Had posted my TD review mode test scores a few days back and took the suggestion to review again the wrong answer. Spent a day going through what I got wrong and next day gave the exam. Somehow cleared it.

I have some experience using AWS for deploying some of my apps in the free tier and had cleared CCP last year and only did TD review mode tests for SAA-C03 as I only had a month to prepare. Wish I had taken Stephan marek or andrew cantrill but just didn't have the time.

I got unlucky and got around 8-10 select two/three Qs - absolutely hate those. And in around 50% of the Qs I felt two options were very close. Well, I can breathe now.

https://preview.redd.it/tp4e8cvexzzd1.png?width=2445&format=png&auto=webp&s=006473583044f0762d2bf4e67a2c6b9e593883fa

As the title suggests. I don’t work that much with AWS, but I got my AWS SAA in the past, along with the regular cloud practitioner and the test today was reasonable. I used Stephane’s course and tutorials dojo’s tests. I feel that I would not have passed without doing tutorials dojo practice tests as they are the closest thing to the holy grail out there.

Some questions were tricky but most were straightforward. I expected more SELECT TWO type of questions but I only got 3, but they were very easy.

Anyway, whoever is in the process, you’ll do fine. Just make sure to do a lot of practice questions. Good luck!

I am planning to take AWS-CLF02 exam very soon now. I want opinion on whether my preparation is enough. I have done data camp partner certification preparation course, Cloud 101 on AWS Educate and AWS Quest game for Cloud Practitioner Role.

Is this enough to pass the exam?

Please suggest if there are any free resources to take practice exams. I don’t have the means to spend on practice exams.

Thank you!

Just feeling some things out as I consider this option to go into DevOps. Thinking of getting some certs a bit wary on the direction to go though. I got IT certs just none on AWS.

from my understanding there are 3 ways I can go?

Edit:

• route 1: AWS SysOps > AWS DevOps
• route 2: AWS SAA > AWS Developer > AWS DevOps
• route 3: AWS SAA / Terraform cert / DCA / K8s cert

I got a class coming up for windows server is this gonna do me any good or no?

I believe these are the tools to learn:

• IAC: Terraform
• Orchestration: Kubernetes
• CI/CD: Gitlab / github
• Scripting: python / powershell (from what I understand python is preferred, just finished up a python class)
• Cloud: AWS
• Docker
• Monitoring: ELK stack or prometheus / grafana

I wrote previously about how you can use the AWS Card Clash Game to learn how AWS Architectures work.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/comments/18n4g3v/learn_aws_architectures_playing_a_free_game/

There are 2 free sections (each with a number of architectures to build as part of the game" - Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect and the next one was supposed to be "Serverless Developer".

I login to this today and surprise surprise - there is now a Free Generative AI Section!

The Game is free to play - you need a relatively modern device as its animation heavy (and it stops working if you move the focus away from that tab to avoid chewing up too much CPU - so make sure you leave it in focus if it looks like its hanging).

[Link to FREE Card Clash Generative AI Game](https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/course/17564/AWS%2520Card%2520Clash%2520-%2520an%2520Architecture%2520Design%2520Game)

Here is an image of what the first level looks like.

For example, you play by dragging the "Bedrock" card onto the "Access Models" (if you click on it it says what each tile is expecting)

https://preview.redd.it/7w4fkozotwzd1.png?width=1507&format=png&auto=webp&s=c58a69f01f089c9457114859628d5cb168d525ba

I have passed a fundamental cert and am looking for advice on the path i should be taking to help me get a job in the field. Should i be completing courses from AWS’s skill builder? Should i be going for another AWS cert? How can i improve my chances of landing a job within the next 3 months?

Bit of backstory leading up to this last week (skip this paragraph if you just want to read about the test). Tried to take my SAA at home a few weeks ago and as soon as they released my test to my computer at home, the chat window froze on half of the screen. I was still at the instruction page but couldn't do much. I ended up grabbing my phone to call them and they shut the test down and revoked. After spending 3 or 4 hours with support over many days and emails back and forth with AWS, I finally gave up trying to get my money back or another voucher. They claimed I was cheating as I picked up my phone. I didn't even see a single question.

The Test: A few weeks pass and I finally got my account unlocked (not sure if it was locked from my claimed cheating above).

Took the SAA in person this last week and passed. I studied with Stephane on Udemy with course and practice tests. I found the test questions difficult. I flagged probably 30 or 40% for review that I was unsure of. I had to reread the questions 2 or 3 times due to the length and complexity. After reviewing flagged questions I had about 30 minutes left at the end.

I found the udemy practice tests were quite different from the real thing. The udemy tests seemed to focus on a smaller range of topics and specific information while the real test was a broader range of topics. Something like knowing the SQS max queue length in batch mode vs regular was in Udemy test but not on the real thing. I don't think I had more than 1 question that involved kinesis data streams / firehose but it was heavily focused on in the practice. Still, I studied only with Stephane for a few months and passed with an 806. I don't have much direct AWS experience.

Now I am going to chill and recover from the stress of the last month and dealing with Pearson. Good luck all! You got this

Here is a master list of recommended resources for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate exam.

Last updated : 9-Nov-2024

Links to some of my other posts which you may find useful :

Foundational Level Resource Guides : CCP/CLF AIF

Associate Level Resource Guides : SAA DVA DEA MLA SOA

2024 Vouchers / Discounts List

Free Learning / Digital Badges : Beginner level Intermediate Level

If you find this post useful - please upvote so it shows high up on any search.

This post is written for benefit of this community and please comment with any constructive feedback / suggestions / changes required.

Also see my 2024 list of Vouchers / Discounts for a way to obtain 50% off the exam cost till 31-Dec-2024!

tl;dr

Get 1 video course and watch it end to end - the subreddit favourites are below / scroll down further for links

• I cannot afford any courses / need a free option - get Andrew Brown's YouTube course
• I want to just learn bare minimum to pass exam - Stephane Maarek on Udemy
• I really want to learn this AWS and cloud stuff well and be good at it - Adrian Cantrill

Do one decent set of practice exams from one provider- subreddit favourites below / scroll down further for links

• Tutorialsdojo (personal favourite - I passed ALL my exams using "TD")
• Udemy (Stephane Maarek)

Take and Pass exam!

Subreddit Search

Following my own usual guidance, you can always use the subreddit search feature and read articles from everyone in the last month who posted about this exam / passed it. There is a wealth of detail / experience here to learn from :

Last 1 month of SOA related posts on this subreddit

Exam Details

If you have absolutely no clue about the exam - start here.

The exam code is SOA-C02

AWS Certification page on SOA

Always read the Exam Guide as it tells you whats in / out of scope (especially the appendix lists all important services)

Minimum Viable Path to Certification

Most people usually need 3 things to pass the exam

1. A single video based course introducing AWS and all the key exam topics

Typically these are courses where someone reads from some slides, shows you the AWS console and how to use it and then gives you tips on what to remember - there are free and paid versions of these.

2. One good quality practice exam

Note : do not fall for some random "dump" found on internet whatever the format (pdf, notes, github link, youtube video)

Also note - you do NOT need more than 1 of each category. You can buy more than one practice exam for sure but doing one is enough IMHO.

1. Video Courses

Free Video based Courses

Free from AWS's own training service (Skillbuilder) :

There is an "Exam Prep" course from Skillbuilder but note that this just covers the high level domains but is not a comprehensive deep dive.

Free Exam Prep on Skillbuilder

Please note that Skillbuilder courses are not considered enough on their own to pass and you may want to try additional material below.

YouTube based video course

This course below is a better alternative to the SkillBuilder course above but is about 50 hours.

Andrew Brown is an AWS community hero who runs his own training site called exampro.co but offers most of the material for free on FreeCodeCamp's YouTube channel.

2024 refresh of the SOA course on FCC

Andrew also has additional (free / paid) content on his site to check out.

PAID Video based courses

AWS Skillbuilder PAID Tier :

There is a slightly extended version of the free Skillbuilder course in the paid tier with additional exam-style questions, flashcards and more importantly FREE hands on labs and the official practice exam.

Paid Tier Exam Prep on Skillbuilder

Please note that Skillbuilder courses are not considered enough on their own to pass and you may want to try additional material in this guide.

Adrian Cantrill's courses :

Adrian Cantrill is an independent content creator and has his own site from where you can obtain courses.

His courses go above and beyond what the exam needs and this is exactly why the community loves these courses as you get more practical knowledge than just cramming for the exam. The additional coverage means these courses are longer and not as cheap as other courses that cover just the exam material but in the general opinion of everyone who has taken the course it is absolutely worth it.

Link : https://learn.cantrill.io/

Udemy Courses :

Udemy is a marketplace for courses created by independent authors.

Two of the well known authors are mentioned below but please note that Udemy's pricing model can be a bit weird. One day it may show 150 USD for a course and another day 15 USD. This price it high and discount it heavily model catches out most people - so NEVER pay more than USD 20 for anything on Udemy.

Just wait for a day or so and prices may change. Opening Udemy in another incognito browser etc usually yields a different price or follow the authors on social media for codes that shrink the cost.

Stephane Maarek :

Go via his site : https://courses.datacumulus.com/ for links to his courses with the best available coupon at that time. Open links in "Incognito / InPrivate" or equivalent mode to see the best price.

Neil Davis / Digital Cloud Training SOA Course on Udemy

Either one of these Udemy courses is sufficient. You still need to combine it with practice exams but you do not need more than 1 video course.

Other sites :

Exampro.co

As mentioned above Andrew Brown has his own site with additional material over his YouTube course.

QA Learning (previously called Cloud Academy)

QA Learning SOA Course

2. Practice Exams

Note : There are some people sharing YouTube videos where people go through practice questions and try to answer them - many of these are based on online dumps and while you may think the explanation is good - the source is tainted badly and I would suggest you ignore these unless the author is well known and its clear they did not base it on dumps.

The links below are either official or well regarded sources.

Free :

AWS skillbuilder has one free official exam with just 20 free questions.

To be honest its not really worth it - you can search for "Official practic exam skillbuilder SOA-C02" using your favourite search engine to find it.

exampro.co

Has 1 free practice exam you can sign up to.

Paid :

The official AWS practice exam says it has 61 exam questions and a practice exam lab and if you already have access to Skillbuilder subscription you could try this. If you don't have access, buying skillbuilder subscription just for this is not recommended as you can find more value for the purchase cost elsewhere.

Paid Official Practice exams from Skillbuilder

Tutorialsdojo.com

Highly recommended independent resource for practice exam questions. I have passed many exams with "TD" as they get abbreviated here - they are also an AWS Authorized Training Partner lending more credibility.

Udemy

Stephane Maarek : again go via his site : https://courses.datacumulus.com/

Neal Davis / Digital Cloud SOA practice exams

Other popular sites :

Exampro.co

Andrew Brown's site says there are 20 practice exams for SOA . You can take 1 practice exam set for free.

QA Learn (previously called CloudAcademy)

QA Learning SOA Course has both a learning plan and a practice exam at the end.

Not Recommended sites :

Sites that are sadly NOT recommended anymore - Avoid A Cloud Guru / Pluralsight as their courses are not considered the best anymore. They used to be leaders but somehow have fallen behind and their subscription model doesnt work in a world with cheap one time purchase courses. If you get free access to ACG via work - then definitely use it for the free labs / sandbox platform but don't rely too much on the course and their practice exams.

If you want a sandbox to experiment - then ACG offers one but so do Whizlabs and Tutorialsdojo.

FAQ

1. Do I need ALL this material?

No. Just one of each is fine. Example : just Adrian's Course + tutorialsdojo

2. Do I really need to do hands on work?

Yes - it is recommended that you get some hands on work at the Associate level. You can use one of the sandboxes but be careful using your own free tier account that you dont end up with leaving resources running too long and getting a big bill. Always secure your account and set billing alarms and dont create an account till you know how to do these! If you want to work in the SysOps space, you need to be ready to do get your hands dirty!

3. Where can I find vouchers for the exam?

Check this thread

4. Are there Hands On Labs as part of the exam.

Not anymore. There used to be a labs section of this exam but due to various reasons it was removed and there is no indication if it would ever come back. So - no hands on labs for the exam - only multiple choice style questions.

5. Can I pass with just free resources as I cannot afford the resources?

Its hard but possible. I recommend that you atleast spend on decent practice exams.

6. I skipped CCP / CLF - is that okay?

Yes - its okay to have skipped the foundational level - almost all the courses above teach you from scratch.

7. Can someone who is new to IT do this exam?

Yes - Many people start from scratch and get to the Associate level. Just make sure you are investing the time required.

8. Is it worth it?

Plenty of threads on this subreddit covering this. You have to make up your own mind if its worth it to you or not.

9. Do I need to do coding / shell scripting etc?

While there is no coding involved in the course - knowing how to use the AWS CLI / being able to do some basic scripting would be very helpful anyway. You can also use free tools like CoPilot / Code Whisperer to help you with pieces you struggle with. SysOps people are expected to know their way around the command line and be able to get involved in hands on work.

10. Can I use ChatGPT / Amazon Q etc to learn?

Many of these Generative AI tools can still give you incorrect answers. So do not rely on them fully. If it helps you to quickly get the concept, use them but make sure to double check the results against official docs.

11. Are there books to learn from instead of videos?

Books get out of date too quickly and I do not recommend learning from them. However there is an official Sybex Guide to the exam and some ebooks from other sources but none are recommended.

12. Can I buy Tutorialsdojo via Udemy?

While you can get Tutorialdojo courses from Udemy, we recommend you go directly as their website has a review mode to review question by question rather than take full exams. Other differences are also covered on their FAQ (expand the question on different exam modes to see a table)

13. I failed my practice exam or Why do I find the practice exams tough after studying the videos?

It is very common to fail or find the practice exams very tough to start with as video courses do not cover 100% of the curriculum or the types of questions asked in the practice exams. Don't worry about it too much and just keep working through it

14. What score should I get on practice exams to guarantee an exam pass

There is no magic formula that says if you got X % on the practice exams you will pass the main certification exam. Usually high 80's is good but there are plenty who never passed a single practice exam but aced the actual exam as the LEARNING they got with the practice exams is what is important - not the score.

For every practice exam you take - work on the incorrect or guessed answers. Check the cheat sheets, online AWS documentation and official AWS / re:Invent videos and make sure you really understand WHY a particular answer was right the others incorrect. If you work methodically through the questions you will learn a ton more and the exam becomes easier.

15. I read someone said their exam did not cover Service XYZ - can I skip it myself?

Everyone gets a different exam from a vast pile of questions AWS have. They also keep adding / removing questions. Just because someone else did not get a question on Service XYZ doesnt mean you wont get the question or just cause they got a ton of S3 questions you will get the same. Expect it to be different. The study guide for the exam covers what is expected to be in scope. Also note that some questions are not graded and may be tricky questions thrown in for future use.

16. Does passing SysOps renew the Cloud Practitioner Exam?

Yes. Passing ANY associate level exam renews the Cloud Practitioner Exam.

17. Does passing DevOps Professional exam renew the SOA exam?

Yes. Passing the DevOps Professional exam renews any unexpired SysOps certificate and this is the recommended route if you are already certified. Expired certs do not get renewed by a higher certificate.

Good Luck folks!

Hi everyone,

I've passed the SAA-C03 exam on the 30th of October. I did the Stephen Mareek's udemy course and TD exams (studied for roughly 2 weeks). The udemy course has plenty of information, however the practice quizzes are quite simple and they didn't seem to prepare for real world scenarios and exam level questions. The TD exams were a game changer, the questions are slightly harder than the actual exam. I was averaging 60-70s on the review mode and 86% on final test and passed the exam with a score of 823.

A few tips I would give you while studying using TD:

1. I wouldn't lose time making the same TD exam over and over again until I have a high score, make it once review the answers and if you understand everything you are good to go to the next question.
2. I wouldn't pratice using timed mode over review mode. Timed mode is great, but at least in my case, after answering all the questions in 2h I didn't had the energy to review every question that I failed or doubts in depth. So for me it works best to review every question as soon as I've answered.
3. When reviewing the TD answer explanation, take also a look at the cheat-sheets, and google the services to better understand them

That's all folks.

After (barely) passing the AIF-C01 beta exam in September, I found the motivation to check off some associate-level certifications. I've completed both SOA-C02 and DVA-C02 over October and wanted to share my experience.

I started with SOA, which took about two weeks of study. I mainly used Cloud Academy (now QA Platform) through a free subscription, which covered 75-85% of the content. I then used TD practice exams in review mode, averaging an 80% score. Although I gain some hands-on experience at work, doing labs really reinforced specific topics. The SOA exam wasn’t too difficult - I finished with 45 minutes left and passed with a score of 893. It felt like a watered-down version of the SCS and DOP exams I took last year.

DVA however was a completely difficult story. Between sickness and other priorities, it took me 3 weeks after the SOA exam to prep for it. Again, I used Cloud Academy,, but it was nowhere near sufficient even with the labs. I recalled last year that I started studying using A Cloud Guru and it was a lot more detailed. Either way, I went out of the way to do some hands-on experiments with SAM and played with services like Kinesis. I also did TD practice exams in review mode with an average score of 70-80%. It just felt more difficult than SOA, perhaps because I don't really develop applications on AWS on a consistent basis. The exam indeed felt more difficult than SOA, to a point where I flagged 20 questions for review and used up the entire duration reviewing my answers. I was not confident that I'd pass coming out of the exam, especially when I knew I got at least 5 questions wrong because I overthought between two answers. TBH this exam felt more difficult than DOP or SCS to me. Miraculously, I somehow passed with a score of 856. Perhaps the scaled scoring worked to my favor or I somehow did well with the more difficult questions.

Before the exam, I've been getting mixed messages from colleagues that DVA is supposed to be easy. After asking for more details after the exam, apparently that was the case a few years back, and it got way more difficult with the prevalence of serverless technologies and new services.

One interesting observation is that for these two exams and AI1-C01, I took the exam in the evenings around 10 PM and I would consistently receive the results around 6:20 AM the next day like clockwork. I think exam processing might be running on a set schedule :)

Here are my recommendations for these exams:

• Cloud Academy may not be the best choice for SOA and DVA, there are better options that folks recommend in this Subreddit.
• TD practice exams are very useful, and I recommend them even at full price (though I got a discount during Halloween).
• For SOA, focus on auto scaling and SSM; for DVA, prioritize Lambda, DynamoDB, and X-Ray.
• For DVA, know lower-level details like Lambda reserved vs. provisioned concurrency, DynamoDB RCU/WCU calculations, and Elasticache and Kinesis concepts.

Depending on timing, I might continue with DEA-C01 or try to get SAP-C02 over with. I appreciate folks sharing their experience in this Subreddit, and best of luck to everyone who'll soon be taking AWS exams!

Hello Everyone! I m currently a 3rd year student. Persuing to be a Solution Architect. I m trying to build up AWS project experience for my resume, and I have a few questions I’d really appreciate your input on. I'm especially curious about projects you've worked on which made a strong impression on recruiters, plus any advice on managing AWS costs as a student. I plan to be careful with resource usage, but I'd love to hear from anyone who’s managed to complete major AWS projects without going over budget.

Major Question: AWS Workshop "Build a Cross-Platform Game in Flutter with AWS Amplify" I’m interested in the "Build a cross-platform game in Flutter with AWS Amplify (LINK - https://catalog.us-east-1.prod.workshops.aws/workshops/262d4203-9742-4620-a373-54120c49e7ec/en-US/03-Setting-up-the-development-environment/ ) " workshop, but I'm having trouble with the setup instructions, specifically around installing the Amplify CLI and cURL. I went through the installation steps multiple times, but I’m not sure which version of cURL I should install on my Windows PC. Can anyone help clarify which one I need?

Additional Questions I have - Any specific services or strategies you used to avoid unexpected charges while working on AWS projects as a student?

How did you decide on the right level of complexity for your projects without exceeding your budget?

As you all know in the resume we must have atleast 2 major projects to showcasei during puri interview process. Now I have gone through AWS workshop studio there are pretty great projects there. However, if I do 2-3 high difficulty level workshop, would that be good to showcase during the interview?

For anyone who’s done this particular Amplify + Flutter workshop, are there any tricky parts to watch out for?

As much as I want to do the workshops, I am hesitent about cost/billing, I have heard people saying that at times AWS costs hikes up and they don't understand why.. So I just really want to be carefully about it.

• I have done AWS certifications from AWS Academy Graduate in cloud foundation, cloud architecture and data engineer.

Thanks so much in advance! Any stories or advice from others regarding resume building for Solution architect or who’ve been in the same position would be a huge help.

Just passed AWS SysOps Associate today. I took the SysOps course from learn.cantrill.io and a practice test from tutorials dojo, but honestly I didn’t finish taking the practice tests. That said i recommend both those products if you’re pursuing this certification.

I ended up doing these certs out of order so I need to circle back and get the other associate Sys Architect and Developer certs. I thought I was going to be done with collecting certs this year… but I think I might try and sneak in Solutions Architect since I hear that one is easier than SysOps.

Like the title says, very versed in security, but no AWS experience. Is it realistic to think that I could study for the security specialist without any other cert?

i'm on for DVA-C02 tomorrow at 9 local

been studying my face off for 3.5 months with the Cantril course and the Bonso practice exam suite.

just took the final exam and got a 84%......i think i might be somewhere....we'll just have to get a good night's rest and one last little review session in tomorrow before and give it hell.

best of luck if you are in the hot seat tomorrow as well.

I made it guys. Thank you everyone on this sub for sharing all the resources and insights here. I came to know about Stephane maarek’s course and TD tests through this sub.

I have 0 IT experience, I’m a graduate student currently in my final semester. Stephane’s udemy course was very worthy. I spent maybe like 20 days to finish video lectures on udemy. Then went on to TD tests, they made me realize i need to work a lot even after finishing the course on udemy.

I scored 55% on Stephane’s practice test. Then i gave TD’s review mode tests and did not pass most of them, just used them to review all the questions with their detailed explanations. Then after finishing all the review modes. I went on to Timed modes my scores were like: 89,85,70,72. Then i gave final practice test s day before the actual exam and scored 78 in it.

Coming to the exam, i felt the questions in the exams are bit confusing. And i felt TD tests are easier compared to actual exam. I was able to eliminate two incorrect options but i got struck with other two options. There was a question that asked for cost-effectiveness and scalability and i was struck with two options one option was cost-effective but not scalable and other option was scalable but not cost-effective. I flagged the question and gone through it for two times to get to the answer. I don’t know if i was the only one who felt today’s exam a little bit confusing or maybe i did not prepare enough. But finally it is done, I feel very relieved now after spending 2 months for preparation.

I’m sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes (english is not my first language).

Gave exam yesterday morning 10am , I was able to see after 5hrs for just 5 mints that I am passed in the Aws exam history portal & it went away. I panicked so bad !!

It’s because few questions were very easy so I answered that in just few seconds & for few I took time that balanced out things & today in the morning I got mail that I passed once Aws is confirmed that I didn’t cheated or anything else💫🎉

This group was and will be a constant motivation for me and for many others 💫🔥

I have used as rest others Stephen’s course & TD paper set and I was able to score 50 then 69 then 70 & then I gave the exam. I scored 847. So I think go through Stephen course fast and then go through TD test slow 🔥

Once again thanks for all the people out here for being true professionals & motivators

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohitmishra3333

Hello everyone,

I’m trying to get an idea of the average monthly salary for an AWS-certified Cloud Engineer working in the United States. I’m based in Latin America, where many U.S. companies hire Cloud Engineers. I’m curious to understand the difference in cost for these companies between hiring locally in the U.S. versus in Latin America. If anyone could share salary insights or experiences, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of studying for my AWS Cloud Practitioner certification, and I'm really excited about learning AWS to boost my skills and eventually get some freelance work. For some background, I live in a developing country where tech opportunities can be limited, and I’m trying to make the most of free resources.

I'm planning to use AWS's Free Tier to start building some small projects. My goal is to gain enough hands-on experience with AWS to get familiar with its services and hopefully secure some freelance gigs or a remote job in the future.

A few questions:

1. Is AWS Free Tier enough for someone at my level to build meaningful projects and gain practical experience without going over budget?

2. Would I eventually need to invest in paid services to create projects that showcase my skills well enough to attract clients or employers?

3. Any advice or tips for those who've taken this path or managed to start freelancing with AWS knowledge?

Thanks for any insights or suggestions. I'm hoping this journey will open some doors for me, but I want to be realistic about what the Free Tier can help me achieve.

Took SAA-C03 this morning, 7 hours ago. Just got my results back, scored an 812 and Meets Competencies for every section. I have no prior experience with AWS or any form of cloud computing or IT really. I used Aidan Cantrill's course and TD Practice exams. Did the final exam 4 times in a row yesterday scoring between 75-85 each time so I figured I was ready. If I was to do it over again I would not have wasted so much time trying to memorize every little detail from Cantrill's videos. I would just go through the course at a steady pace, do the demos and then start doing practice exams as soon as possible. Planning to get my data engineering certification next.

I just finished my round 1 interview today it was supposed to be 1 hour interview but the interview was finished in 30 minutes. Is a good sign I will get the call back for 2nd interview?

This service is driving me crazy—I think it's the toughest one I've had to learn so far (previous certs: CCP, AIF, SAA, DVA, DEA). It seems to do everything: Operations Management, Application Management, Change Management, Fleet Management... and each of these has its own set of sub-functionalities.

At the same time, it’s hard to get hands-on practice with this service since it’s primarily designed for "Production" environments. I'm using Skillbuilder labs and it helped somehow.

For those who've completed this cert, could you share your thoughts on the main topics covered? I’m focusing on SSM, CloudFormation, Config, and Monitoring (CloudWatch, CloudWatch Logs, CloudTrail).

I'm not neglecting the core topics, but since they’re covered in SAA and DVA, I’m prioritizing the ones less emphasized in those certs.

How long did it take y'all to receive your AWS AI Practitioner exam results? I wrote at a testing centre on Tuesday and I am still waiting for my results.

Hi, Is a combination of PAN Card (primary ID) and Employee ID Card (Secondary ID which includes full name and recent photograph) acceptable ID for attempting the offline AWS Data Engineering Examination in India?

I am a software engineer and I just passed Developer associate exam DVA 002! For my developer associate I used Stephane Maarek and TD (Tutorial Dojo) practice exam.

The next thing I am looking at is both getting better at system design mainly for interview questions for jobs and getting AWS Solution Architect (I have heard it overlaps a lot with the developer one)

Any courses or paths you guys recommend for system design and AWS solution architect certification?

I have scheduled my exam for tomorrow but getting a very mixed feeling regarding my preparation. This is the first time I am going to give a big certification exam. I used Stephane Mareek course for lectures. Then used the 6 TD practice tests on Udemy. All tests were taken in timed mode.

First attempt scores in % 58 63 63 66 66

Second attempt scores : 90 92 87 92 84

Note: I ensured enough gap between my first and second attempt as I didn't want to memorize answers. Spent few weeks going back to learning in the time between.

Attempted the 6th test for the first time today and got 73% which is honestly a bit disappointing.

I felt like I have studied pretty well but the score on last test again pulled down my confidence back to low.

Hey friends, In 16 days i cleared clfc02 and aifc01 i got aifc01 badge today.

My target is to become a genAI with nextjs expert so that i can create robust industry standary Gen AI products.

To plan,architect and deploy them over the cloud i want to further my path so as to make sure i am using cloud efficient practices while building application and deploying them.

Please guide me further certification that will give me ideas and give me proper resources to learn them properly

Also do i have to learn system design

Thanks in advance

Hi folks I just got the MLA and was thinking to go for ML specialty in 2025 or a pro certification in ML if there is one. Training for AI/ML recommends the Simulearn Gen AI path, it’s 26 hours of role based learning. Should I go for it or just stick with the regular path of courses like Udemy etc?

Hi,

I want to give my AWS SAA by December end. I have been doing the Udemy video course on AWS SAA by Stephane Maarek.

Whole section is around 30-1:30 minutes. I take forever to complete each section. If the section is 30 minutes, I take 3 hrs and if it’s 1:30, I take 2 days.

It has hands on, but how do I effectively complete each section per day.

I loose motivation when I do it for so long.

Can anyone tell me how you do the videos effectively, I mean if it 30 minutes, at max I should take 45 minutes to 1 hr, including Hands on.

How to do watch a video and do hands on simultaneously? I need to complete that in a same day. Can you please tell me your way of doing.

I have depression too, but I need to do this.

I am currently on the last steps of studying for my SAA exam tomorrow. I have taken 2 TD exams and scored 63, 60 on both of them, but on Gascelino Rostero’s I have scored 80% on both.

After each practice test I am reviewing my struggle areas, do you guys think i'm good to go for tomorrow?