Passing AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam

Hi All,

I passed my AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate Exam on April 24th, 2019.

In this blog I am gonna tell you how i passed the exam, and what you really need in order to pass the exam.

Before we start, let me tell you, its a tough exam and takes time to prepare. Go step by step and master AWS, there is no shortcuts to success. 

Step 1 : Master the Basic Concepts

Yeah, the first step is to master the concepts of Cloud computing and AWS. Here are the courses which i took, to help me mastering the concepts :

A. If you are a newbie for clouds, take a course for cloud concepts first, this Free course can help you :  https://www.udemy.com/aws-concepts/

If you are already aware about the cloud concepts, then directly go for step B:

B. Go for this another Free course from Linux Academy :

https://www.udemy.com/linux-academy-aws-essentials-2019/

This course makes a real hands on project on AWS, called "Project Omega" which gives you a more hands on approach to understand and master the basic concepts of AWS. However this course is not enough for passing the certification exam as the certification exams is really tough and tests your knowledge and experience in depth.

Step 2 : Dive in details

Once you get basics, now its time to dive in details. So here is the course for going in details :

https://www.udemy.com/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate/

Now this course takes you in depth of each and every topic, and gets you prepared for the exam topics. Please follow the steps and do hands on labs yourself. Most of the hands on is covered under free tier of AWS, but some steps gonna cost you. I will recommend, you bear the little cost and do the practice for topics as the instructor Ryan has done in this course. (I Paid total around $20 in 2 months, for doing practice on AWS). Instructor Ryan goes fast sometime in the videos, so pause the videos and do the steps yourself.

Step 3 : Practice, Practice & Practice

Once you are done with Detailed course by Ryan, its time to practice the questions for exams. Yes this is the most important part, since the questions in exam are very tricky and you need to master the art of finding the right answer by eliminating the wrong ones.

Here the 2 sets of practice exams which will help you most in the exam :

A. Whizlabs : https://www.whizlabs.com/aws-solutions-architect-associate/

These tests by Whizlabs are pretty good, and very close to real exam. They have 8 full length tests which simulates the real exam environment, and also the tricky questions in these tests helps understanding the nature of exam. Make sure to practice all the tests, and do the final test one day before your exam.

If you feel weak in any particular area, Whizlabs also give you each topic wise test to practice and master the skills, which is very helpful. You can do these tests while going through Ryan's training course for each topic.

B. Practice tests by Jon Bonso : https://www.udemy.com/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-amazon-practice-exams/

Jon Bonso and team has done a good job in preparing these tests. They have 6 sets of practice exams each having 65 questions. I found these tests to be a little harder then the real exam, but trickiness of these questions helps learning new concepts and mastering the art of eliminating wrong answers.

Word of Caution : I will not recommend anyone to go for exam until you can pass these practice tests by Whizlabs and Jon Bonso and get atleast 80% in these tests (Jon Bonso recommends getting 90%).

Other suggested materials :

• Must read - Amazon FAQs for each topic : https://aws.amazon.com/faqs/
• Take 2 Hour free exam readiness training conducted by AWS. Most of the organisations get it scheduled for free. You can check the calendar here : https://www.aws.training/training/schedule?courseId=10006
• Amazon Whitepapers : https://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/
• Very helpful : AWS Cheat sheets by Jon Bonso : https://tutorialsdojo.com/aws-cheat-sheets/
• A Cloud Guru Forum : https://acloud.guru/forums/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate/recent?p=1 Many folks keep updating their experiences in this forum, reading them may help getting insights.

Last but not the least : Do not run behind the exam dumps available on the internet, they are waste of money and mostly may be incorrect, and cause you failure. Master the AWS concepts and gain the expertise. There is no shortcuts to success.

Disclaimer : There are many other courses and materials available for AWS, this blog covers the ones which i have gone through in my experience, and i feel are sufficient for the passing the exam.