diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts
index c576e17453557..cdeb00be9a426 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@ export abstract class Schedule {
    * Construct a schedule from an interval and a time unit
    */
   public static rate(duration: Duration): Schedule {
+    const validDurationUnit = ['minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'];
+    if (!validDurationUnit.includes(duration.unitLabel())) {
+      throw new Error("Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day' or 'days'");
+    }
+    if (duration.isUnresolved()) {
+      return new LiteralSchedule(`rate(${duration.formatTokenToNumber()})`);
+    }
     if (duration.toSeconds() === 0) {
       throw new Error('Duration cannot be 0');
     }
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts
index 6af9c525c9bf9..ca0fb69812b10 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Duration } from '@aws-cdk/core';
+import { Duration, Stack, Lazy } from '@aws-cdk/core';
 import { Test } from 'nodeunit';
 import * as appscaling from '../lib';
 
@@ -15,8 +15,15 @@ export = {
 
   'rate must be whole number of minutes'(test: Test) {
     test.throws(() => {
-      appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(12345));
-    }, /'12345 seconds' cannot be converted into a whole number of minutes/);
+      appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.minutes(0.13456));
+    }, /'0.13456 minutes' cannot be converted into a whole number of seconds/);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate must not be in seconds'(test: Test) {
+    test.throws(() => {
+      appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(1));
+    }, /Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day' or 'days'/);
     test.done();
   },
 
@@ -26,4 +33,18 @@ export = {
     }, /Duration cannot be 0/);
     test.done();
   },
+
+  'rate can be token'(test: Test) {
+    const stack = new Stack();
+    const lazyDuration = Duration.minutes(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
+    const rate = appscaling.Schedule.rate(lazyDuration);
+    test.equal('rate(5 minutes)', stack.resolve(rate).expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate can be in allowed type hours'(test: Test) {
+    test.equal('rate(1 hour)', appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.hours(1))
+      .expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
 };
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/README.md b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/README.md
index 565b0537d091d..465e1fb73e1b5 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/README.md
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/README.md
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ onCommitRule.addTarget(new targets.SnsTopic(topic, {
 ## Scheduling
 
 You can configure a Rule to run on a schedule (cron or rate).
+Rate must be specified in minutes, hours or days.
 
 The following example runs a task every day at 4am:
 
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts
index 8c2c04481c0d2..c12afde30aa01 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@ export abstract class Schedule {
    * Construct a schedule from an interval and a time unit
    */
   public static rate(duration: Duration): Schedule {
+    const validDurationUnit = ['minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'];
+    if (validDurationUnit.indexOf(duration.unitLabel()) === -1) {
+      throw new Error('Allowed unit for scheduling is: \'minute\', \'minutes\', \'hour\', \'hours\', \'day\', \'days\'');
+    }
+    if (duration.isUnresolved()) {
+      return new LiteralSchedule(`rate(${duration.formatTokenToNumber()})`);
+    }
     if (duration.toSeconds() === 0) {
       throw new Error('Duration cannot be 0');
     }
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts
index 80cf91948f5fa..72fe340242924 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,39 @@ export = {
     test.done();
   },
 
+  'get rate as token'(test: Test) {
+    const app = new cdk.App();
+    const stack = new cdk.Stack(app, 'MyScheduledStack');
+    const lazyDuration = cdk.Duration.minutes(cdk.Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
+
+    new Rule(stack, 'MyScheduledRule', {
+      ruleName: 'rateInMinutes',
+      schedule: Schedule.rate(lazyDuration),
+    });
+
+    // THEN
+    expect(stack).to(haveResourceLike('AWS::Events::Rule', {
+      'Name': 'rateInMinutes',
+      'ScheduleExpression': 'rate(5 minutes)',
+    }));
+
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'Seconds is not an allowed value for Schedule rate'(test: Test) {
+    const lazyDuration = cdk.Duration.seconds(cdk.Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
+    test.throws(() => Schedule.rate(lazyDuration), /Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'/);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'Millis is not an allowed value for Schedule rate'(test: Test) {
+    const lazyDuration = cdk.Duration.millis(cdk.Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
+
+    // THEN
+    test.throws(() => Schedule.rate(lazyDuration), /Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'/);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
   'rule with physical name'(test: Test) {
     // GIVEN
     const stack = new cdk.Stack();
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts
index d2e045199360f..e9c24a51c92b2 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Duration } from '@aws-cdk/core';
+import { Duration, Stack, Lazy } from '@aws-cdk/core';
 import { Test } from 'nodeunit';
 import * as events from '../lib';
 
@@ -33,8 +33,15 @@ export = {
 
   'rate must be whole number of minutes'(test: Test) {
     test.throws(() => {
-      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(12345));
-    }, /'12345 seconds' cannot be converted into a whole number of minutes/);
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.minutes(0.13456));
+    }, /'0.13456 minutes' cannot be converted into a whole number of seconds/);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate must be whole number'(test: Test) {
+    test.throws(() => {
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.minutes(1/8));
+    }, /'0.125 minutes' cannot be converted into a whole number of seconds/);
     test.done();
   },
 
@@ -44,4 +51,33 @@ export = {
     }, /Duration cannot be 0/);
     test.done();
   },
+
+  'rate can be from a token'(test: Test) {
+    const stack = new Stack();
+    const lazyDuration = Duration.minutes(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
+    const rate = events.Schedule.rate(lazyDuration);
+    test.equal('rate(5 minutes)', stack.resolve(rate).expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate can be in minutes'(test: Test) {
+    test.equal('rate(10 minutes)',
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.minutes(10))
+        .expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate can be in days'(test: Test) {
+    test.equal('rate(10 days)',
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.days(10))
+        .expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate can be in hours'(test: Test) {
+    test.equal('rate(10 hours)',
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.hours(10))
+        .expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
 };
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/core/lib/duration.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/core/lib/duration.ts
index 098744af2d0b8..b1c675d3ce722 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/core/lib/duration.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/core/lib/duration.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Token } from './token';
+import { Token, Tokenization } from './token';
 
 /**
  * Represents a length of time.
@@ -252,6 +252,28 @@ export class Duration {
     }
     return ret;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Checks if duration is a token or a resolvable object
+   */
+  public isUnresolved() {
+    return Token.isUnresolved(this.amount);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns unit of the duration
+   */
+  public unitLabel() {
+    return this.unit.label;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns stringified number of duration
+   */
+  public formatTokenToNumber(): string {
+    const number = Tokenization.stringifyNumber(this.amount);
+    return `${number} ${this.unit.label}`;
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/core/test/duration.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/core/test/duration.test.ts
index 70b7cb786e344..75b92c76924c2 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/core/test/duration.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/core/test/duration.test.ts
@@ -168,6 +168,32 @@ nodeunitShim({
 
     test.done();
   },
+
+  'get unit label from duration'(test: Test) {
+    test.equal(Duration.minutes(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 10 })).unitLabel(), 'minutes');
+    test.equal(Duration.minutes(62).unitLabel(), 'minutes');
+    test.equal(Duration.seconds(10).unitLabel(), 'seconds');
+    test.equal(Duration.millis(1).unitLabel(), 'millis');
+    test.equal(Duration.hours(1000).unitLabel(), 'hours');
+    test.equal(Duration.days(2).unitLabel(), 'days');
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'format number token to number'(test: Test) {
+    const stack = new Stack();
+    const lazyDuration = Duration.minutes(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 10 }));
+    test.equal(stack.resolve(lazyDuration.formatTokenToNumber()), '10 minutes');
+    test.equal(Duration.hours(10).formatTokenToNumber(), '10 hours');
+    test.equal(Duration.days(5).formatTokenToNumber(), '5 days');
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'duration is unresolved'(test: Test) {
+    const lazyDuration = Duration.minutes(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 10 }));
+    test.equal(lazyDuration.isUnresolved(), true);
+    test.equal(Duration.hours(10).isUnresolved(), false);
+    test.done();
+  },
 });
 
 function floatEqual(test: Test, actual: number, expected: number) {