AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate - Recertification 2022

This one was a long time coming. I had taken this exam back in March 2019, which then expired in March this year.

Recertification of this cert was always something I wanted to do in 2022. As you might be able to tell by the date, it's something that only JUST made it in this year! 😌

My Study Approach

Similar to my Terraform prep, the first thing I did, without even looking at the content, was scheduling the exam 4 weeks from the current date. I'm a strong believer in this strategy; you essentially create a deadline for yourself by doing this, which puts you under time pressure, and helps you stay focused on your study.

While I understand it's a bit stressful for some, it is a strategy that has worked quite well for me.

While I had passed the previous version of exam before, I was concerned that there may be new services that have been introduced since I last took the exam, which may be in scope in the current version of the exam. Furthermore, I figured that a complete refresher on AWS wouldn't hurt, so I decided to take Stéphane Maarek's Udemy course for my revision. This course was really well made IMO.

I would try to do 1-2 sections of the course every day. At the same time, I would be taking notes of the content.

7 days before the exam I started taking practice tests, making sure to make note of which answers I got wrong and ensure I don't get it wrong next time.

After four weeks of constant study and scoring 85%+ on the practice exams, I was happy to pass the exam today with a mark of 78%.

Exam Tips

I usually encourage going through the exam in Three Passes:

• 1st Pass: Go through each question and answer as many as you can. If you don't know the answer, flag it and move on to the next one. Keep going until you reach the end.
• 2nd Pass: Go through each of your flagged questions, and take time to think about the answer. If you still can't think of the answer, leave it flagged. Keep going until you have reached the end the flagged questions.
• 3rd Pass: Go through ALL questions, whether they have a flag or not. Take this time to verify that your answer is correct. Make adjustments if required. Repeat this until the timer on the exam ends.




Some other recommendations/tips:

• Do not underestimate this exam - even though it is Associate level, the exam scope is quite large.
• Use up ALL of the exam time. Do not finish it early.
• The exam is ~90% identical to the previous version, SAA-C02. I personally found that a main difference between the two versions, was the heavy focus on VPC concepts such as AWS Site-to-Site VPN, AWS VPN CloudHub, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, VPN ECMP, and VPG's. I'd recommend making sure you know these concepts well.
• Hands on experience is king. Make sure to follow along with the labs that most instructors include in their courses.

Conclusion

Overall, this exam can be challenging - especially for those who are learning AWS for the first time.

That being said, I truly believe that this is a cornerstone certification for those who want to prove their knowledge of AWS, as the exam covers how to design applications on AWS in a performant, cost optimized and reliable manner. This certification is well worth the effort.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the exam, please feel free to get in touch via any of the contact methods above.

Good Luck!