I Passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate Exam (SAA-C02) - Dont make the mistakes which I made !
Alright, I took the AWS SAA-C02 exam last month i.e. December 2020 in a haste and passed successfully (Phew !) Check out my Badge !
I had around 1~2 years of Experience of using the AWS Platform. I had no Idea if I should really go for the certification but upon diving into the internet I realized Cloud skills are in huge demand and Certifications actualy helps a lot in establishing creadibility ! I looked up through the AWS Certifations Page and thought to go for the Foundation Level and then eventually go up to the Associate Level.
As per the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner :
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner examination is intended for individuals who have the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively demonstrate an overall understanding of the AWS Cloud, independent of specific technical roles addressed by other AWS Certifications. The exam can be taken at a testing center or from the comfort and convenience of a home or office location as an online proctored exam.
Which seemed fine to me so I went ahead for it. I found out about an amazing initiative by freeCodeCamp : #AWSCertified Challenge
- which basically encourages people to learn in Public. People just have to post their everyday progress online and encourage others who are doing the same. Believe me I discovered so any learners over twitter while they were on their journey and learnt a ton from them.
Not only that freeCodeCamp and Andrew Brown realeased a free course on AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner freeCodeCamp youtube Channel which became my go to material.
I started preparing for Cloud Practitioner by the end of June 2020 and and by the end of July I was taking Practice tests.
The Problem
I must admit I found it hard :D . I am not so fond of Exams and scoring is an Art and I am no Artist (not yet :P) Besides that Cloud Practitioner requires knowing about different service (a lot of them) and not get confused during the Exam. I am a developer my self and likes to dive into things and knowing about plethora of services wasn't helping me as I wasn't getting actual hands on with the services and my Test scores where Bad !
I had 72% 73% and 72% in my first three practice Exam.
After thinking a lot I decided to let go of Cloud Practitioner and go for Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam.
The Detour
I enrolled for Exampro's AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C02) Course and Jon Bosno's Practice Exams.
I started my prepration in August. I started taking notes from the video courses as well as any resource I could find over the Internet.
In September I found a Nanodegree Program on Udacity - AWS Cloud Architect which is not at all a certification prepration material by is a Great course on understanding and adopting the Architect mindset while building infrastructure with AWS. It has great hands-on Projects which actually helped me in my Cloud Journey apart from the fact that it was offering 75% discount on all the Nanodegree Programs. It was an advanced level course which took me 1 month to complete.
The Lapse
I couldn't pickup my prepration in October as I was busy with some other works. November I realised and paniced that I started all of this in June and 4 months down the line I couldn't prepare upto mark. I rushed and revised earlier segments and Completed the rest of the Topics.
By end of November I started off with my Practice Test and failed miserably in the first Two Tests. I reviewed my questions and the Topics covered. Revised my notes and then again went for other tests. I never got a Good score but decent enough to pass. Jon Bosno's Practice Tests are good as it can get. I was scared still book my exam on Dec 12. Meanwhile I went hard on practice tests and revisions.
The Showdown
On the day of Exam the On-boarding/verification went smooth and there where no glitches during the Exam. The Exam Fear was there but I held my nerves. +3o minutes for the exam really helped me revise the question before actually submitting them. And upon ending the Exam I was delighted to see the Results . I Passed !!!
You will get the results (pass/fail) right then and a detailed report of you Exam will be sent to you after a day.
If you are planning to take your certification Exam please avoid these mistakes :
Be certain of which certification you need to prepare as it takes time to gather info about resources and planning, dont take a detour like me.
Plan your prepration. Choose you timeline as per the time you have for prepration. 2 months, 4 months whatever, as per you needs. Make checkpoints for yourself and try to be regular, otherwise you will end up eating a lot of time. Better yet try to learn in public. Join the #100DaysOfCloud over Twitter and notice the other learners and learn with them.
Practice Practice Practice !!! I can't stress this any Fruther. The most important part of prepreation got to be Tests. I will easily take 5-6 hrs of your Day. Taking the test and reviewing the mistakes and learning new concepts. Ideally Practice should be 50% of you prepration Time.
Leverage your ESL + 30 MINUTES. If you are a non native english speaker, look for "Exam accommodations" before scheduling your Exam. Believe me it will be of immense help !
Make notes. Preferably, Digital Notes. I made the mistake of making Physical Notes. I am not saying its good but searching is a Pain in a notebook. Digital Notes are way more easy to navigate. Example : Cloud Notes by Rishabh Kumar
This what you will end up with, if you make Physical Notes.
And if you are opting for AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate Exam (SAA-C02), this is the outline:
Remember whatever Course you pick please practice some Architecture Design using the AWS Components , it will help you in getting fluid with the concepts as Certified Solutions Architect is considered to the toughest among the Associate Tier. I would recomd these two videos from youtube :
And be wary of the words 'cost-efficient, cost-optimized, high availability, fault tolerance' in you question. Knowing the difference among them gives you the key to your Answers.
If you read so for, I hope my experience will help you in your Exams ! All the best !