How to prepare for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification SAA-C02

Dear All,

This is my second article in the social learning platform — #LinkedIn and I would like to share my experience for #AWS Solutions Architect — Associate examination.

I have started my journey in AWS cloud about a year ago with Udemy course like A Cloud Guru, AWS official learning platform (https://www.aws.training/) , AWS re:Invent you tube videos etc. But my actual journey begins with an inspiration from many of LinkedIn connections like @Yujun Liang, @Chirag Nayyar.

“It is very important to follow your mutual interests people and groups in any profession you have as it makes it easy to gather information & learn quickly .”- Vaibhav Ambike.

I have decided very late to appear for the exam but I am working on AWS services daily in my current organization, so to having just a certification without any hands-on will not put a value when you appear for the interviews. If you are new to cloud then I would suggest you to please start with AWS cloud practitioner courses or trainings.

Now, I will come to the preparation path which I exactly followed when I decided to give the exam 2 months before. It may depends on everyone’s efforts so someone probably complete this in a month also but don’t just rush to pass the exam take your time !

Steps I followed :

1. I have purchased the Udemy course of Stephane Maarek which is I think highest rated course on Udemy https://www.udemy.com/share/102CPBAEMfdF9VRX0J/ . It is well structured course, covered each topics which you required to pass the exam.
2. Most important to do the Labs ! If you purchase the course from Stephane then he did all labs within a free tier. So you just need to have an AWS free tier account and follow him throughout the course.
3. I also followed some you tube videos from @Neal Davis which he made for exam preparation and sample questions which really helped me to prepare for the examination.
4. Important topics to focus on are Amazon S3, Amazon VPC, Amazon SQS, Route 53,Amazon EC2. Also few straight forward questions asked for AWS Lambda, Amazon FSx.
5. Before appearing the exam please do the exam readiness training which is available on AWS training website — Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate (Digital). This is mostly 2 hours long but covered important topics and give you an idea how the questions being asked.
6. Lastly I would suggest you to go through some practice tests which is available on Tutorials Dojo by Jon-Bonso : https://portal.tutorialsdojo.com/courses/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-practice-exams/ . I found this in the last two days before exam and only able to do some free practice tests. But It is really worth to buy it as it covers scenario based questions and after passing the exam you will get the detail explanation as well to check where you get the wrong answers. Try to start doing practice test at least before a week of your actual exam schedule.
7. Set a timeline and schedule the exam once you are confident enough. Do not take this examination so lightly as it really test your understanding on basics of AWS services and real life scenario questions. So prepare it well and set a timeline ! You will crack it for sure.

AWS certifications are tool towards your goal. All the best for your AWS journey !

Happy Learning !

Please leave a comment if you like this blog.

Many Thanks,

Vaibhav Ambike