Preparing for the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate exam

In December 2020, I took the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C02) exam on the last day I could possibly take it at my local testing centre. This was the week before the Christmas holidays and, thankfully, I gave myself an early Christmas present by passing the exam. I'm sharing my experience so that it may help you on your way to passing your AWS exam.

TL;DR check out the summary.

1. Booking the exam

I made the commitment to take the exam by the end of 2020. In early November, I booked to take the exam at my local testing centre on the last available day of the year. This gave me about 6 weeks to prepare.

After booking an AWS exam, you can reschedule up to 24 hours before the scheduled exam time without forfeiting the exam fee. You can only reschedule two times after your original appointment. If you would like to reschedule a third time, you would have to cancel the appointment and make a new appointment.

I recommend you book your exam first before you have started studying. Aim for a date 8 to 12 weeks from when you plan to study and reschedule if you're not ready. This gives you an incentive to stick to your study plan. How do you know if you're ready for the exam closer to the date? Read on; I've got you covered 😉

2. Online vs Testing Centre

You can choose to take the exam through online proctoring or at a testing centre. With the current COVID-19 situation, a testing centre may not be an option for you. It was available to me; however, I had to wear a mask for the duration of the exam, which was manageable.

Online proctoring involves a person supervising you through your webcam while you take the exam. There are other strict requirements and I encourage you to familiarise yourself with the process from Pearson and PSI, the two testing providers.

Pearson and PSI also administer the exam via testing centres and they have important notices regarding COVID-19. This may mean some testing centres not operating in some regions or there are requirements to adhere to safety measures at the testing centres. Please carefully read the latest requirements from Pearson and PSI before making a decision.

Browsing through the AWS Certificates subreddit, you'll be able to read about other people's experiences with online proctoring or a testing centre.

I chose to take the exam at a testing centre because there was one close my home, our city was doing well in terms of dealing with the COVID-19 situation and I did not want to rely on my internet connection.

3. Study and Resources

I had 6 weeks to prepare for the exam and I had planned on using 4 weeks to go through Adrian Cantrill's course and 2 weeks to take Tutorial Dojo's practice exams.

During each of the first four weeks, I spent on average 4 hours each night over 3 weeknights (i.e. 12 hours) and 8 hours on the weekends studying. That was 20 hours per week over 4 weeks, giving a total of 80 hours. Adrian's course is approximately 50 hours long and every minute is worth it. He is very detailed with his explanations and provides lessons on fundamentals, such as networking, that will bring you up to speed. I wrote notes as I watched the videos, spent extra time re-watching lectures on concepts I didn't understand and also did almost all his labs (yes - hands on working with AWS). Although I managed to complete the course in four weeks, I would not recommend the approach I took as it was too intense of a study schedule on top of full-time work. My main focus was on understanding the concepts instead of just cramming to pass the exam. But the intense schedule wasn't ideal for learning.

I recommend spending 1-2 hours on 3 or 4 weeknights a week and spend a bit more time on weekends, say, 4-8 hours, aiming for about 10 hours of total study per week. This may not be possible due to other commitments so adjust your schedule accordingly. The key here is consistency and making sure you don't burn out and allow time for other commitments. Ensure you understand the concepts before moving onto the next topic. It could likely take you 6 to 8 weeks to complete the course at this rate.

4. Practice exams

My goal was to complete Tutorial Dojo's 6 practice exams twice in two weeks. Each exam is a randomly generated set of 65 questions to mimic the real exam. Tutorial Dojo has five exam modes:

• Timed Mode
• Review Mode
• Section-Based Tests
• Topic-Based Tests
• Final Test

I only used the Final Test mode because I wanted simulate a real exam situation i.e. 65 questions either multiple choice or multiple response (where you have to select 2 or more answers) in 130 minutes. You can also mark questions for review, so that you could revisit them later.

I managed to only go through each of the 6 exams once. The main reason was I spent 2-4 hours after each exam studying the solutions and studying my notes. Tutorial Dojo provides detailed explanations in their answers for each question with links to pages in AWS. I studied the questions I answered incorrectly as well as the ones I answered correctly without know why the answer was correct. Only once I finished reviewing an exam, I would move onto the next one. The hope was to improve my scores in subsequent exams.

My scores for the 6 exams were:

• Exam 1 - 45/65 (69%)
• Exam 2 - 45/65 (69%)
• Exam 3 - 50/65 (77%)
• Exam 4 - 48/65 (74%)
• Exam 5 - 52/65 (80%)
• Exam 6 - 53/65 (82%)

My criteria to go ahead with the actual exam instead of rescheduling was to score an average of 90% in my second pass at the exams. I had only completed 4 exams with two days to go before the actual exam. I knew I wouldn't be able to go through all 6 exams a second time, so I settled on the criteria of scoring at least 80% in my two remaining practice exams in order to go ahead with the actual exam. Why 80% instead of 90%? Well, the 90% was for my second pass at the exams, meaning I would've been familiar with some of the questions and would've expected to score higher. With the last 2 exams, I thought at least 80% would indicate a likely pass in the actual exam.

I also weighed up postponing the exam but the next available exam date would've been in the new year, 3 weeks from my original exam date and I did not want to study over the holiday period.

Thankfully, I scored 80% and 82% in my last two exams respectively 😄

I will acknowledge that I did take a risk in going ahead with the exam not completely meeting my original criteria. My recommendation is for you to score at least 90% in each of your practice exams before deciding to go ahead with the actual exam. It's 150 USD to take the exam and, if you fail, you must wait 14 days before being eligible to retake the exam.

Adrian Cantrell's course also has 2 practice exams at the end of his course. I took these after finishing his course (before starting the Tutorial Dojo exams) and it was a good indicator of how much more I had to study.

With practice exams, I recommend taking them after you have gone through all the course content. I would treat them like actual exams under timed conditions to help you get comfortable with the exam process.

I found the format and type of questions in the actual exam similar to the Tutorial Dojo exams.

5. The Actual Exam

My strategy for the exam was:

• Read each question and the possible answers thoroughly
• Look for keywords in the question and try to eliminate the incorrect answers
• Select an answer
• Mark for review if I wasn't sure

About 70 minutes into the exam, I had attempted all questions. The problem was I had marked 40 questions for review. Not all of them had to be reviewed. There were questions I was pretty confident in the answer I had selected; however, I had marked them for review just in case I had time left. I ended up re-affirming the original answer I had selected for these questions.

What didn't occur during the practice exams was the brain fatigue I felt at that 70-minute point during the actual exam. During the practice exams, to expedite the review process, once I finished all questions, I ended the exam to be scored. I would finish each practice exam between 70 to 80 minutes. During this actual exam, reviewing so many questions, I found it harder and harder to concentrate as time went on. I ended up reviewing all 40 questions I had marked and ended the exam with about a minute to spare. I completed a short survey and then BAM 💥 saw a PASS ✅ on the screen.

In hindsight, I shouldn't just marked the questions I was 50-50 on. This would've meant 10 questions marked instead of 40.

Anyways, I was relieved to pass 😅

That concludes what was a intense 6-week journey to pass the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C02) exam 🎉

6. Helpful Information

AWS provides helpful information and relevant policies for potential candidates.

One tip that might be useful is that a 30-minute exam extension is available to non-native English speakers when taking the exam in English. This must be requested during the booking of the exam. You will need to Request Accommodation and select ESL +30 minutes in the Accommodation Type. The approval should be automatic.

7. Summary

To summarise my main tips:

• Allocate 8-12 weeks to study for the exam aiming for 10 hours of study per week. Focus on understanding rather than memorising.
• Book your exam to set a target date and reschedule if you have to.
• Complete the course content or studies before attempting any practice exams. I recommend Adrian Cantrill's course.
• Take the practice exams in final test mode (65 questions in 130 minutes) and aim to get 90% in your exams before going ahead with the actual exam. I recommend Tutorial Dojo's practice exams.
• In the exam, read questions carefully looking at keywords that will help you answer. Only mark for review those you're really uncertain about.

8. Other Resources

• AWS exam guide - provides details on the exam content as well as a non-exhaustive list of tools and technologies that could appear on the exam.
• AWS FAQs - answers to commonly raised questions for many of the services and products.
• AWS Certificates subreddit - you can read about other people's experiences with exams, what topics they encountered, online proctoring vs testing centres and other useful tips.
• Tutorial Dojo's cheat sheets - Tutorial Dojo provide summaries on each of the services that may be covered in the exam. I would recommend these to supplement your own notes if you feel you need additional material.
• TechStudySlack - a slack group created by Adrian Cantrill to connect you with others who may be taking the exam. Adrian also answers questions in the Slack channels.