AWS SAA - Failing The Exam To Finally Passing

Hello friends! All right, so I finally passed my Solutions Architect Associate Exam and yes it feels great to complete this milestone after failing it back in May. Let's be honest, failing an exam sucks, and it was not my first time failing a certification exam. I actually failed my Security+ twice before passing it on the third try.

So what changed? I used a few more additional resources and focused a bit more on how AWS services work together instead of just memorizing what the services were capable of.

I made the mistake of taking the exam too early, I had about 30% of course content left to cover and I got a bit ahead of myself and took the exam anyways. Almost passed got a 684 :).

The AWS SAA exam covers a lot of topics. It's also a HUGE jump from the cloud practitioner. The Cloud Practitioner was not very difficult in comparison to the SAA. Here are some resources I used to tackle this exam.

I like to separate my resources between PRIMARY and SECONDARY. The primary resources are non-negotiable for me and the secondary resources were optional because they supplement the knowledge I gained from my primary resources.

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

Adrian Cantrill's Solutions Architect Associate Course

Arguably, Adrian's SAA course is the most comprehensive course out there. The reason being, he takes the time to explain difficult concepts and the underlying ideas behind the use of AWS. His course focuses a lot on gaining real skills which is why his course may be a bit denser in comparison to other SAA courses. It's well worth it and at a decent price. Highly recommend it!

https://cantrill.io/

WhizLabs SAA practice exam

Whizlabs Practice Exams were really helpful and a great way to assess how well you are currently understanding the SAA material. These are relatively difficult. I recommend taking these before you take the more difficult Tutorials Dojo Exams.

https://www.whizlabs.com/aws-solutions-architect-associate/

Jon Bonso Tutorials Dojo Practice Exams

These practice exams were a little bit more difficult than the Whizlabs ones. I would say this is the closest thing you can get to the REAL exam. Which is why I recommend waiting to take these AFTER you finish Cantrill's course, and the Whizlabs practice exams. These exams do a better job at explaining why wrong answers are wrong and why the right answers are right.

SECONDARY RESOURCES

AWS Infographics

https://awsfundamentals.com/

Tutorials Dojo Cheat Sheets

https://tutorialsdojo.com/aws-cheat-sheets/

Be a Better Dev YouTube Videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/BeABetterDev

Michael Gibbs Go Cloud Architects Youtube Videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/GoCloudArchitects

All right, that sums it all up. I am hopeful this article can be of value to you if you are interested in pursuing your SAA. Hopefully, you don't make the same mistake I did, and if there is any way I can be of help feel free to ping me. Best of luck on your cloud journey!

#TheMarathonContinues