AWS Exams: How to Pass Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect - Associate

10/04/24 04:49 am, by , Categories: study

Recently, I took two AWS exams.

Here, I would like to share my experience of preparing for and successfully passing the exams on the first try.

Below, I will provide a list of resources that can help you prepare well for a relatively small amount of money. I won't consider free options, but there is an excellent YouTube channel @ADV-IT where you can find AWS videos for free.

I started preparing directly for the Solutions Architect - Associate exam, but during the preparation process, I took the Cloud Practitioner exam to reinforce my intermediate knowledge.

Preparation for Cloud Practitioner

Exam passing statistics: 70% pass the exam on the first try

For the Cloud Practitioner exam, I prepared using the official AWS resource AWS Skill Builder. On this site, you can find courses on various topics, and in the relevant section https://skillbuilder.aws/exam-prep/cloud-practitioner, you can find everything you need for Cloud Practitioner preparation.

In general, access to the resource is free, but there is also a subscription for $29 per month that unlocks additional features, such as:

courses with additional and better-structured information
courses to check your readiness for the exam
Cloud Quest - a game with tasks where you can practice lab work or tests

Also, it is important to remember that a very important document for the exam is the Exam Guide. In this document, you can find all the topics related to the exams, as well as a section that pertains to product names:

It's important to know at least the basic concepts of these products and what they relate to. In the Cloud Practitioner exam, you won’t be asked about the configuration of specific parts; there will be many questions about what each product does and which one is better to choose.

I purchased access to Skill Builder, but I did not complete Cloud Quest for this exam.

I chose another game, Escape Room, where you also go through a quest to help save your friend.

While playing, you answer various questions, which helps reinforce the material better.

Also, one of the most important topics for passing the Cloud Practitioner exam is the Well-Architected Framework https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected. You need to understand what relates to what, especially in the part about The 6 Pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

If at this stage you are already confused with the information, I would recommend taking a systematic approach.

For example, refer to good theory in the form of an online course from Aci Learning https://www.acilearning.com/catalog/it/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-clf-c02. It will provide you with detailed explanations and insights necessary for passing this exam.

Also, before the exam, I would recommend taking several mock exams for practice and to keep track of time.

By the way, regarding time, don’t forget to add an extra 30 minutes before the exam!

Overall, this is quite enough for preparing for the Cloud Practitioner exam.

Preparation for Solutions Architect - Associate

Exam passing statistics: Only 28% pass the exam on the first try!

The main mistake many people make in preparing for the Solutions Architect - Associate exam is assuming that, after success with Cloud Practitioner, the second exam will be similarly uncomplicated. This is not the case.

In my opinion, the main difficulty in passing Solutions Architect is the enormous volume of information and various products (often with similar names) that you need to know and understand at a basic level.

Initially, I started preparing for the exam in the same way as I did for Cloud Practitioner—I subscribed to Skill Builder for a month but then canceled it.

First, I didn’t really like the presentation of the material in the video courses, as well as the jumping from topic to topic.

Secondly, the Cloud Quest that I mentioned earlier:

In it, you go through labs, completing various tasks for the city’s residents.

But I found it a bit boring, with a lot of unnecessary additions, making it less convenient to go through everything.

Therefore, I do not recommend going through this and paying for access.

It's better to start with a good course from Aci Learning https://www.acilearning.com/catalog/it/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-1951. I watched many different videos, and in my opinion, this is one of the best.

The course thoroughly covers all the main topics over 16 hours, and importantly, it also shows how and with which resources to work.

After this course, I actively focused on the topics from the Exam Guide, which looked like this:

I wrote notes on each product, highlighting the key points: what the product does, how to use it, and what to pay attention to:

Then I periodically reviewed my notes for better retention.

The next step was preparation using the website https://www.whizlabs.com.

A big advantage of this resource is that you don’t have to purchase a monthly or yearly subscription; you can pay for only the specific parts you need. In the section AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, I only purchased the Practice Tests and Hands-on Labs.

In the testing section, there will be one free test that you can try before purchasing, as well as paid ones that will be available after payment:

There are also tests on specific technologies where you can practice your knowledge of a particular product:

I started with those, taking tests on the products and reviewing my mistakes.

After each test, it’s essential to read the explanations for each answer carefully. This will provide a brief overview of why a particular answer was chosen.

After that, I moved on to hands-on labs and completed tasks related to that product to understand where I went wrong and better memorize the nuances.

In the labs section, I searched by name and added relevant labs to my favorites. After completing everything related to EC2, I removed it from my favorites and continued with other products:

At the end of all the tests, I awaited the final test. It’s recommended to take this test a week before the exam.

I also practiced with this video:

Additionally, I purchased access to three practice exams for a few dollars from Cloud Vikings.

My Exam Strategy

Lastly, I’d like to share how I approached the exam.

Many videos describe different strategies for taking the exam; I chose the following approach.

Let’s analyze a typical question from the exam (this approach is suitable for any AWS exam):

1. The question appears.

2. Without reading the beginning of the question, I immediately go to the answers. For convenience, I illustrate it like this:

3. I don’t read the answers fully; instead, I quickly look for differences and identify them.

4. I then return to the beginning of the question, and it becomes much clearer what is being asked and which answer is likely correct. Sometimes, you can even infer the correct answer based on the differences you noted.