policy as code) etc. Managing versions in HCP; permissions to control who can change what; enforcing policies; governance features.

What is Terraform, anyways?

Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool developed by HashiCorp. Instead of manually provisioning servers, databases, or networking in the cloud, Terraform lets you define all infrastructure resources in declarative configuration files. These files can then be used to create, update, or destroy infrastructure consistently and repeatably.

Terraform is widely used for:

Cloud provisioning → AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and many others.
Multi-cloud deployments → manage resources across multiple providers in one workflow.
On-premises automation → VMware, Kubernetes, DNS providers, monitoring systems, etc.
Collaboration and governance → teams share a single source of truth with state files and remote backends.

In short: Terraform allows teams to automate, version-control, and scale infrastructure just like application code.

About Terraform Associate Certification

The Terraform Associate Certification validates your understanding of Terraform fundamentals, workflows, and best practices. It's designed for cloud engineers, DevOps professionals, and developers working with infrastructure automation.

Passing this exam demonstrates that you can confidently use Terraform in real-world projects and follow recommended practices.

Exam details (as of version 003):

Product version tested: Terraform 1.3
Format: Multiple-choice, multiple-select questions
Delivery: Online proctored exam
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: $70 USD (at the time of writing)
Expiration: 2 years
Prerequisites:
- Basic terminal skills
- Basic understanding of on premises and cloud architecture
- Recommended for those with ~6 months of Terraform experience

Useful Links and Resources

Terraform Download
Terraform SandBox
Official Terraform Associate Prep Site

More Terraform Tutorials:
Understanding Terraform Variable Precedence
Terraform Value Types Tutorial
Terraform count Explained with Practical Examples
Terraform for_each Tutorial with Practical Examples
Exploring Terraform dynamic Blocks with GCP Examples
Working with External Data in Terraform
Terraform Modules FAQ