My journey to cracking AWS Solutions Architect Pro Exam

Hello,

Hope you are doing well and keeping yourself safe and healthy!

If you are on this page, I am assuming you must have either interest in trying your hands at public cloud technologies like AWS or perhaps looking for AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification soon or you are already in the process and need some motivation to keep going :)

l would like to share my experiences and learnings during this mind-boggling ride. Hope you would enjoy reading this article and I could inspire you to keep up the good work. Happy Reading!

• I did the following AWS certifications:

• Which AWS certification is for you?

Until May last year, I was not really into AWS stuff except the fact that I knew there is an AWS thing that exists. I was looking for a good certification to step out of my comfort zone and learn some cool latest stuff that is popular and very well recognized in the industry. That’s how I got to the AWS certifications portal. The next obvious question was since they have a wide variety of certifications to offer, which one is right for me as I am new to this AWS world. I think there is already a lot of material available online to figure out which one is right for you based on your current role, work experience, and most importantly what are you trying to achieve.

The thumb rule is if you are a beginner and have no prior hands-on experience then go for the Solutions Architect path as it gives you a chance to get explore AWS services/offerings and you learn to think from a big picture first without going into too much nitty-gritty, I think that’s the beauty of it and by the end of Solutions Architect Associate Certification you feel confident, comfortable and most importantly you start liking AWS stuff more and more.

• My Experience of Solutions Architect Associate Certification

Journey & Preparation:

I started my cloud or in particular AWS journey with Solutions Architect Associate level certification preparation. Although now you can directly go for the Professional level, I opted to go for the Associate level first because I was a newbie in this big AWS world. I created my free AWS account in June last year and I started practicing it along with the course material on Udemy by Stephane Maarek (yes, Stephane the teacher!) and it was an amazing feeling to build something in the AWS in a couple of mins where you have seen it and you know how much time it takes for the infra setup at your workplace. Due to some work and personal commitments, I had to revise the Associate level course thrice (I know the pain!) before I could appear for an exam in Jan 2021. Finally, I was AWS Solutions Architect Associate level certified on Jan 16th, 2021.

The material I used:

1. AWS Exam Guide and Sample Question paper to make up your mind for the exam and set up your expectations for exam time
2. Udemy — Stephane Maarek’s Course and Tests
3. Udemy — Jon Bonso (Tutorial Dojo) Practice Tests
4. Udemy — Neal Davis’s Practice Tests
5. AWS Whitepapers & FAQs for the major services like EC2, ELB, RDS, S3, CDN, etc.
6. I highly recommend participating in AWS Events, Summits, exam preparation online events, and learn the real stuff from the masterminds.
7. Participate and watch reinvent videos — Since it was virtual last year, I could participate in AWS re: Invent 2020 and I must admit the feeling was out of the moon. I felt inspired and excited at the same time and I think that’s the thing that keeps you going in the long run.
8. Follow & Connect with Stephane and Jon on LinkedIn — They always share some great content and every time you go through such posts you get to learn some new stuff. This was one of the things which I found very helpful during my preparations and in general to keep myself updated with the recent changes.

• My Experience of Solutions Architect Professional Certification

Journey & Preparation:

Once I cleared my associate-level certification, I knew I needed to keep the momentum going on to get more and more exposed to this stuff. I started reading blogs and articles online to understand what is the next right step for me. The question in my mind was, should I go for the remaining associate-level certifications or I can straight away jump to Solutions Architect Professionals level? I think most people will relate to this question.

After a careful study and reading a bunch of articles, I got mixed responses and that’s how I made my choice to start the professional level course directly. The AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam (SA Pro) is known as one of the most difficult IT certifications to acquire. It’s also one of the widely known certifications in the industry. It certainly lives up to its reputation and I am happy to share that I have passed AWS SA Pro on June 19th, 2021.

Is AWS SA Pro Exam tough, If yes and why is it so?

It is significantly harder than the associate. If it was just because it covers more topics, then the reputation would be exaggerated. However, the main reason that it is hard is that it is very long and there is not enough time. The questions are very wordy (1–2 paragraphs) per question. And there are no wrong answers. Now when I say there are no wrong answers, it is because in the associate the multiple choice are of the general form, 2 wrong answers, and 2 sorts of right answers but one of them turns out to be wrong if you read it more carefully. The professional is more like 4 sorts of right answers, one is wrong if you read more carefully. But 2 still are technically correct. And then you have to make a judgment call based on how the question is worded. For example, there might be 2 answers and the question asks to optimize for cost. So you have to decide which one is cheaper. Or it might ask to optimize for availability, but there are 2 answers which fit the definition of HA, so you have to decide which one is more HA., etc. That is what makes it so much harder.

The material I used:

1. Solution Architect Associate Level Knowledge — yes, this is essential and will form a strong base for the Pro level.
2. AWS exam guide and sample question paper to make up your mind for the exam and set up your expectations for exam time
3. Udemy — Stephane Maarek’s Course and Tests
4. Udemy — Jon Bonso (Tutorial Dojo) Practice Tests
5. Udemy — Neal Davis’s Practice Tests
6. Whizlabs Practice Tests
7. AWS Whitepapers & FAQs
8. Again try participating in AWS events, read LinkedIn posts and online articles for recent updates.
9. Use AWS free practice exam voucher if you have it — use it as a knowledge check and areas to improve on. Ideally a couple of days before the actual exam

Exam Tips:

1. Don’t get overwhelmed, It’s all going to make sense in some time, just keep practicing — It’s absolutely fine to fail in all the tests on the first go (I have been there!)
2. Learn to read fast — yes, it is very important cause this is what makes this exam challenging
3. Use your free account for the hands-on as much as you can — It will give you confidence while thinking about architectures
4. Try to draw diagrams on paper when you are practicing
5. Try to understand why a particular solution works for some case and it does not work for another case. Review all 4 options because they all work. This knowledge will help you with some other questions, especially DR questions. There are so many permutations and combinations you can have.
6. Keep yourself updated with the latest changes in the AWS world especially after reinvent event.
7. Practice as many questions papers as you can that too in one go like 3 hrs straight, it can be challenging but one of the strategies I’ve used is I started with 1 hr tests first then gradually increasing the time up to 3 hrs which made me comfortable with the pattern and expectations. You can find 1 hr test in Neal Davis’s practice test suit.
8. Last but not least, don’t be harsh on yourself. This is not a race so go with your own pace and have realistic timelines.

• Guidance and a positive outlook:

After all the overwhelming stuff I’ve just mentioned, I do want to make a point here. I know it is tough and challenging but it is not impossible and certainly, it’s worth all the efforts. I cannot explain how good I felt when I saw PASS on my screen after the exam. I paused for 15–20 secs to absorb when I saw the result. This is what I was waiting for, for the last couple of months. So trust me it’s all worth it!

During this exhausting journey, you might find yourself in a position where you might think maybe let’s drop this idea as to it’s too hard. I would say find the right people may be family or friends who can keep motivating you and help you achieve what you desire. I was fortunate enough to have them by my side throughout. Another option you can try is to find a study group even that would work wonders and when you are studying together I feel it won’t be that hard to keep the needle moving.

• Conclusion

One last tip before wrapping this article is most of all keep calm during the exam. Few questions may take double the time than average. So don’t get tensed if you have already spent the first 60 mins on your first 20 questions. Mark for review and keep moving. That’s all I have for now. All the very best for your Pro Exam and I am pretty sure you are going to crack it :)