From Zero to SAA-C03 Certified: How I Passed the AWS Certification on My First Attempt

When I started preparing for the SAA-C03 certification, I had zero to minimal AWS experience and often doubted if I could pass it without the recommended year of experience. Despite these doubts, I managed to pass the exam on my first attempt.

To give you some context, here’s a brief background about me:

• I work full-time with a 9-hour shift.
• I’ve been a developer for nearly 3 years, with minimal AWS experience.
• My current role focuses mainly on front-end development.

Preparation:

Spent 6 months preparing, with plenty of breaks in between.

Resources:

• A Cloud Guru - Provided by my company, this platform was where I did most of my hands-on practice and experiments in the Playground. I took their SAA course there but didn't take it seriously, as I was primarily using Stéphane Maarek’s Ultimate AWS SAA-C03 course.

• Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C03 -I think this course is sufficient to pass the SAA exam, but for a deeper dive into AWS, I recommend Adrian Cantrill's SAA-C03 course.

• Tutorials Dojo - This practice exam is a must! Their review mode works like a charm. If I hadn’t taken their exam, I’m sure I would have failed.

Study Routine and Strategies:

Taking notes is not for me. Instead, I focused on understanding the concepts and doing hands-on practice. While this approach helped me grasp the material, it sometimes led to challenges remembering specific features of services since I'm not taking notes.

My study routine was flexible due to my unpredictable schedule. I didn’t force myself to study if I wasn’t in the mood, which helped keep stress levels low. However, 1 week before the exam, I began to doubt myself and I started to read a lot of others' experience in Reddit in SAA exam. I think I lost a lot of time by just worrying.

Exam Day Experience:

I chose to take the exam at a testing center to avoid the headaches potential issues with online testing, as some exam takers have had negative experiences with online exams.

I was glad that two dogs greeted me when I arrived at the testing center. I was the only one taking the exam. I filled out the form and then surrendered all my belongings, which were placed in a locker.

While others said that the questions were similar to those in Tutorials Dojo, but I found them less wordy and easier. Still, I struggled with questions about services I wasn’t familiar with. I marked 10 questions for review and I think there are total of 15 questions that I'm unfamiliar with.

I focused too much in harder topics like VPC, Security and Data Migration that I end up forgetting other features of services and lowering less than my practice exams.

My exam results:

Average in Practice Exam Review Mode is 80%
Average in Practice Exam Timed Mode is 85%-90%
Actual score is 776/1000

With the SAA-C03 certification behind me, I’m excited to dive into hands-on projects and put my AWS knowledge to practical use. I’m grateful for the support and resources that helped me along the way.