To Begin With
I passed this exam two weeeks ago, and I understand how overwhelming exam preparation can be. The sheer volume of material, the stress of the exam itself, and the associated costs. Additionally, the possibility of needing a retake adds to the anxiety. I want to share how I transitioned from a state of uncertainty and doubt to successfully passing the exam with confidence.
This Is Not How-To Tutorial
Please consider this post as an insight rather than a step-by-step guide. Don’t follow all the advice blindly. Evaluate it critically, draw your own conclusions, and make decisions based on what works best for you.
Staying On The Right Tracks
Iron bullet list prepared based on my experience:
- Find one comprehensive tutorial and stick to it. You can refer to my recommendation in the Recommendations Section.
- Go through your course from A, through Ü to Z.
- If the course doesn’t require creating an AWS account for hands-on lessons, consider switching to a different course; your future self will thank you.
- Practice everything. Explore every service you’re studying in the AWS console. Launch it, configure it, break it, fix it, and back it up. Hands-on experience is always more valuable than passive listening.
- Master practice tests. They are invaluable, so take as many as you can. However, avoid repeating one frequently, as it can diminish the benefit of the “first-seen” experience.
Quick Do’s And Don’ts
✓ Do Take The Notes (but wisely)
Watch the video on the given topic through to the end as many times as needed. Digest and understand the content, then briefly summarize it in your notes. This approach allows your knowledge to improve significantly, as it prevents interruptions in your learning process from constant stopping, starting, and rewinding.
✗ Don’t Rush For The Exam
Take your time - after all, skill and experience are what truly matter. The certification and exam are designed to set you on the right path and help you focus on the most crucial topics within the field. I’ve seen many people skip “boring” lessons on networking fundamentals or avoid hands-on tasks because they take too much time. While raw knowledge without practice might stick for a while, I guarantee it will fade away as soon as you encounter more advanced or complex problems.
If you find that a particular topic is taking too much time, it’s likely that you’re approaching it incorrectly.
✓ Do Take The Practice Tests
Practice tests are crucial for understanding the format and style of questions on the real exam. They will teach you how to read the questions carefully and grasp the scenarios presented. Additionally, practice tests allow you to gauge how well you perform under time pressure.
After taking multiple tests, you’ll develop the ability to recognize patterns in both the questions and answers, which will enhance your quick thinking. Remember, on the real exam, you only have about 2 minutes per question, so efficiency is key.
✗ Don’t Procrastinate
In reality - especially if it’s your first exam - you may never feel fully confident. There will always be a sense that you’re lacking knowledge or you’re unfamiliar with certain terms and tools. That’s completely normal. Just don’t let that feeling paralyze you or mess with your mindset.
“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” - Aristotle
Complete a comprehensive course that delves deeply into the concepts (even beyond what’s required), ensure you’re achieving passing scores on all your practice exams, push your inner impostor aside, and schedule the exam.
Recommended Resources
I spent quite a bit of time searching for the right resources to learn. I tried using AWS documentation, the paid AWS Skill Builder, and various YouTube tutorials, but something still felt off. The material was just too broad, and the deeper I went into certain topics - like Load Balancing - the more lost I felt.
It became clear that I was missing a structured approach that could guide me through the learning process effectively.
1. Adrian’s Cantrill Course
This course for SAA-C03 is an absolute gem. I remember discovering Adrian’s course at 1:00 AM while searching for the most suitable course that aligned with my preferred approach to exam preparation: first, deeply understanding the fundamentals; then, working on real-world tasks to solidify that knowledge; and finally, taking the exam as the cherry on top of this journey.
One sentence that convinced me to choose Adrian’s course was:
“If you want to pass the exam quickly - take course X, if you want to do the real job - go with Adrian”
His course will help you feel comfortable with most of the exam topics, though there are still some areas you’ll need to explore on your own. Fortunately, for many of these services, you only need to know they exist, understand their purpose, and be aware of the problems they address. Here’s a list of resources that might come up on the exam but are not covered in the course:
| Service | Category |
|---|---|
| Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB) | Database |
| Neptune | Database |
| Keyspaces | Database |
| FSx Types | Storage |
| Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka | Streaming & Messaging |
| OpenSearch | Analytics & Search |
| QuickSight | Analytics & Reporting |
| Outposts | Hybrid Cloud |
| Serverless Application Repository | Serverless |
| Device Farm | Development & Testing |
| Managed Grafana | Monitoring & Management |
| Managed Service for Prometheus | Monitoring & Management |
| AWS Proton | DevOps |
| AWS Service Catalog | Management & Governance |
| AWS Data Exchange | Data Integration |
| Beanstalk | Compute |
| Amazon EMR (formerly MapReduce) | Big Data & Analytics |
| AWS Artifact | Security & Compliance |
| AWS Lake Formation | Data Lake & Analytics |
2. Tutorials Dojo Practice Tests From Jon Bonso
I found the Tutorials Dojo practice tests to be the closest to real-world exam questions. While they may not be as difficult as the actual exam, the structure and scenarios presented are very accurate. These practice tests will help you get familiar with the general concepts and exam format.
Additional Information
If English Is Your Second Language
Before scheduling your exam, you can request the ESL +30 accommodation, which grants you an additional 30 minutes of exam time. This extra time can be very helpful, providing a margin that makes you feel more comfortable and less stressed during the exam. Personally, I used this extra time to quickly review all the questions before submitting my exam.
Keep in mind that this accommodation must be requested before you schedule your exam. If you’ve already scheduled your exam, you’ll need to cancel it and then reschedule with the ESL +30 accommodation enabled.
For detailed instructions, please refer to the official documentation from AWS.
Here’s what you should see after successfully requesting the accommodation:
Exam Discounts
There are many opportunities to catch discounts for your next exam, such as attending events, taking online classes, or other promotions.
You can monitor this thread for any active or upcoming discounts Reddit Link
Sources I Referred To
- Adrian Cantrill’s AWS courses: https://learn.cantrill.io/
- Tutorials Dojo practice tests: https://portal.tutorialsdojo.com/courses/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-practice-exams/