Yay! I cleared AWS SAA Exam

May 12, 2022

#post

6

#certifications

3

#aws

2

If you are a recruiter reading this blog

• Link to the badge
• Link to the certificate

So what is AWS SAA Certification

AWS SAA stands for AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. It is intended for anyone with one or more years of hands-on experience designing available, cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems on AWS. To know more visit AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Certification (amazon.com)

Why did I decide to pursue this certification?

I have been always interested in cloud technologies and wanted to learn more about them. I want to become a DevOps engineer and familiarising myself with one of the clouds is one of the most important steps. I went with an AWS certification instead of GCP or Azure since AWS is the leading cloud provider. This also means I would have more job opportunities after getting this certification.

AWS SAA is not an entry-level certification. The entry-level cert offered by AWS is AWS Cloud Practitioner but I believe it is too basic and folks with a bit of cloud knowledge should directly proceed with AWS SAA.

I believe studying for certifications can help in guided and motivated learning.

Miscellaneous

• Before starting with this certification I had very little experience with AWS.
• It took me close to 2.5 months to get the certification. I used to study 1-2 hours on weekdays after my full-time job and around 4-5 hours on weekends. Your mileage may vary.
• I gave the exam online using PSI.
• I made comprehensive notes using obsidian.
  • Link to my notes: 101 AWS SAA Index - Sarthak's Notes (sarthaknarayan.net)
• I managed to score 874/1000. If you know more about the marking system of the exam refer this blog Demystifying your AWS Certification exam score | AWS Training and Certification Blog (amazon.com).

Resources I used for preparing for the exam

Courses:

• Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) | Udemy - by Stephane Maarek. It is one of the best courses on Udemy for preparing for SAA.

Practice tests:

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Practice Exams | Udemy - by Jon Bonso
• Practice Exams | AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate | Udemy - by Stephane Maarek
• AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification Practice Exams | Udemy - by Neal Davis

My tips for preparing for the certification

• Focus more on practicals. Try to implement the concepts being taught in the course.
• Take your time and don't rush through the course. You are doing this certification to learn more about cloud and AWS and not just for the sake of getting a certification.
• Try to give as many practice tests as you can and don't attempt the exams unless you can score an average of 80% or more in your practice tests.
• You can go through the FAQs on the AWS page if you want to but frankly, the course and the practice tests should be enough to cover most of the topics.
• Try to take notes while going through the course so that you can refer them later.
• After giving practice tests make sure you go through the explanations properly even for the questions you answered correctly to know why the other options were incorrect.
• When you are answering questions try to eliminate incorrect options first.