AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification (SAA-C02)

I am writing this blog to share my experience with this industry recognized certification, as many colleagues are seeking information around it.

Enrollment and preparation

Enrolled for the certification in first week of May 2020. Completed ACloudGuru courses:

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Learning Path by 12th June 2020
Mock Exam by 19th June 2020
Was able to complete 100% of course and Mock exam on time. Regarding ACloudGuru contents:
  • I liked the ACloudGuru videos very much, as they are organized in a simple way to provide fundamental knowledge about AWS features.
  • ACloudGurus videos are segregated in small lengths ( < 20 mins) and targeted for anyone having least or no prior knowledge.
Note: At that time, the contents on ACloudGuru was inline with SAA-C01. There are lot of new topics included in SAA-C02 and there is considerable change in weightage of the topics.
Apart from AcloudGuru, I also completed some practice tests from MyLearning – Accenture Percipio

EXAM Registration

The BIG Question was – Should I take up SAA-C01 or SAA-C02?
I reviewed lot of online resources to make a decision because both exams were having same validity and SAA-C01 was comparatively easier. e.g:
I also had another “Mulesoft Certification” exam that I was planning to take up soon after this, so I didn’t think much and registered for SAA-C02 exam for 23rd June. But, as the date approached nearer, I realized that I had to cover more AWS advance contents and should do more practice tests. I rescheduled the exam for 27th June.

Yes, you can reschedule the exam from the same site where you registered !! 

Additional Preparation for SAA-C02

Given below are some sites (free), which I referred in order to get knowledge regarding the new topics and attempt more practice tests:
Digital Cloud Training – Cheat Sheets and Practice Exams as per SAA-C02
Knowledge Hut – Practice Sets
Tutorial Dojo – Cheat Sheets ( Didn’t attempt Practice Tests as those are not available for Free)
By this time, ACloudGuru also added some newer chapters in their course and also updated their practice tests. So, I went through them. At the time of this writing, ACloudGuru is still adding more contents as per SAA-C02 in their course. Anyways, after 30th June 2020, students won’t have the choice and everyone will need to take up SAA-C02 exam only.
At this point of time, I was very confident. Was getting 85-88% on an average and was finishing the practice tests within 1 hour !!

Taking the exam

On the exam day, I was ready half an hour before the exam. It took almost half an hour for the check-in process. Once I clicked on “Begin Exam” and provided my phone number, they sent a link for check-in on the phone.
During check-in process, they asked to take photographs of the location (home) from all sides and also take snapshot of an Identity proof (Driving License or Passport). Once check-in process was done on phone, I had to return to the desktop/laptop and refresh the page. Message was there to keep phone away from reachable distance. I did the same.
And then, the exam begun.
  • None of the questions were straightforward. e.g. Which EC2 type you’ll use in this case? or What is the availability of S3-IA? no.. no… no…
  • I though that some initial questions may be lengthy and then it might ease later. But, it didn’t happen.
  • Almost all questions were situation based with no straightforward solutions. Choosing one/two among the options was difficult.
  • I marked many questions (around 15-20) for review. But, at the end, I didn’t had time to go back to them.
  • I took full 2 hours to attempt all questions.

Results

Once the test has been marked complete, there is a survey of around 10 questions that is displayed (Time given is 5 minutes). Once that is done, a page is displayed with Test Result – PASS or FAIL in bold letters. Please wait there before moving ahead.
Fortunately, it was PASS for me. I was not that confident based on how the paper was, but looking at that message I breathed a sigh of relief !! I thought to take a snapshot, but didn’t. I completed test and closed the “Vue” app completely.
The YourAcclaim Badge came within 24 hours. And within a day after that, I received an email stating that Score Report along with the certificate are available on the AWS Training website.
All the Best to the exam takers!! My one suggestion for you –
Please don’t spend much time on practice tests (just do a few), spend more time on learning the use cases and more details around various AWS services.
That’s all for now !!
Location: India

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