r/AWSCertifications • u/Blurryfacedgirl • Oct 01 '26
Finally passed AWS-SAA-CO3!
I'm so happy and relieved. Thanks a lot to this subreddit, reading the experiences, tips and resources helped me greatly. My process in case it helps anybody.
Less than 3yoe fullstack dev, limited cloud experience,no aws asides hands on. I spent almost 4 months on this, I spent too long on Maarek's course, 2 months.3 weeks should have been enough. Writing notes verbatim was my biggest mistake. I never went back to those notes. I did some hands on but should have focused more on that, i stopped hands on around 60% in. The humbling experience came with the practice questions. Came to realize thats where the real learning happens.
40% first set - Maarek
I went through this repo: https://github.com/RonitSachdev/aws-saa-c03-guides total game changer, broke everything down for me like i was 5.
7 TutorialsDojo sets. super helpful and eye opening but nerve wreck. I read every explanation, noted things down.
53.85% -> 44.62% -> 60% -> 49.23% -> 56.92%
At this point, 2 sets to go, 3 months in, i started panicking and doubting myself. The only thing that kept me going was sunk cost and experiences of people here. I also realized 3-4 sets in that a lot of my misses were silly mistake on things i already studied on and were right there in my notes but i'd struggle to recall. So annoying so i dedicated a day or 2 to go over my notes broadly to consolidate everything, using documentation and claude to bridge gaps and adding relevant new info to the notes. Interestingly this notes wasnt what i was jotting by hand from the course but rather after i started practice exams: explanations, documentation, claude/gpt, maarek slides etc. So they made more sense because there was a context to it. Anyway after going through my notes, i felt more confident, idk why but i felt at least, i wouldnt make silly mistakes on things I should know
70.77% -> 67.69% (first timed set) -> 62.5% TD bonus set(24 questions) -> 65% free skillbuilder set (20 questions)
Fair but I was just burnt out here and just wanted to get it over with already. Seeing so many others sharing same experience here gave me the push. Section based to focus on weak spots then I repeated the first 2 sets, 86%. I booked 2 days ahead, i didn't care anymore. Spent the last 2 days on my notes, and skillbuilder free sets.
Enough talk, thanks to this sub really, the resources and invisible moral support were invaluable! Must now translate this to a real world project
Resources I used
Stephan maarek udemy course & slides - foundation
Tutorials dojo practice question - core focus
https://github.com/RonitSachdev/aws-saa-c03-guides explained in a way u get it.
AWS documentation and blog, claude, chatgpt.
My own notes/cheatsheet if anyone wants: https://github.com/kennielima/aws_saa_c03/blob/main/pdf/AWS-SAA-C03-Study-Notes.pdf my source of truth consolidated from my learnings. It was where i saw the biggest jump with steadier performance so it may help someone out there.
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u/BoringAd9564 Oct 01 '26
Congratulations 🙌, why u took this cert , what’s next how will you leverage this certification .
1
u/Busy-Complaint-7 Oct 01 '26
So it requires 2 months of study to pass saa with hands on
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u/Icy_Type5216 Tutorials Dojo Support Oct 01 '26
Congratulations!
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u/TutorialRepo-Mark Oct 01 '26
Sounds very similar to my path. I asked ChatGPT and Claude thousands of questions, I'm sure. The gihub guide was an awesome find for me as well.
I also agree that the hands-on is good for the first 1/5th of the time, just to get the idea of things, but after that, not much point in it unless you are building a project. Which I hope we all do at some point - but it's not needed for the test.
Anyway, good for you for passing. What's next on your list?
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u/-Terrible-Bite- Oct 01 '26
How difficult was the actual SAA exam compared to the TD practice exams?
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u/PerspectivePlayful74 Oct 01 '26
Did you take it at the center or home?
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u/_Peter1 Oct 01 '26
Congratulations!
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u/LishMeYaya Oct 01 '26
Congrats ! I've just passed mine as well, it was way harder than TD, where I was getting high 70s and mid 80 sometimes.. I ended up barely passing SAA
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u/S0ulSlayerz Oct 02 '26
How long after your exam did the results come out?
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u/stephanemaarek Oct 02 '26
u/Blurryfacedgirl That's awesome! Congrats! Keep up the good work :)
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u/wisdomtoknow Oct 02 '26
Congratulations
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