Studying for the AWS Associate Architect Exam? Keep reading for what to expect as I share my tips for passing the exam on the first try *and* making the best use of your time. Also see:
- How to Study for the AWS Associate Developer
- How I studied for the AWS Associate Architect
- My AWS Associate Architect Study Notes
Choosing the Right Associate Exam
There are three Associate level exams. The Architect and Developer exams have a lot of overlap. The Sys Ops one is very different. Which means those reading this page are probably deciding between the Architect and Developer exams!
If you look online, different people will say each of the associate exams is the “hardest”. The problem with “hard” is similar to the problem with “easy”.
This was my advice when I choose the Developer exam to take first. I completely agree with it now that I’ve taken both!
In a nutshell, I’d say developers will probably find the developer one more interesting. Those with a networking or architecture background will probably find the architect one more interesting. Another tip is to look at the ACG (A Cloud Guru) outline for the architect and developer exams to see which you find more interesting. For example, Dynamo was one of my favorite topics and VPCs one of my least favorite so Developer was clearly the right choice!
Checking the version numbers
As of September 2020, the current version is the SAA-C02. I do not recommend using materials for the SAA-C01 unless you are using them in very specific ways (ex: to learn a specific topic)
Official Study Guide/Outline
Amazon’s official Solution Architect Associate page has an outline and sample questions.
Jeanne’s study notes
While I’m posting my notes, they are just to give you a feel for the types of things you should know. They are not meant to learn from.
A Cloud Guru (ACG)
- The A Cloud Guru architect course is excellent. It costs $50 (if you can finish it in a month). I like that they added a sandbox to play in and subtitles
- See my blog on how ACG prepares you
John Bonso Practice Exams
John Bonso’s practice exams on Udemy are $13 for 6 exams. (Udemy runs frequent sales to get it to that price) Each question has a detailed explanation to help you learn.
Amazon Practice questions
- If you’ve taken another AWS exam (like the Practitioner), you get to take a 20 question timed practice exam for free. Go into the cert dashboard using your login to get a coupon code for this.