Hello everyone, my Name is Nova and I’m AWS Certified Solution Architect-Associates(SAA). How my whole story to preparation AWS SAA C-03 exam? it is different from SAA C-02? Let me explain the story.

As privilege of AWS Community Builder, I have 1 free voucher exam. But, the maximum expired is Sept 30th 2022. The second one, I got free voucher from my friends because I’m doing some project with him. The last one is, I was participated in Digital Talent Scholarship(DTS) using AWS Academy, and I completed the whole activity with a total of 170 hours (hands on lab access console to AWS Academy and theory to get 2 Badge). Actually I got free SAA exam too, but unfortunately, I was forgot to joined the telegram group, so I ran out of vouchers. So, I just have 2 voucher SAA exam.

Badge Cloud Foundations from AWS Academy  

This is my learning content in AWS Academy for total 170 hours for Cloud Foundations and Cloud Architecting

Exam Tips & Trick

So, in fact, I just preparation to AWS SAA C-02 exam. At that time, I think AWS SAA C-02 and SAA C-03 is just same, actually SAA C-03 is much harder than SAA C-02 due to different weights in some domains :”). The study material like this.

1. https://aws.amazon.com/training/classroom/architecting-on-aws/ This link consist of some virtual class (maybe this is not free, but you can check in AWS Skill builder too) for 3 days (8 hours x 3 days, 24 hours total), hands-on lab AWS in qwiklabs, access to Bookshelf for 1 years (Architecting on AWS Student Guide and Lab Guide). All of modul like this.
2. AWS Academy because of participant of DTS. Architecting Curriculum for total 170 hours (labs and theory) plus quiz in every modul, and exam in the last day of event.
3. Cloudacademy, SAA C-03 Learning Path by Danny Jessee, free for AWS Community Builder. Recommended for drilling exam questions.
4. Some questions related SAA in Whizlab and Acloud Guru. You can search for specific keyword: SAA exam.
5. AWS Skill-builder in aws.training. You can check more course related to SAA. Some course and practice exam for free.
6. AWS Cheat Sheets from Tutorials Dojo for free, and lots of free courses there. I’m very recommend this because of easy explanations !
7. AWS Certified SAA Freecodecamp if you like to watch Youtube videos.

Pst….. I don’t recommend to use exam dumps like in Examtopics because the questions and answer was too far from “reality” and ambiguity causes confusion.

Challenge

As a mom with toddler, it’s very hard to find free time in a day because my daughter is not in kindergarten yet at that time. So I make schedule in my notebook to track my progress day today. That’s why I can finish DTS events. But, life is very challenging right? I got omicron covid in March (self-issolation for 5 days), then I have a project with other people, I was making Youtube video for CRT AWS Community Builder, then my daughter hospitalized because of typhoid just in time before the exam day…. So, I just reschedule exam more than five times because I was not ready yet haha. :”

Exam Day

So, my preparation study just all about AWS SAA C-02, I know that AWS SAA C-03 will replace SAA C-02 in Sept 2022. So I decided to choose AWS SAA C-03 in Sept because If I failed, at least I tried hahaha….., because this is new, this is must be very challenging. This time, I know that SAA C-03 more “hard”, if you check the whole syllabus and compare between the two standard exam.

I was using PSI for my first SAA C-03 and this is take home test, because I’ve had a test like this so it’s same, I was asked whether the veil I was wearing was for religious purposes or not, I just answered yes, and asked to show ears. :)

130 minutes plus 30 minutes, the exam is so difficult (cry). Some of the questions and multiple choice but it’s hard for me to understand the some words . Some of the questions are tricky if you’re not careful. Questions about the latest AWS technology all came out like: Amazon Lex and friends. :”

After I took the test, the results were not immediately shown. Then I opened LinkedIn and read a friend’s post who had already done SAA C-03, they said it was quite difficult, it seems we are getting the same problem questions. Ha ha…..

The next day, I was told that I had failed the exam. My score is only 643.

I don't meet in all domains of competence. Wow…. it means that in all my domains it is still below the minimum standard with a value of 643 earlier. I read an article on Reddit that has the exact same value as mine, maybe 3 to 5 questions wrong towards the standard value. Because a maximum of 5 questions is not a lot, so I tried to change the learning strategy. Although I sad but I have to accept.

I still have one last exam voucher that I can use. Because I still remember some questions that I couldn’t answer, I wrote down the points one by one and searched the official AWS documentation about the material.

Exam Again

After that, I had access to the Tutorials Dojo Practice Exam and it helped me in understanding the Domains that I still didn’t understand. Once I was ready, I took another test, this time using Pearson Vue. Because Pearson Vue can’t use a Linux-based laptop, it must be Mac or Windows, so I borrowed my husband’s laptop for this home test. Exactly on September 29, 2022, I took my second exam because the next day, September 30, 2022, the voucher given by the AWS Community Builder Team expired.

It says next year there will be no more exams on PSI, so just using Pearson Vue as AWS exam provider, but I hope that Linux Ubuntu based laptops can test, not just Windows and Mac.:”))

The second exam was much easier I think because I had studied more. This time the questions given were as I expected. So I only spent 60 minutes for the test and close. The next day I was told that my credly had new badge, AWS SAA.

The minimum for pass SAA is 720, so I’m only slightly better than the lowest standard for passes, but I’ve covered all competency domains and I’ve made a lot of progress (from 643 to 759). But for information that I don’t have an information technology background, I study physics in college (Hello, Einstein Theory of Relativity) so I had to learn autodidact many times in this field, also learn to be patient and have high deterministic skills because that’s all I can afford.

Conclusion

There are many people who ask what is the importance of Certification? It could be that a certificate like this is not important in this world. You see, certification is intended to be a minimum standard of mastery of a material. This makes it easier for various parties/companies who need standards in the industry.

If the question is, is it all enough with just certification? Of course the answer is no. Because Certification is only a minimum standard, we must have an excellent ability in that field by having good documentation, either by writing or making Youtube videos. This documentation process is also part of the learning process. As well as Feynman Technique, My favorite physicist after Newton and Einstein, the learning process is experimental, like someone can explain to other people with very different backgrounds or explain to children the work we do and get feedback, they understands or not.

So for example when we fail, we don’t see only from one side of the failure but what we can learn from the that failed test. There is a story of a man who hit a stone with a hammer 99 times but the stone has not broken, on the 100th blow then the stone breaks. The question is whether the previous 99 hits are useless because it only takes 1 last hit for the stone to break? Of course not, the 99 strokes was an accumulation of the learning process and coincidentally the last momentum in the 100 strokes, the goal can be achieved.

Well, because I know that my goal is to work in this field, the certification process is part of my learning journey in a field that is very different from what I used to do (physics). Of course in the future, I will be more courageous and willing to make documentation and work on many more advanced projects even though I know I feel like a beginner.

Hands-on lab plus theory at AWS Academy (> than 170 hours) and all links related to exam tips at the beginning of the article, personal documentation on Youtube, practice tests were the right combination for me to succeed in the AWS SAA C- 03 exam which is the last free exam voucher that I have.

For my friends who will take the AWS SAA C-03 certification, my advice is to look at the official AWS syllabus here. The exam guide really helps us to understand which domains we don’t understand, sample questions are useful for whether we are ready for the exam or not, as well as the official practice question set which is like an official exam situation, plus free courses from aws training .

So, what are your tips and tricks for studying? Please comment to add insight!

Nova Lailatul Rizkiyah, newbie at everything so that she can learn anything.

Oct 7, 2022