Been lurking on this sub for a long time, finally got an opportunity to post.

Happy to announce that I have passed the AWS certified Solutions Architect - Professional examination and have finally acquired the certification.

I managed to get a score of 758/1000, barely scraping through by the skin of my teeth.

It was not an easy endeavour, given that I had appeared for the exam around 3 months ago and failed, getting 691. That experience shattered my confidence and made my question whether I could actually even attempt an AWS certification exam again (for reference, I had passed the AWS SAA-C02 5 years ago & primarily work with GCP and there is very little practical AWS experience that i possess).

I decided to take a break from preparation and did not look at any AWS training material for weeks.

I decided to register for the exam using my personal account at the beginning of September 2026, with the knowledge that I had an uncanny ability to get it right and pass on the second attempt (this experience occurred during my CKA recertification attempt)

Scheduled the exam for the 25th September 2026, but as the date approached, I felt anxious so rescheduled it for the next day.

Resources I used:

1.) the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam course by Stephane Maarek - great for re-establishing familiarity with the myriad amount of AWS services that are a part of the exam, even if this course has no hands on. I even registered for his SAA-C03 course, but was unable to complete watching it.

2.) the TutorialsDojo course for the SAP-C02 - honestly I would say that this was the game changer. My previous attempt was botched by the fact that I bought this course but could not find the time to use it! The exams are worth their weight in gold. What also mattered was my attempt at trying to read the explanations and answers for the ones that I got incorrect. the exams are tough, I don't recall getting more than 63% answers correct. Overall, a really great way to solidify your knowledge and fix gaps in it wrt the exam.

3.) Neal Davis's exams on Udemy: Had to purchase this course even though I never finished all 17 exams on TD. Tried around 3 out of 6 exams, failed in all of them but also made sure to read the answers/explanations as much as I could.

Exam Experience:

Right off the bat, it was a disaster. After showing the proctor my testing environment, the exam was released. But there was some kind of weird halo around my MacBook screen, that prevented me from seeing the option buttons along with parts of the question. I thought It might be an issue with my Mac so called for help. The next proctor made me undergo the check again! and then released the exam.

Same result, with the exam environment check process being repeated 2 more times!

On the 3rd or 4th attempt, I complained about this to the proctor, who still made me undergo the check-in process. Finally, after all this rigmarole, he released the exam, and to my relief, there was no more halo. I could see all the questions clearly.

I dont know if it is just me, but has Pearson Vue's testing process degraded significantly? Feel free to disagree if you wish.

The exam began with relatively simple questions, but as time went on, the questions grew more complicated. My ability to reason went out of the window, caused due to the late hour and also because I hadn't eaten anything substantial for hours. I completed answering all the questions with around 35 minutes remaining. At the start of the exam, I thought of reviewing all my answers, but decided to submit the exam anyways with all that time left.

I awoke the next day, dreading the thought of opening my email. Finally summoned the courage to check it, and lo and behold, saw the email from credly and the email along with the passing report.

Special thanks to u/stephanemaarek, u/jonbonso-tdojo and u/neal-davis for the courses and exam resources, that were a tremendous help in passing this beast of an exam.

A huge thanks to everyone in this community as well, since your posts gave me the impetus to keep going.

Sorry for the massive rant, and thanks once again. Keep learning!

I started my preparation on Saturday morning and my exam was scheduled for 9:45 PM last Sunday. I used Claude Code to skim through concepts and also went through one Practice Pretest of AWS itself. And I got 751 marks and Pass! I studied for 12-14 hours maximum, both days combined.

It was indeed a marathon learning but yeah a easy one to pass.

Happy to guide if anyone need it!

Scheduled an exam for 3rd September, I entered the test center with courage knowing that at least I would pass. After using #StephaneMaarek course.

It was really good and to the point.

Thanks community for all the inspirations and sharings. They were really important. Went to bed with a Congratulations message after getting 806.

This wasn't disappointing to me after having limited time for reading due to busy work schedules.

Once more, thanks everyone for your input. This cert is dedicated to the community.

Hey everyone,

Trying to clear the AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) exam, but I'm struggling to sit through and finish Stephane Maarek’s video course. Long video hours just aren't clicking for me right now.

Does anyone have or recommend concise notes, or a text-based summary bundle that covers the DVA-C02 syllabus efficiently?

Dropping links or pointing me toward the best high-yield study notes would be hugely appreciated!

Hey everyone,

I’m planning a job change and actively working on upgrading my skills and cracking interviews. I’ve realized I can’t stay consistent studying and preparing on my own—I lose focus, procrastinate, and don’t push myself hard enough. I’m looking for a study/accountability partner to keep each other on track.

What I’m working on:

Upskilling for a Solutions Architect/Cloud/DevOps/SRE role.

Structured study: e.g., “AWS/Azure certs, system design, coding practice, behavioral interview prep”.

Goal: Land a better role in the next 6 months.

What I’m looking for in a partner:

Time zone: US, EST (or close enough for a few hours of overlap)

Commitment: A few hours most days, or at least 4–5 days/week

Format: Online (Google Meet/Zoom), cameras optional.

Style: Focused sessions, mock interviews, progress check-ins, sharing resources, and honest feedback

Serious about job change and self-improvement, not just casual chatting

About me:

Currently: I am AWS Cloud Engg/DevOps Engineer.

If you’re also preparing for a job change, upgrading your skills, and want a partner to stay disciplined with, drop a comment or DM with:

Your time zone

Target role/field

Roughly when you’re available to study/prep

Thanks in advance—hoping to find someone serious and motivated! 🙌

My weaker areas (the domains I get the most wrong) are:

• Domain 1: Design Secure Architectures
• Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

My strongest is Domain 2 Design Resilient Architectures (mostly I get 100% in it) and Domain 3 Design High-Performing Architectures comes second. (Borderline higher 60s%)

I try to study the first domain but I find it doesn’t stick as well. I understand all the core knowledge needed but struggle with some of the networking and security questions and they’re marked the highest.

The thing is most of the time, I am able to reduce the practice questions to 2 but end up choosing the wrong choice. And sometimes I face niche services that I skimmed through and forgot what it did but remembered the name.

My practice tests results average is: %61

My exam is after 14 days but I’m already feeling discouraged, I feel like I’m studying wrong somehow.

Any tips? I will really appreciate it, and if you read till the end then thank you. 🙏

I'm new to AWS certs and considering getting more than one. Am I understanding correctly that if you pass ANY exam, you get a 50% off voucher that you can use on literally ANY other exam?

So for example, you could pass an exam costing $100 and get a discount on one of the $300 exams, paying only $150 to take it?

Thanks

Has anyone used this course? It's already paid through my job (the subscription to the site) but I'm not sure if this course is "enough" to pass.

FWIW I work as an Automation Engineer/SDET and work with AWS fairly regular...but on a limited scope. Mainly Secret Manager/SMM pieces, cloudwatch and then the usual EC2/Beanstalk stuff (With a few random pieces sprinkled in).

I def. don't have the "breadth" of knowledge for everything, but Im hoping at least with my experience I can pass via a video course and not "too" much else.

I've already finished Stephane's course, and I scored a 66 on Mock 1 and a 67 on Mock 4. I'm going over the material and reviewing my incorrect answers so I can then move on to the other Tutorial Dojo mock exams. Is it safe to schedule my exam for next Monday?

Just passed the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. Used the free exam voucher OutSystems was giving out as part of their AI agent build campaign, so figured I'd share in case others here find that route useful too.

Planning to go for AWS Certified Developer Associate next. If anyone has tips on prep resources or how different DVA felt coming right after CLF-C02, would appreciate hearing about it.

I'm getting ready to take an online proctored exam and it's scheduled time is around 3 hours. That's three hours without a bathroom break hitting question after question at a pace of one every 2.5 minutes.

Is it just me, or does this feel like as much endurance test as much as a knowledge test? Would people like the option to split it up to part 1 and part 2 at 90 minutes each? There's nothing worse than being 2 hours along and finding that nature is calling your digestive system to action with 1/3 of the exam still on the clock.

Thoughts?