Accelerated learning: 8-Day sprint to 2 AWS Professional Certifications

Hello friends 👋🏻,

If you’re thinking of getting an AWS certification, I’d love to share my learning experience and some insightful 💡tips. My adventure in the world of cloud began about a year ago (2022), specifically focusing on Amazon Web Services. So, before you get too impressed, I should clarify that although I managed to secure 2 certifications in a short span, I had a fair bit of familiarity with many of the concepts beforehand.

1. AWS Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02): Started learning from April 19 to April 22, earned on April 23, 2023.
2. AWS DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02): Started learning from April 23 to 25, earned on April 26, 2023.

Please remember, everyone’s journey is unique ✨. Your path to learning might look quite different from mine. Treat this article as a friendly sharing of my experience and perspective — it might offer some useful insights, or perhaps provide inspiration for your own cloud quest.

I. 🗓️ Set Your Exam Schedule

Setting a target date for your exam not only gives you a goal to work towards but also helps you manage your study time more effectively.

At the time of writing this article, AWS certification exams can be taken via Pearson Vue and you have the flexibility to reschedule up to 3 times. Plus, here’s a 💡tip — If you’re a non-native English speaker taking an exam in English, you can request an extra 30 minutes for your exam. I found this super helpful, as the extra time gave me a cushion to review everything before submitting my answers.

Also, having a game plan for the sequence of your exams can make things smoother. I recommend starting with the associate then professional; Solutions Architect Associate, then moving on to the Solutions Architect Professional. Same goes with Developer Associate and SysOps Associate, and finally the DevOps Engineer Professional.
Why, you ask? Because once you get the professional certification, your associate certification automatically gets recertified.

II. 📚 Lots of Exam Practice with 🎯 Specific Target

Now, learning through hands-on experience, deploying cloud architecture, reading documentation, or watching video materials are all great ways to soak up AWS certification concepts. However, the fastest track to understanding is by actually taking the time to practice. The internet is teeming with excellent practice resources, and I’m excited to share my learning platforms:

1. AWS Official Sample Questions: The official AWS Sample Questions give you a great idea of the kind of questions you’ll face in the Solutions Architect Professional Sample Questions and DevOps Engineer Professional. The best part? They come with rationales for the correct answers.
2. Udemy: This platform offers comprehensive AWS certification prep courses that are well-structured and cover the entire syllabus, and even include practice exams to help you get a feel for the real deal.
3. BenchPrep: Offers a personalized learning experience for AWS certification prep, with a gamified learning feature to keep things engaging!
4. ACloudGuru: Renowned for their cloud computing courses, including AWS certifications. Their video content, quizzes, and practice exams are super engaging and helpful.
5. WhizLabs: Known for their online certification training in various disciplines, their AWS certification practice exams are renowned for being similar to the actual exam in terms of difficulty and structure.

Don’t worry if you don’t ace your first attempt — I certainly didn’t. For instance, in my first Solutions Architect Professional practice exam, I only scored 56% (that’s 42 out of 75), while a 75% score was required to pass. But hey, failures are just stepping stones, right? My trick was to set 📈 incrementally higher targets for each exam practice attempt, like 65%, 70%, 75%, and then 80%.

For the AWS Solutions Architect Professional, I took 5 practice exams in total. As for the DevOps Engineer Professional, I braved 4 practice exams. Persistence is key!

💡 Personal tip: for both these certifications, I highly recommend focusing on the courses by Stephane Maarek on Udemy. From my experience, these practice exams cover all the important points and resemble the real exam quite closely. But remember, your journey is yours alone, so tailor your learning to what suits you best and remember — every step you take is a step closer to your goal!

III. ⏰ Carve Out Your Learning Time

Making a solid schedule and sticking to it is absolutely crucial.

You’ll face two types of questions in the exam: multiple choice and multiple response, and there’ll be around 75 questions in total. From my experience, the length of a practice exam is pretty much on par with the actual exam, taking around 180 minutes or 3 hours.

But here’s a 💡little secret: the most crucial part is actually the reviewing the practice question. It was the case for me that reviewing took almost as much time as the exam itself. The goal here is to review both your right and wrong answers, so you get a firm grip on the correct thought process, and not just memorize the correct answers.

IV. ✍🏻 Documented Everything

To avoid repeating the same mistakes, it’s crucial to make personal notes.

My 💡learning tip — I used a table to track every exam I took. The format included the highlighted keyword from the question, my answer and why it was wrong, and the correct answer with a rationale. This way, you’re not just learning the correct answers, but also understanding the why behind them. Trust me, it’s a game changer!

I’ll give you one example:

V. 🌞 The actual Exam date

Firstly, don’t sweat the big day! Treat yourself to something tasty and take some time to unwind 😌. Remember, you’ve put in the hard work and now it’s time to let it shine.

I opted to take the exam online with online proctoring. You’re asked to check-in 30 minutes before your exam but don’t fret if you’re all checked in and the queue seems to be longer than your patience! Even if your scheduled exam time has passed, the system will still allow you to take your exam.

Now, after all that hard work, I know you’ll be eager to know your results. But brace yourself for a tiny wait. The exam result is usually not shared on the same day. In my case, I found out the next day via an email. The wait can be a bit nerve-wracking — but remember, good things come to those who wait!

I sincerely hope that sharing my experience proves beneficial as you embark on your own journey towards earning new certifications. Remember, every step you take is bringing you closer to your goal. Good luck 💪!

I’d absolutely love to hear about your own experiences and thoughts. Do you have a story to share, or perhaps some feedback on my journey? Please do let me know. I’m all ears!