Mastering the AWS Exam: Be Your Best and Stay Anxiety-Free

Passing the AWS exam demonstrates your competence and knowledge of AWS services. However, not achieving a passing score may indicate a lack of exam-taking skills rather than a deficiency in your AWS knowledge. Prioritizing your exam-taking strategy should be as crucial as studying AWS services themselves. This is the key takeaway from the article if you don’t have time to read it.

I am a DevOps engineer, formerly an AQA (Automation Quality Assurance) or SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) engineer, with extensive experience in IT. Recently, I achieved the AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification by passing the SAA-C03 exam. The three-month-long preparation was both intensive and emotionally draining. In this article, I aim to share key insights from my experience to assist others in preparing for exams with reduced stress.

What is SAA-C03? Why do you need it? Why don’t you need it?

SAA-C03 is designed for AWS experts who excel in problem-solving. It tests your ability to craft AWS solutions for diverse challenges, including cost considerations, unique business needs, and regulatory constraints. As a trusted advisor, your job is to recommend custom solutions using AWS to satisfy clients. Why consider this exam? If your job involves solving business problems using technical tools and your clients expect you to handle challenges like tripling workloads cost-effectively, then SAA-C03 is a must for you.

Let’s talk about when this exam might not be the right choice. If your job doesn’t involve creating complex cloud solutions or working with many AWS services daily, it’s best to skip this exam. Two key reasons: First, it can be tough to prepare without hands-on experience. Second, it could end up being a waste because if you don’t use what you’ve learned, you’ll forget it. If you’re new to AWS or focus mainly on the operational side, consider the Cloud Practitioner certification. It’s easier, more affordable, but still respected.

How to choose a learning path?

Don’t make the same mistakes I did. Skip AWS’s own preparation courses; they might not be the best use of your time. Most AWS’s own certification courses cover everything needed for the exam, but third-party courses focus on the unique features of each service and how they solve specific problems. These courses help you understand technology better and prepare for tricky exam questions. To choose the right course, read reviews, try free samples, and make sure you like the instructor’s style, their voice, and how they present the material. Here’s what I used for my exam:

• Udemy course by Stephane Maarek. Everyone I know, including myself, used this course for AWS certification preparation. It’s simple, comprehensive, and comes with a great course handbook that also serves as an AWS cheat sheet for exam preparation. Highly recommended!
• Udemy Practice Exam Course by Tutorials Dojo. I bought this course based on a recommendation. It offers excellent practice exams, though they are more challenging than the actual test, so don’t be upset by scores lower than 72%. One downside of this course is the verbose explanations for every question, including the incorrect choices. This approach brings an understanding of why one option is better than the others
• Udemy practice exam course by Neal Davis. This practice set was surprisingly disappointing, especially considering the higher reviews and the author’s apparent experience, which I discovered through their interesting articles on Medium. What makes it bad? Firstly, the questions suffer from poor language construction; they either omit important details, forcing you to make assumptions, or drown you in irrelevant information that’s unrelated to the subject, leading to misunderstandings. Secondly, unlike the previous course, this one provides tiny explanations, often quoting official AWS documentation or giving responses like, ‘SNS is the best option due to its flexibility. While SQS can also work, it’s generally better to use SNS, as explained above.’ 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ — that was my reaction in most cases. However, the significant advantage of this practice set is that some of the questions from it actually appeared on the exam. Though I suspect these questions were part of an unevaluated section (I’ll describe the exam’s structure later).
• And last but not least: practice. Get yourself a free tier account. Be careful with expenses and service prices, but try to get as much hand off experience as possible.

How to estimate time for preparation?

To estimate preparation time, consider the following:

• Your familiarity with cloud computing concepts.
• Your knowledge of AWS services.
• Your understanding of infrastructure solutions and general computing

I recommend taking this test without any preparation (signing up on AWS Skill Builder is required, which you can do with your regular Amazon account). It will help you assess your current knowledge gap. If your score is below 30%, as mentioned earlier, the Solution Architect path might not be the best choice for you. My initial score before the theory course was 46%, but after completing the course, it jumped to 75%. I also spent two weeks practicing sets. The entire preparation took around 3 months, with 3 to 7 hours of training per week.

Support yourself while studying

The following section is based on my personal experience and may not be applicable to everyone. You can approach it as an open canvas, where you can sketch out particular strategies that help you cope with significant intellectual challenges. My preparation period was tough, not because the subject matter was essentially difficult, but because I had to process an enormous amount of new information in a relatively short time frame. Here’s what I did:

• I reached an understanding with my manager, allowing me to allocate some of my working hours for preparation.
• I planned my weekly study schedule in advance. Studying casually and inconsistently didn’t work for me
• I made the decision to give up many of my other activities. What’s crucial here is that I communicated this to myself, my family, and my friends. They understood why, during this period, I was dedicating almost all of my free time to exam preparation and why it was important to me.
• I committed to treating myself, whether I passed or not 😌
• I minimized as many routine responsibilities as possible. Ask your family or friends for help with some of your responsibilities
• I remembered the importance of taking breaks. From time to time, I gave myself a full day off from anything related to work or exam prep
• Maintained a daily routine. For me, it consisted of a morning walk with my dog followed by breakfast.
• Constantly reminded myself not to become overly fixated on the exam. When I started to care too much, I reminded myself that it’s not my entire life; it’s just an exam

How to schedule an exam and some tips

Let’s get into the exam details. It has a duration of 130 minutes, consists of 65 questions, and costs $150. To pass, you need a score of 720 points. Interestingly, only 50 of the questions actually count towards your score; the remaining 15 are used for internal AWS statistics (or are there to wear you out).

The questions come in two types: single-choice and multiple-choice. During the exam, you’ll be provided with paper and a pen in case you need to write down your thoughts. Also, your personal belongings won’t be accessible. There’s a list of approved items you can bring, such as my necessary medicines for managing diabetes. You’ll find the complete list after you sign in to register.

To register for the exam, head to the exam’s website and click on ‘Schedule an Exam.’ Sign in with your Amazon account (the one you typically use for ordering chicken sticks for your dog), not your AWS account. After completing the required details on the web form’s homepage, you’ll be presented with several options, including ‘Register for an Exam’ and ‘Request Exam Accommodations’

Here’s a helpful tip everyone should be aware of: If English is not your native language, you can request an additional 30 minutes for your exam. Simply click on ‘Request Exam Accommodations,’ then choose ‘Request accommodation,’ and select ‘ESL +30 minutes.’ This accommodation is automatically approved

Have a strategy

As I’ve said before, even if you’re really good with AWS and know your tech stuff inside out, staying sharp for 65 exam questions can be a real challenge. That’s why I recommend everyone to have a strategy that helps you: a) answer questions when you’re unsure of the exact answer b) save your energy and prevent overthinking each question.Here are the strategies I used:

1. Skip the question. If a question seems completely unfamiliar, save time and mental energy by skipping it. You can always come back to it later, and sometimes other questions may provide hints for the one you skipped
2. Filter out wrong answers. When you read a question, don’t dive deep into each option right away. Quickly scan all choices and pick the ones that seem likely to be wrong. Questions can be tricky, so don’t immediately dismiss less likely answers. Try to imagine what might happen if you use that service in the suggested scenario; sometimes they surprise you. I’ve encountered cases where initially inappropriate answers turned out correct. If adding this option to the given scenario quickly (without overthinking) doesn’t make sense, then it’s definitely the wrong answer.
3. Key words. Key words are everything. With numerous AWS services and various combinations, even a single scenario can be overwhelming. Although these aren’t officially designated keywords, as you work through hundreds of questions, you’ll develop a skill for recognizing them. Let’s take a closer look at some of these special words:

• Security or protection of an S3 bucket (not in the context of the permissions) most likely involves enabling ‘MFA Delete’ and ‘enabling versioning’ on the S3 bucket
• Windows, File(s) — in the scenario of finding the best option for file system — it would probably be ‘Amazon FSx for Windows File Server’
• Decoupling — I think that’s how the SQS service should be named. Because 80% of questions I faced with ‘decoupling’ in the test were related to SQS service and 20% were related to SNS.
• Static web pages — most likely refers to S3
• When dealing with processing data in real-time or near real-time, consider looking for Kinesis services in the answers, specifically Kinesis Data Streams, and occasionally Kinesis Firehose.
• For the best I/O performance in terms of EC2 instance volumes, the probable best answer, if no other specific conditions are given, would be instance store volumes
• When referring to Layer 4 or TCP/UDP protocols in the context of Load Balancers, it almost always points to Network Load Balancer, as no other balancers support this level
• For high-performance computing on Linux instances, Amazon FSx for Lustre is often the most suitable choice
• Multi-threaded in-memory cache — most likely relates to ElastiCache with the Memcached engine

Disclaimer: these words are supposed to help you choose the correct answer when you’re doubting and need some guidance. They are not supposed to help you guess the answer. You still have to be prepared and aware of most of the AWS services.

Be prepared for a Unexpected Challenges

Congratulations, you’ve come a long way! You’ve worked really hard and prepared well for the exam. Now, you’re sitting in the exam room, all set to answer the questions. But, as they say, expect the unexpected. During my own exam, a blackout occurred in the building just minutes after it started. It was a nerve-wracking experience, lasting about 40 minutes, with even the organizers uncertain about when it would end. We found ourselves in a classroom without air conditioning, food, or access to personal belongings, and we couldn’t leave the room. Our only options were to drink water and visit the restroom.

Understandably, the atmosphere grew tense, and some participants became anxious and left the room. Unfortunately for them, they were in the final stages of their exam. Their departure meant they not only had to reschedule but also navigate the ‘special case’ procedure to set a new date and time.

To maintain my focus and prevent overthinking, I turned to a simple strategy: I used the paper and pen provided for the exam to draw graphic patterns. Why am I sharing this detailed experience? Because I want to stress the importance of being prepared for any situation that might arise during your exam.

Stay focused, stay motivated, and save your energy for the challenges ahead. Think of it like a tennis match — maintain your rhythm and initiative. Otherwise, unexpected problems could make you lose time and you’d have to get back into the right mindset for the exam. Be ready for anything!

Good luck!

So here we are! I’ve shared my journey with you, dear reader, in the hopes that it will assist you in passing the SAA-C03 exam and staying calm. Remember, this exam doesn’t define your worth. You’re doing a fantastic job 💖

P.S. Please share your thoughts in the comment section. Tell me about the strategies you use and any unexpected challenges you faced during your exam. I’d love to hear from you!