Cloud study guide: Tips to pass 11 AWS certification exams
Learn my strategy and study plan to help you pass 11 AWS cloud exams, plus resources & tips
Today I am an AWS Certified Solution Architect and DevOps Professional, but my AWS certification journey started in 2017 with a failure. I took the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam and did not pass. It was really frustrating for me to fail this test because of my lack of preparation and overconfidence in my understanding of the material. It was in fact so demoralizing that I didn’t attempt another AWS certification for the next two and half years.
Meanwhile, I continued working with many different AWS services and architecture patterns for various projects within Capital One and grew my on-job understanding of the cloud even more. But I still wanted to get my certification, so I made a plan and restarted my AWS certification journey. In this blog, I offer tips, strategies and a plan to complete the AWS certifications.
Taking the plunge: Where to start with AWS certifications
I have been working with AWS services for almost several years now, so I do have a lot of knowledge on the AWS ecosystem, multiple AWS services and the different terminologies around the cloud. I just didn’t have the certificates to show that. Given my initial certification failure, I wanted to start on a positive note by putting my best foot forward. Hence I decided to start with the first basic AWS certification – the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification.
After one month of rigorous study – I took my AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification exam, and I was very happy that I passed it on the very first attempt! This was a big motivating factor for continuing my journey into the deep ocean of AWS certification exams. It also ignited a spark in me to learn more and more about AWS and the various services that it offers.
After this first achievement, I convinced myself to put in the effort to finish one AWS certification every month. In order to meet this goal, I started preparing immediately.
11 AWS certifications
Taking AWS certification exams: My study strategy to pass
I know all of you must be thinking how did I manage to pass all these certifications in a short timeframe? The vital study resources that really helped me were A Cloud Guru and re:Invent videos. After taking practice tests on A Cloud Guru, I used the results to focus and improve on my weaknesses (i.e., the topics on which I got the answers wrong). The re:Invent videos also helped me to gain a deeper knowledge of various AWS services. For example, from watching these videos I learned that we can create a single EC2 instance that’s available in two different subnets by creating a network interface card in each subnet and then associating it with an EC2 instance. I also learned how security groups are associated with network interfaces, and not with EC2 instances.
I also used these other resources during my certification journey, including:
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Practice tests from A Cloud Guru, O’Reilly, Whizlabs & Udemy
My most important piece of advice: Take the practice tests. It is also important to work on patience-building strategies, as these exams take a lot of energy and comprehension skills, so be kind to yourself during this process! Understanding your learning style can help you tailor this studying process for yourself. For example, I am more of a kinesthetic learner, where I learn better by actively engaging. Hence I plan my studies in two phases: Learning and Testing. I also try to be consistent with my studying from day to day, as slow and steady works best for me.
Phase 1: Learn the concepts for each certification
In this phase, I went through full study courses on A Cloud Guru, focusing on learning and understanding all the concepts thoroughly. One by one, I learned the individual concepts in the course, looked hard for related AWS re:Invent deep dive videos, and then studied for those with extra hands-on engagement.
Study resources I used for the learning phase:
- This site has every AWS re:Invent, and other AWS conferences/videos with a customizable search function.
- This site has training material from AWS and covers most of its services.
Phase 2: Testing preparation and study strategy
The associate exams test your knowledge but the specialty/professional exams test your knowledge, patience and your comprehension skills. Hence, after studying the concepts thoroughly, I always kept my goal of passing the certification in mind and moved on to the next step of taking the practice tests. In this phase, I did exam-oriented studying by taking multiple practice tests. Whenever I took those tests, it gave me the feeling of an actual exam day that studying alone cannot give.
Specifically, these practice tests helped me understand my personal test speed and how it might deviate for different questions, sections, and specific tests. After taking a few such tests, you too will better understand the various flavors of questions asked, as well as which topics may need more of your attention. In addition, these exams are long and can easily drain you out if you do not have a practice of sitting through a three-hour long exam. So the practice test helps in both aspects.
It’s important that you practice reading long questions and their options, understand the gist of the question, eliminate the wrong answers and narrow down the right answer, all at a speed of less than 3 minutes per question. So accuracy and speed both go hand in hand here in these exams. I used practice tests to identify my weak areas so I could work harder on improving them. AWS provides very helpful exam readiness courses for each exam, which is a great place to start. Personally, I keenly watched for those offerings and scheduled them close to each of my final exam timeframes. Once I started getting 90% or higher score in the practice tests, I would feel more confident going for the final exam. At that point, I would generally schedule my final exam within the next 3 to 5 days while continuing to take more practice tests during that time.
Study resources I used for the practice test phase:
- This website has every AWS re:Invent, as well as other AWS conference videos with a customizable search function.
- This website has training material from AWS and covers most of its services.
- Practice tests
- Practice tests
- AWS practice tests
- Practice tests
Become an AWS-certified professional by studying, practicing and working hard
Today, I feel really proud of myself for taking that first tiny step and then continuing all the way through my AWS certification journey. It’s like when you take a metal spring and intensely pull backward on it; when you let it go, the more you pull, the farther away it ends up landing. I am proud of how far I have gone.
I am the kind of person who tends to develop a sore throat while trying to swallow failure. When I did not pass that first exam it was very hard on me. But I’ve come to realize that passing certification tests is a challenge even for experienced engineers. If you find yourself struggling, I would like to advise you to not lose hope and keep chasing your dreams as hard as you can. Through slow and steady work, you can make your dreams come true.
Stay focused, put in the hard work and good luck! Hope to see you progressing well on your own certification journey.