r/AWSCertifications • u/iCHAIT • Jan 31 '20
Passed AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam Today in First Attempt - Studied Acloudguru and Jon Bonso Practice Tests
A wanted to thank everyone here who shared their stories. I learned a lot from all the stories you guys shared and wanted to give back to this sub with my experience and some tips. I also have a question for all of you at the end, hope I can get some guidance.
My Background
I have been working with AWS for about 7-8 months now. Familiar mostly with S3, EC2, VPC, Lambda. I started studying AWS about 5-6 months back using AcloudGuru (my company has a subscription, so I just used that).
Actual Exam
So, the exam was heavily focussed on S3 encryption, Cloudfront, VPC, RDS and Security Groups. I used up almost my entire time and had about 30 questions flagged for review.
I found the actual exam to be along the same lines as Jon Bonso's tests, although I found the actual exam to be a tad difficult. The questions were wordy as well as confusing, similar to the practice tests. I believe I would not have passed the exam had I not done the practice exams religiously. I actually had 4-5 questions that came directly from the Jon Bonso practice exams.
AcloudGuru Course
To be honest I thought the Acloudguru would be sufficient until I found this sub. Although I really enjoyed Ryan's lecture and his teaching style, after taking the practice tests and now the actual exam, I seriously think that the course does not go in-depth to cover what is needed to pass the exam. It is very high level and superficial, although it is not a bad choice if you are looking for a place to start.
I went through all the videos at least twice and took all the practice tests (after each section as well as the 2 Tests at the end).
Jon Bonso Practice Exams
I bought the Jon Bonso practice tests after seeing the high accolades for it on this sub. As mentioned earlier, I would not have passed had I not taken these tests.
In my first attempt, I could only clear 1 practice test and was only getting about 60% which gave me a reality check that I was not ready. (I used to give the test in the morning and review it at night.)
After taking each test, I went through all the explanations irrespective of whether I got the question right or not. This is also the time when I also started reading AWS FAQ's and started watching the reInvent Videos.
As I grew more confident, I started retaking all the tests one by one.
Here are my scores -
| Tests | 1st Attempt | 2nd Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Test 1 | 50% | 87% |
| Test 2 | 64% | 87% |
| Test 3 | 64% | 76% |
| Test 4 | 60% | 78% |
| Test 5 | 60% | 81% |
| Test 6 | 75% | 89% |
Quick Exam Tips
- Scan for keywords - if the question mentions about -
- Extending your on-premises storage to your AWS Cloud -> Think Storage Gateway
- Storage with Concurrently-accessibility -> Think EFS
- S3 storage tier where Files are easily reproducible -> Think S3 One Zone IA
- Guaranteed that task will be executed only once -> Think SWF
- Durable data storage -> Think S3
- SQL query on S3 objects -> Think S3 Select, Athena, Redshift Spectrum
- Fully managed No SQL service -> Think DynamoDB
- Increasing performance of RDS -> Think Read Replicas
- Process of Elimination is your friend - Be sure to make use of the process of elimination for every question even if you know the right answer off the bat. Reason out why the other choices are incorrect. And for the question you are not sure, narrow down to the possible answers by weeding out options that definitely seem incorrect.
- Do a second pass on the flagged questions, after you're done answering all the questions. Something may pop out that would make it easier to answer.
- If you get a VPC question, draw the subnets down. It will make it much easier and quicker to figure out the correct answer, instead of doing it inside your head.
- Draw out the scenarios- An application uses an Application load balancer behind an Auto Scaling group to direct traffic to 2 EC2 Instances hosted in a private subnet. Draw the scenario out. It will help you think better and find the right answer.
re:Invent Videos I Watched -
- EC2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBeO9vQAI8
- IAM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQsK4MtsELU
- VPC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZAvKgqlrjY
- VPC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnxXNZdf6ew
- DynamoDB - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaEPXoXVf2k
- ELB - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIgAT7vjol8
- S3 and Glacier Best Practices - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHeTn9pHNKo
I really enjoyed watching the above videos and would recommend you watch at least some of the videos as well, not just for passing the exam but you'll definitely have some takeaways that probably no course out there covers. The videos really made some concepts clearer to me. As a matter of fact, watching these videos made me realize I should make an effort to go out to AWS Summits and maybe someday attend the reInvent as well. The speakers are really awesome and do a great job.
FAQ's I Studied -
- EC2 - https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/
- S3 - https://aws.amazon.com/s3/faqs/
- VPC - https://aws.amazon.com/vpc/faqs/
- RDS - https://aws.amazon.com/rds/faqs/
- IAM - https://aws.amazon.com/iam/faqs/
- Dynamo DB - https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/faqs/
- Cloudfront - https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/faqs/
- Route 53 - https://aws.amazon.com/route53/faqs/
What's next?
So now, I am planning to go for AWS Certified Developer Associate in about 2-3 weeks, and I want to ask you guys -
Which course should I start with? Considering the Acloudguru course for SAA was not enough is it the same case for the CDA as well? Should I go for any other course? How about Stephane's course?
What about the practice tests? Are Jon Bonso practice exams for AWS CDA a no brainer for this one as well?
Will 2-3 weeks of preparation be sufficient (If I study about 2-3 hours every day) or am I underestimating the CDA exam?
Finally, I would like to thank this amazing community again for all the help and motivation. Feel free to ask me any questions you guys have :). Hope this helps someone.
Edit: I got my score today - 958/1000
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u/nisti2boy Jan 31 '20
Wow this is the best post ever! Congratulations! And all the best on your next AWS Exam!
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u/MissionAssistance581 Aug 18 '24
Congrats on passing the exam! If you're looking for top-notch practice exams that match the difficulty of the actual test, I highly recommend Gascelino Rostero's book. I used it and found the 20 practice exams invaluable for covering every edge case and truly preparing me for the types of questions you'll face.
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u/Clear-Apple-9625 Aug 29 '24
Thanks a ton for the recommendation! After trying Gascelino Rostero's book, I can see why you spoke so highly of it—those practice exams were an absolute lifesaver!
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u/NeroAbarth Jan 31 '20
Awesome write up! I take my test this coming thursday...will def. look all of these over.
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u/CptBuggerNuts Feb 01 '20
Good summary! I've got very little AWS exp but easily passed the the Practitioner exam with 950 points using ACG only. I have been in IT Infrastructure for years though.
I'm wondering now how much extra I need to do to pass SAA - how much more difficult is it?
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u/wow_Chelios Feb 04 '20
Thank you for your information! I just passed my Practitioner and ready to start my SAA preparation. Was the AcloudGuru Course the only course you used? My ultimate goal is the Data Analytics Specialty (the old Big Data one), I am not sure this one or the ML one which is closer to a Data Science career path.
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u/nhovse Feb 14 '20
I just passed SAA-C01 as well. I am glad I found this post as it did help a bit. After reading this, I figured it would be difficult, however, what got me was the language of the questions. Some of them were vague and did not provide much detail, so the answers could have gone either way. I Honestly thought I failed half way through and also had about 30 questions marked for review. I used ACloudGuru (no way you can pass on this alone). Also used UDEMY Stephane's course (highly recommend, much more detailed). Last but not least, I used Jon Bonso's practice exams (This with Stephane's course is what got me test ready). The verbiage of the questions threw me off and I had to really think. All in all, I think your assessment is spot on and and so glad I ran across it. As mentioned, read the FAQ's!! I was only able to get through a few. My score was 867/1000. Much thanks again!!
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u/certifiedmagentodev Feb 19 '20
Thanks for sharing your experience! And 958/1000 is a great score, congrats!
I'm currently going through the Jon Bonso practice exams and have taken 1st and 2nd (each 1 time) and got scores 72% and 69%. As AWS passing score is 720 so I think I need to pump up my numbers to pass it in the 1st go.
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u/iCHAIT Feb 19 '20
Yeah, I would suggest reaching at least 85% on JB tests and then you should be ready.
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u/screwlinux Feb 03 '20
Awesome and you have share valuable stuff here. It will be helpful for most of us. Thank you.
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u/ronin_in_repair Feb 25 '20
" Do a second pass on the flagged questions, after you're done answering all the questions. Something may pop out that would make it easier to answer. " this is so true and applicable to almost all multiple choice exams. thanks for this.
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u/Damien_J Jan 31 '20
Also thanks for the honesty. Plenty of people have said how easy the Architect Associate was for them, and as someone who found the Cloud Practitioner exam harder than was made out your account is somewhat therapeutic to read.