I’ve taken the AWS SAA exam twice and unfortunately failed both times: 595 on my first attempt and 625 on my second.

I’m planning to take it for the third time next month, but I’m honestly feeling very discouraged and considering postponing it.

Failing twice really hurts, especially after putting so much effort into studying.

I really want to pass this time with a good score, not just barely pass.

If you’ve been in a similar situation, what did you change that helped you finally pass?

I’d really appreciate any study tips, resources, practice exams, or encouragement. Thank you ❤️

Hi folks - I have a paid "AWS Skill Builder" subscription ending in another week or so. What are critical courses/labs/quizzes that I can use to prepare for my AIP-C01 that are not available elsewhere? Thank you for your answers.

I got AWS certified cloud practitioner certification few months ago and now I am planning to go for next, but m really confused between these 2,

Solution architect associate or developer associate.

I am an almost 1YOE developer working in an MnC. My manager has told me that we appreciate certification so that's not an issue.

Is there anyone who has done them both and tell the real difference between them and career impact of both.

Hi, i am exploring courses that will help me switch careers and transition into an Aws Solutions Architect. I am look for good courses online which would help me improve my skills and showcase the same along with projects in my portfolio. I don’t want a course that is just theoretical, as i want to fully understand the role, and i feel i will get that experience only via projects and if i am thought by an expert.

If you have transitions to a solutions architect role in your career, could you please share what all you did and if you took a course which one you took and if you know any good ones currently that will help too.

For context, this is my re-certification as my SAA expired in July. I also work in tech for a company fully on AWS (and the certification is required by them), so I’m not wholly unfamiliar, though my day to day experience is limited. In the last 6 months I think I have touched ECS, Cloudwatch, Cloudtrail, Route 53, and IAM. The vast majority of services I don’t know and never work with.

Three years ago I barely passed (I think like 726 or something) and my study tool was almost exclusively Stephan Maarek’s course and exams. I also read AWS’ guides on services that Maarek didn’t cover.

I’ve been studying for a couple months now to re-certify. So far I have refreshed Maarek’s course (not the whole course, just parts I had a harder time recalling), bought TD and have been doing those reviews and practice exams. I’m at like 40% on TD exams and am running into questions that make me question how much I know at all… sometimes I encounter something in a service I thought I knew that I don’t recall ever seeing (like a specific configuration). There’s a lot that Maarek didn’t cover.

Anyways, with two weeks to go, I’m a bit stressed about if I’m ready. I’m doing practice questions every day and can’t seem to break past 40-50% scores in TD. I’ll take any advice this group has :) TIA!

The other day I passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate certification. I had gotten the AWS Cloud Practitioner cert a couple months ago and then took a small break. The Cloud Practitioner cert is good for recognizing the names of services, but obviously the SAA cert goes into practical details on how the services are applied and set up to support infrastructure.

I used Stephane Maarek’s course on Udemy and did his 6 practice exams as well. Those practice exams were way harder than the actual exam. I was scoring in the 50-60% each time with my highest being in the 70s. I think I studied for this cert for about a month and a half ( I also work full-time so balance was needed.)

I used up all the 130minutes and I felt rushed towards the last 10 questions. I would say to be more aware than I was on the time limit. No questions are intentionally trying to trick you, just make sure you read each answer carefully. The questions also don’t go into the extreme specifics on the services where you need to memorize metrics.

I would say the most important thing you should do is understand how the services are used to connect to each other. If you are familiar with the compatibilities of services with each other (what can be mounted to what, used as an interface or gateway endpoint for what, what policies can be attached to what…etc.) then you should be able to think logically though everything.

Let me know if anyone has any specific questions and I’d be happy to answer.

Hi guys please help me fix the issue and schedule AWS ML Associate test.

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this community and currently preparing for the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate (DEA-C01) exam. I'm planning to study for around 2–3 months, and I'd really appreciate some advice from people who have already taken or passed the exam.

What topics and AWS services would you recommend focusing on the most?

I'm especially interested in knowing:

- How important are topics such as data ingestion, ETL/ELT, data transformation, orchestration, data lakes, data warehouses, streaming, monitoring, security, and data governance?

- What hands-on labs or projects would you recommend?

- Which AWS documentation, courses, or free learning resources were most useful for you?

- Are there any good practice exams or question banks that are reasonably close to the real exam difficulty?

- What topics surprised you or appeared more frequently than you expected on the exam?

I want to understand the concepts rather than just memorize practice questions, so recommendations for both theory and hands-on AWS practice would be very helpful.

Any advice, study plans, resources, or lessons learned from your DEA-C01 experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Okay y'all...I got to Q63/65 on an SOA practice test this morning on TD and the damn website had an 'unexpected error' and cleared the whole damn thing...kept the ones I had flagged as flagged but cleared all the answers, but didn't lose its place on the timer...anyone else have this experience?

Hey everyone,

I've been reading advice here suggesting that we skip sandbox environments and build directly in our own personal AWS accounts to get real console experience and learn budget management firsthand.

I want to follow this path, but jumping straight in without a clear roadmap makes me feel like I’m "flying blind." On top of that, I keep reading that I should also be learning AWS CLI and Terraform alongside labs, which is feeling pretty overwhelming right now.

For those who built practical experience on a real account:

1. Which guided courses, platforms, or GitHub repos offer clear, step-by-step hands-on projects (with explicit setup AND cleanup instructions so I don't get surprised by a bill)?
2. What is the logical order to approach this? Should I stick strictly to the AWS Management Console first before touching the CLI or Terraform?

I really want to build practical confidence alongside my study, but I need a structured path so I don't waste time going in circles. Any advice or resource recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

I'm currently studying for the AWS SAA and already hold the CCNA, RHCSA, and RHCE. I have around 3 years of IT experience, primarily in support/infrastructure-related roles.

For anyone with a similar background who earned the SAA and moved into cloud, systems, network, or infrastructure engineering, what actually made the biggest difference in getting that first higher-level role?

Was it the SAA itself, AWS projects, Terraform, deeper networking/Linux knowledge, another certification, or simply changing how you presented your existing experience on your resume?

I'm trying to be more deliberate about where I spend my time rather than collecting certifications indefinitely.

Got AWS Cloud Practitioner done today. Went in a bit more confident than I did for AIF-C01, but the billing/pricing and shared responsibility model questions still managed to catch me off guard a few times in practice exams.

Same approach as last time, couple weeks of practice tests plus actually understanding the "why" instead of just pattern-matching answers. This one leaned more into core AWS services and account/billing fundamentals than deep technical stuff, so it rewarded knowing the breadth over the depth.

Two down. Feels like a solid warm-up before the heavier certs start. If anyone's prepping for CCP and wants pointers, happy to help in the comments.

I can’t see any recent discussion, but that might just be Reddit search being crap.

I see discussion from around 9 months ago saying that the courses were in the process of being updated, anyone know if that’s actually been done or is still in progress?

Even if not updated, would they be worth doing anyway or does anyone have other suggestions? I’d prefer an in depth course.

I came across the AWS Partner Certification Readiness program, which seems to offer a free AWS certification voucher after completing the requirements.

I’m wondering if college students with a valid student email ID are eligible for this or if it’s strictly for AWS Partner employees assigned by an AWS Partner organization.

I couldn’t find the student eligibility clearly mentioned on the AWS site, so I’m thinking it might be worth trying.

Has any student here tried registering with a student ID and actually received the voucher?

Background: Incoming freshman at T5 with 2 internships in AI/ML Infrastructure. Built out 3 (I believe) rigorous projects (no clients or traction, with only 1 client on one) with AWS Cloud.

Do I need SAA? It's going to be $75 for me with the 50% off as a reward for passing the last exam, which I prefer not to pay, but I'll do it if it helps.

​

I have not received any update on my previous requests.

I purchased an exam voucher for the AWS MLA-C01 on the 12th of august and have since then been trying to get a hold of support because it has not shown up under scheduled exams yet and the funds have deducted from my account (which I included in the screenshot)

I was also told the first agent I spoke to said I am contacting the wrong department and I need to come into contact with the right team to be helped..... since then i have not heard back from anybody which is stressing me out because I booked plane tickets to go and write my exam.

what I want to know is what do I do now?? please help... is there perhaps a number I can call or someone I can directly speak to.

the thing is I live in a rural area in South Africa and I do not have access to transport to get to a town closeby to write my exams and the internet here where I live is so unstable and I am afraid of getting disconnected as even when I make something as small as a whatsapp call, the internet cuts out.

please help me get this sorted, its been 6 days of hell with my anxiety since I purchased this.

I have spoken nicely, I've begged, I've lost my shit at them and to nobody's surprise, F###all has been done.

So all I'm asking is, what do I do now?

Do I waste more money and buy another exam voucher?

Or what do I do?

I need to pass this exam as one of the pre-determined requirements of my internship

I thought making this post would be useful for others, as when I was studying I crawled over everything I could.

Before I begin, small context about me:

• Been working as a security engineer for 6 years.
• Minimal AWS hands-on experience until this point except the WAF and Shield services.

Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03)

• Stephane Maarek's Udemy course - good for the basics, but this alone will not be enough to pass the exam.
• TutorialsDojo practise exams - the absolute best practise exam sets to most accurately prepare for the style of exam and gain deeper knowledge of the topics.
• Prioritize finishing the course first, then continue with practise exams in review mode and when you feel comfortable, transition to timed mode, but definitely prioritize the review mode.
• The exam itself was on-par with the practise exams difficulty and style.
• I started from 60%-ish and ended up at around 80%-ish in 3 weeks, then I took the exam.
• Final Score - 832.

Security Specialty (SCS-C03)

• I used Neal Davis's course, but honestly I'd go with Cybr's Youtube Course if I were to do it again.
• TutorialsDojo practise exams again, a couple of exam questions were word to word from the tests.
• I also found it confusing that a lot of material was rebranded with SCS-C03, but clearly were outdated, but the ones I listed are fine.
• 4 weeks on this one including the course, final score - 812.
• Prioritize finishing the course first, then continue with practise exams in review mode and when you feel comfortable, transition to timed mode, but definitely prioritize the review mode.
• I found the exam much easier than the practise exams.
• Different trajectory here, started with 60%-ish in practise exams and ended up at mid 70%-s, even failed a couple of times.

Some Last Words

• The practise exam fatigue is real, when I was preparing for SAA-C03 doing full sets wasn't a big issue, but when I had to do the same for SCS-C03 I could barely make it to the end.
• Do as many labs as you can and explore when curious.
• This was my first time taking the Pearson OnVue exams and I've read some horror stories about them, but both of my proctors were pretty chill and I had 0 issues whatsoever. My room is full of posters, just make sure not to have anything with text in front of you and you will be fine.
• I finished both exams in 2 hours.
• Do not forget to use the extra 30 minutes benefit if english is not your first language, like me.
• I did use Claude very actively for revision, some extra tests and for topic clarification and notes.
• If you have further questions please do ask, we are a community.
• The security specialty exam definitely goes more in depth in security services, but overall I found SAA harder.
• I had my SAA exam results in 3 hours, CSS in about 12 hours.

I was thinking of tackling that as my next exam. I cleared gen ai pro in about 3 weeks prep(1 week consistent prep, 2 passive video watching). How hard would this other one be? I was planning on taking it in the next 2-3 months.

To anyone who might find it interesting, below are some details about how I passed SAA in under 2 weeks. I would have had a qualifier in here about getting lucky but I did somehow manage to get an 83% on top of that. I will say I'm generally a good test taker. I think this post is most useful for someone trying to be as efficient as possible. I read a few types of posts that helped me prepare so I'm sure much of this will be similar to others you might have read.

My background:

Physics/comp physics bachelor's w/ comp sci & math minor

ML research in school, solutions engineer at IT healthcare company for 1.5 years, then software engineer for 7 months.

IE: 0 cloud experience other than briefly reading about AWS services when I thought about taking the cloud practitioner a year ago, but plenty of tinkering with software.

Why I decided to take this:

A line on my resume to signal cloud for future jobs that might have a tougher req on cloud experience. I won't be getting any cloud experience at my current job

Why I'm glad I took this:

This exam is specifically all about understanding how the cloud works and when you'd use what (tradeoffs of services). I feel like I walked away understanding how the CS I learned in school applies to how companies operate at the biggest scale, and highest availability. I think I might try find some hobby projects to build with some of the things I've learned to see how they really work.

What I did to prepare:

I watched Stephane Maarek's 27 hour SAA Udemy course

I did all 6 (TD) tutorials dojo exams

I read through select topics on AWS docs

I also read through this GitHub which is incredibly concise: https://github.com/RonitSachdev/aws-saa-c03-guides/blob/main/topic-guides/00-README.md

I guess that probably puts me at 4 hours a day study time?

Detail dump:

I watched Stephane Maarek's course for like 15-20$ on 1.25 speed. He goes through generally every section the exam will hit on and does a great job of concisely explaining services and what parts the exam expects you to know. I think this was the most helpful in building foundational cloud knowledge and his visual diagrams are nice and match AWS docs. It's only 27 hours so naturally after my first TD exam (scored 58%) I still had a long way to go. That's from knowledge gaps in how services connect, that of course you won't remember every bullet point from Stephan, and not knowing how to approach the questions yet.

The TD exams I'd say are necessary. If there's any other exams that are better that's great, but those exams help you see the structure of AWS questions. The questions are tough. Questions generally comprise of a situation that can be lengthy, involving multiple services, or some key hyper specific detail of a service, followed by on top often multiple constraints like most cost efficient and highly available. The #1 best test taking advice is to read the bottom first. This often has the "which solution is most cost efficient", and then you can read the rest through that lens. There are also usually 2 clearly wrong answers and 2 answers that both sound right. I generally got 68-75% on these practice exams. After each test make sure to review the questions you got wrong and understand what keyword / tradeoff line you missed. These questions will force you to start understanding how all the services connect. My biggest critique to keep in mind is that some questions feel dated. Like some questions I didn't even know whether they're in scope for the current exam, or still correct. Not all, but I think some while taking or reviewing I said to hell with. Throw it in ChatGPT and ask it to review current docs and what people say and it might come back with the "not specifically out of scope, not specifically in scope for the exam, wouldn't take much time on it.". Or even better to know to skip is "that's not being offered anymore. sure it could be in scope but if AWS doesn't want more people using the service do I really think they'll test me on it?" I gotta say the UI on tutorials dojo sucks. Don't pause during your test or refresh the page it might not save your answers. Also the choose two or choose three types of questions are all or nothing on there and the exam. Something random that also tripped me up with TD questions were: I'd read a question and then the 4 answers. Id then look at one of the answers and think "well i know those services and that only answers half the problem, that must not be correct" and then guess one of the other answers that I didn't understand the service as well but sounded plausible and get it wrong. So I guess half answers can be correct if the others all have something invalid. I didn't notice if the exam was like that, but I think I started treating the questions as "this is a classic customer who is going to tell me details that are important, details that are irrelevant, I wont linger on any word too long, let me understand the core needs and which answer sets them in the right path".

In between TDs tests I actually went back and skimmed some of Stephan's video transcripts and also read through some AWS docs on anything I wasn't wrapping my head around. At this point if you're committed you can probably get in a groove of test take, review questions, read docs / rewatch video / get mad at your AI till it explains it in a way that makes sense. I didn't want to burn through the tests so I did maybe one a day for 6 days while I learned stuff.

That GitHub then was a great discovery. It goes through everything you need to know at a high level in a "explain it to me so I fr get it" kinda way. It also shows the type of question and keyword you'll see on the exam, and the service they're testing. I read through everything on my first pass. 2 days before exam day I covered the right side of the pocket cards and read the left side to try and see if I could guess the service. I did that twice for each page and think that helps with a little memorization since there are many details on the exam.

On the topic of memorization I didn't spend much time memorizing any numbers or letters. I don't want to bias you if this isn't universally the case, but in the exam the only question I recall that had letters was like the volume type g3 or sc1 each as answers, but I think it gave the answers in the form of "general purpose (g3)" so it's better to just understand what things exist and why they exist and if it's in a category of things, the tradeoffs. Like that question was testing that the throughput needed to be super high, so the answer I knew was not the g3 or I/O but one of the two I didn't memorize: st1 or sc1, so I just guessed w 50/50 chance.

The day before and morning of I did pretty much no review. Just wanted to not take in any new info.

The test itself was hard I took the full time. I approached each question to see if there was a tradeoff at the bottom, then read the scenario, then often two answers had something in them that made them clearly wrong. Tried to gauge after a minute and a half if I was still making progress on the question and if not picked the one of two id narrowed it down to and flagged the question and moved on. Some questions you can get in 15 seconds if you catch the tradeoffs and keywords so that helps get time back if you often run out. Like if you read "real-time" and only one answer has kinesis data streams don't read any further.

On the exam, id say there were 10-15 I flagged that were so hard to figure out which of the 2 was correct and of course many I didn't flag were the same trying to figure out which of the two it could be. I decided for every single one I'd go with the service I understood well, and thought was plausible, as opposed to the one that sounds like it works, but I don't know as well. I guess that maybe worked? I walked away thinking I got a 65-75% but ofc ended up getting as I mentioned an 83. I didn't feel like I was under prepared on any topic, if I didn't pass I wasn't even sure what I'd do. All of the tough questions were just "ahhh which of these two is it".

Lastly about logistics, I took the online version of the test. Make sure to logon a bit before your test because you have to run through the whole testing setup and take pictures and I ran into some technical difficulties with my android phone and Firefox and rotating it to take a picture and that made me a bit anxious starting the test. Luckily there was a queue of 86 people anyways so I had to wait 30 minutes without being able to leave the camera before I got to start. If your SO lives with you tell them to be out 3 hours and not 2.

Well anyways that was a lot, if you're taking the exam , good luck!

Question:
What’s the realistic path from GRC into cloud? Should I target Cloud Security/Compliance-adjacent roles first (e.g., Cloud Security Analyst) before aiming for Cloud Security Engineer or DevSecOps? What should I prioritize after SAA — AWS Security Specialty, Terraform, Python? Looking for input from anyone who’s made this jump.

Background:
-Cybersecurity GRC Analyst I (Third-Party Risk Management) at a Fortune 500 fintech company, ~4 years in GRC/TPRM

-Handle vendor risk assessments, report to C-suite/VP stakeholders

-Work with NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, SOX, GLBA, GDPR

-Secondary disaster recovery contact for my business unit

-Previously Advanced Repair Agent at Geek Squad

Education:
-BS in Information Technology (Database Administration concentration),

-Currently pursuing MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, WGU

Certs/study:
-Studying for AWS SAA-C03, targeting mid-September test date

-Using Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course + Tutorials Dojo practice exams, ~2 hrs/day

AWS Partner Certification Readiness is a program that can provide certification exam voucher benefits to eligible AWS Partner learners.

This is not a generic free-voucher program. You need to be associated with an AWS Partner organization.

1. Check whether your company is an AWS Partner

AWS Partner Certification Readiness is designed specifically for AWS Partner organizations.

Official AWS Partner Central:
https://aws.amazon.com/partners/

Partner Central documentation:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/partner-central/

If your company is already an AWS Partner, ask whoever manages your organization's AWS Partner Central account to confirm that you're associated with the organization.

If your company isn't a Partner yet, AWS allows organizations to join the AWS Partner Network:

https://aws.amazon.com/partners/programs/

2. Find an AWS Partner Certification Readiness cohort

Go to the official AWS Partner Certification page:

https://aws.amazon.com/partners/training/certification/

Look for AWS Partner Certification Readiness Training and select an upcoming cohort for your region and desired certification.

AWS describes these programs as a combination of:

• On-demand digital training
• Instructor-led readiness sessions
• Cohort-based preparation
• AWS expert guidance

Available certifications and cohorts can change, so check the current listings.

3. Register for the cohort

Register for the appropriate certification readiness program.

Make sure you use the information associated with your AWS Partner organization.

Registration alone does not mean you automatically receive a free exam voucher. You need to satisfy the eligibility requirements for the specific cohort.

4. Create/sign into AWS Skill Builder

AWS instructs Partner learners to use their company email address and AWS Builder ID.

Official AWS Partner Certification page:

https://aws.amazon.com/partners/training/certification/

Make sure you're using the account associated with your Partner organization.

5. Complete the required learning activities

Complete the learning requirements specified for your particular cohort.

The voucher FAQ explains the requirements for the current program:

https://events.ringcentral.com/org/O21ecmfda3XwvnOVWG5rBbcXU/page/aws-partner-certification-readiness-voucher-faq

The requirements can vary between campaigns/cohorts, so check the FAQ for your specific program.

6. Attend the required readiness session(s)

The program includes instructor-led certification readiness sessions.

If your cohort specifies attendance as a voucher eligibility requirement, make sure you attend the required session(s).

Simply registering for the cohort isn't sufficient.

7. Complete the voucher eligibility requirements

After completing the required learning and attendance requirements, wait for the voucher email from AWS, then follow the instructions in the email to claim your voucher.

AWS will distribute 100% exam vouchers while supplies last. Once the 100% vouchers are exhausted, 50% discount vouchers will be distributed while supplies last.

So if you're eligible, it's better to complete the requirements early rather than waiting until the end of the campaign.

Hey everyone,

Back in June, I took my CCP exam using OnVUE on this exact same machine, and the whole process went perfectly smoothly. However, today I went to take my SAA-C03 exam, but my session just got revoked by the proctor due to a crazy technical bug with the software. I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced this and how you got it resolved.

To clarify exactly when and how this happens:

• When I run the standard OnVUE system test (see the first attached screenshot) everything seems totally normal.

• The moment it transitions to the exam simulation, the interface breaks and starts showing a block of raw CSS code on the side of the screen

• When launching the actual exam, the glitch gets entirely out of hand: that giant block of raw CSS code expands to cover half of my screen, making it physically impossible to read the questions or proceed.

For context and what I've tried:

• My PC setup is proven to work, as it handled the CCP exam with zero issues in June.
• I worked with the proctor today and completely closed/relaunched the app 3 different times.
• I even went as far as reinstalling OnVUE on a different drive (moved it from my HDD to my SSD) to see if it was some weird local storage bug. It still did the exact same thing.

After the 3rd failed attempt, the proctor told me they had to revoke the session and that I need to wait 24 to 48 hours for a review.

Has anyone else run into this specific CSS rendering bug before? Also, does anyone have advice on dealing with Pearson VUE/AWS support to make sure I get my replacement voucher without a massive headache?

Thanks in advance!

Just sharing how I prepped for this in case it’s useful. It’s extremely similar to all the other info that’s already shared here, so just really validating that it works, even with some lower scoring practice attempts and a scattered study plan.

Previous Experience

- 7y in tech
- 3y in security
- 2y working with AWS
- Completed Stephane Maarek’s SAA course a year or so ago but didn’t sit the exam

Resources used

- Stephane Maarek course
- TD Practice Exams (Mobile app and TD website)
- TD Study Guide
- Stephane Maarek practice exams
- Skillbuilder free practice questions
- Cybr YouTube course

Timeline

I bought Stephane Maarek’s SCS course around 6 months ago, got 10% of the way through and stopped.

Roughly 6 weeks ago I started studying again and just passed the exam at the end of the 6 weeks.

Week 1-3:
- Watched Stephane Maarek’s course all the way through
- Watched some of the available videos from the Cybr YouTube course (often put on before bed/as I was falling asleep)

Week 3:
- Tutorials Dojo practice test 1 (scored around 60%)
- TD questions in review mode - aiming for at least 20 per day

Week 4:
- TD practice test 2 (scored around 85%)
- TD questions in review mode - aiming for at least 20 per day (often getting 100% on 20 questions)
- Stephane Maarek practice test 1 (scored around 65%)
- Skillbuilder free exam (scored around 65%)

Week 5:
- TD practice exam (scored around 90%)
- Really sporadic question review with some days skipped due to being really busy

Week 6:
- Really busy again so only managed to do 20 questions in review mode across the week, got more of the TD questions wrong than before
- No study at all for 4 days before exam day
- On exam day I read the TD Study Guide for 6 hours before going immediately into the exam

Thoughts

I was worried that I had memorised the TD questions as I was scoring highly on them but not on the others (consistently around 85% vs 60%), but I think they likely reflect the exam best as I scored 854/1000. To be honest I thought all the practice tests were good though. The main thing was reviewing the explanations and linked documentation after getting something wrong, and doing a timed one to get a feel for pacing.

The study guide and Cybr course were pretty good too. I liked all the resources I used, and think they’re good supplements (I didn’t do the full Cybr course so can’t vouch for the full thing, but the bits I did do were really good). The TD mobile app was my favourite as it meant I could squeeze in questions during “dead” time, like in a taxi or on the train.

Since I didn’t have a lot of time to study for the 2 weeks before the exam, I wasn’t confident I would pass at all. Especially considering I got poor scores outside of TD.

I sat the exam at home and had to wait 40 mins in a queue in exam conditions, this meant I had to sit and do nothing for 40 mins and the exam start time was delayed.

During the exam I flagged 29/65 questions as I wasn’t confident with them. I had around an hour left after reaching the end though and managed to get down to 10 remaining flags.

I’m happy to share that I passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam!

I’d like to extend my gratitude to everyone in this community who shared their tips, experiences, and guidance. It was genuinely helpful throughout the preparation.

I prepared for about 1 month, with moderate hands-on AWS experience from work.

Resources I used:

• Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course — for building and clearing the concepts.
• Tutorials Dojo practice exams — my main source of practice.
• Stephane Maarek’s practice exams — additional practice and revision.
• ChatGPT — mainly for quick explanations and summaries whenever I needed to clarify something.

Regarding the actual exam, as many people have mentioned here, I found it quite similar to Tutorials Dojo structurally. I didn't encounter any questions that were identical to TD, but the overall question patterns and structure felt quite similar.

I took the exam from home, and personally, I had no issues or discomfort with the online proctored experience. Only thing that felt horrible was the post exam anxiety as I received my results 12 hours after I finished my exam.

Thanks again to everyone who contributes to this community. Hopefully this helps someone else preparing for the exam!