Tips on passing the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional

Certification #5

This is my fifth AWS certification that I have passed! I have one MS Azure certification, a total of 6 Cloud related certs. The reason I am telling you this, is because I hope you take my guidance seriously. Let’s jump right into it!

Pass these exams first

Tip #1

I super highly recommend to climb your way up the ladder. This process helped me study a bit faster or sometimes skips some domains because I already had that knowledge because of the previous certification. Here’s the order I recommend.

Timing

Tip #2

Take the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner as soon as you can. Then study for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associates, schedule this exam and the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associates in the same month! I spent majority of my study time into the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator and a bit on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect. Took each exam just a week apart. Then a year or so, study for the AWS Certified Security – Speciality, then schedule this one and the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional about a 2-5 weeks apart. Dedicate majority of your time on the Security exam, and a good portion on the professional. If you barely passed any of the previous exams, then dedicate more time on the professional.

Be prepared mentally

Tip #3

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional was by far the most challenging, intimidating, verbose, and exhausting exam I have ever taken! It took my all 170 minutes to complete. I’m usually done with an exam with plenty of time left on the clock. There was so much reading and comprehending that I was mentally drained and wanted to just give up in the last 30 minutes! (ps. it was also a Saturday so that didn’t help, maybe do it on a Sunday?) So take a deep breath here and there, look away from the screen for few seconds to recollect yourself and keep on pushing.

Be motivated

Tip #4

I hope your motivation is strong enough to get you to study so much and sit on a super long exam. If you have no motivation then I don’t advise you to take on this challenge. Ask your supervisor if there any cash rewards or does it help you take on a new role or to assist you to get a better wage. Or it might be a personal challenge. Whatever it is, be sure it’s strong!

Experience, Study, do labs

Tip #5

As always, experience is your best tool to passing an exam. Then on top of that study using online services like LinuxAcademy.com and their hands on labs. Read all the necessary white papers mentioned in the exam guide.

Shoutout to Adrian Cantrill for awesome and precise explanation of each topic and all the exam tips and tricks!

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Waleed S.2 Comments

How to pass the AWS Certified Security – Speciality

I recently took the AWS Certified Security – Speciality exam for the first time and I passed it with over 800 points! L Scale is from 100 to 1,000 and 750 is the passing mark. More about the exam here. et’s go over how to pass the AWS certified Security – Speciality certification.

Take these certifications first

Although AWS has lifted the requirements to have an associate level exam before taking a speciality exam; I on the other hand still believe having an associate level certification and understanding is very much needed to pass. In my personal experience I always advise taking the AWS SysOps Administrator over the Solutions Architect if you’re planning on taking this security speciality. Knowing the capabilities of many AWS services will help you cross out the wrong answers immediately. The AWS security training does not cover in depth capabilities.

  • Pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner
  • Pass the AWS SysOps Administrator

Experience

Nothing beats real experience. Or at least LinuxAcademy.com labs. I have been in the AWS world for more than 4 years now.

Security topics

I believe the same exam is always different for different editions and users. This is all based on my experience.

  • KMS: Know this inside and out!
    • All of its capabilities
    • Key policies/permissions/cross account
    • Usage with S3 in depth
    • Usage with all other top services like EBS, RDS, DynamoDB, etc.
    • Be able to troubleshoot issues related to permissions and missing keys, etc.
  • IAM: This is one obvious and must
    • Be able to read and write IAM policies, S3 bucket policies, KMS policies, etc.
    • Master roles for services, for role switching (how to secure it)
    • Cross account setup
  • S3
    • Replication
    • KMS integration
    • KMS cross account integration
    • Troubleshoot permission issues

This is just my top list, always use the guide and study based on that. So don’t ignore other topics.

Training tools / White papers

Exam guide

Click here

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As always if you see any errors, mistakes, have suggestions or questions please comment below. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more! 

Waleed S.1 Comment

How I passed three AWS certifications back to back!

AWS Cloud Practitioner

I passed the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification with nearly flying colors!  My score was only a few points away from 900 out of 1000. This exam was not challenging for me and I doubt it will be challenging for you either. Now I do have to say that I did work with AWS and related services for two years prior to taking this exam. Always read the exam topics and find sites that organize their study guides with the exam topics. I studied about an hour a day for about 3-5 days the week before taking the exam. You don’t need to be an IT guru to study and pass this exam so don’t push too hard, just take it! 

AWS SysOps Administrator & Solutions Architect

Few months after that I started to study for the AWS SysOps administrator certification. The reason I started to study for that exam before the AWS Solutions architect because I planned to knock out both of the exams back to back. The exam topics for both of them was very similar to me and I had a feeling that passing the SysOps would help me pass the AWS Solutions Architect exam. I bought the official AWS SysOps Administrator book from amazon.com. Since I’m so busy with work during the day, working out during the evenings, I read a few pages before going to sleep. During my commute to and from work, I would also listen to AWS official podcasts (Note: What you hear on the podcasts may not be on the exam)

I mainly used Linuxacademy.com (links below to each course) because they have the latest content, hands-on lab, quizzes and practice exams that were on par with the topics in the exam. I also purchased a study guide package from udemy.com for around $12 to get more practice exams. Those exams were formatted like the actual exam but the content for the package I got had more information than I needed for the associates level. I passed one exam on one Sunday and then the other exam on the following Sunday.  I was relieved that my plan worked! What I didn’t know was that passing each exam AWS gives you a 50% off discount on your next exam. Now I have discounts available for my next AWS certifications. These exams are good for 3 years before a renewal is required.

Last words; these exams definitely require professional experience. It’s not just a memorization type exams, it’s all scenario-based. Let me know if you have any specific questions!

AWS Cloud Practitioner

The AWS Cloud Practitioner exam enables individuals with an overall understanding of the AWS Cloud to validate their knowledge with an industry-recognized credential. It provides individuals in a larger variety of cloud and technology roles with a way to validate their AWS Cloud knowledge and enhance their professional credibility.
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AWS Certified SysOps Administrator

The AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam validates technical expertise in deployment, management, and operations on the AWS platform.
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AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam is intended for individuals with experience designing distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform.

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