AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Exam: What Worked for Me
- Makayla
- Oct 3, 2022
- 2 min read
I've always been a decent test-taker; I don't get very anxious for tests, I don't second guess myself during tests, and I usually finish within plenty of time with a relatively high passing grade. But I haven't taken a test for a couple years now, and I was worried prior to taking my AWS Cloud Practitioner exam that I would be out of practice.
And I was - in terms of studying and confidence - but I still managed to prepare thoroughly and even pass on the first try! So what worked for me?
If you've considered taking the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification exam, I would like to offer some advice on how I found effective study methods and resources (you may be surprised about my final and most effective method), and if you've also already taken the exam and passed (congratulations!) then please offer your own advice in the comments as well!
How long did I study?
So the first question you may be asking as you are first thinking about taking this is exam is "How long should I take to prepare before signing up and taking the exam?" I think this answer will and should differ person to person. This totally depends on your personal timeline for when you want to be certified, how many additional hours in the day you have or are willing to use toward studying, and many other factors! I originally intended to do the AWS Challenge at work where you were to complete the exam within a month of taking the course and studying. This did not happen as I did not have enough time to dedicate to studying within that timeframe, but I did set myself a deadline to register for an exam by the end of September, so I buckled down and settled into a more serious pattern of studying at that point. In the end, I studied and prepared for the exam for a little under 2 months and was able to pass in that timeframe. This was also with 0 prior knowledge or experience with AWS, so if you've had some hands on experience already you may need less time, or if you feel like 2 months doesn't give you enough time to fully prepare then it could be longer. Be mindful of your schedule and energy, and you will do just fine taking it whenever you feel is best!
What resources did I use?
I tried a whole variety of different resources to prepare for the exam, but I will preface that I did not use any services that cost money other than ones covered by my company, but I have heard that there are several others out there that require subscriptions that are also great, so it just depends how serious you are about learning the material and getting experience with it. I personally did fine with my "free" resources! The first resources I used were the provided AWS events: Cloud Practitioner Essentials course and the Exam Readiness course. Both of these were provided through the challenge I was doing - the first was an all day event walking through each main topic, and the second was a review with some practice questions. Both were good starting points, but I definitely needed to dedicate more time on my own to studying! I then used a guide within my company's learning platform to direct the next part of my studying. This included some Pearson learning options which I really benefited from! I went through the entirety of the "AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide," and I felt that it was a very thorough overview of the topics. Plus it has quick practice quizzes at the end of each chapter which I liked. I also took the Pearson practice exam and felt that the variety of questions and ways to use the exam to study was really neat. I used two more resources. One that was recommended to me as a free resource for practice tests but also had some nice "blogs" that were a clear look at individual, specific AWS topics, and then I also finished my studying off with AWS documentation in order to review topics that I was still unsure about prior to taking the exam. I have to be honest that I also googled some things randomly by the end particularly when I was struggling to define differences between two topics/services, but I will explain this process in more detail below!
What were my study methods?
We have come to the most important part: what actually worked after flipping through all of those resources above? What should you spend your time on? Well, as I mentioned with how long to study, this will also differ per person. Everyone retains information differently, so you may have to try a few things before you find your rhythm too, but I can at least provide one perspective! AWS live courses - While I don't think the 2 live sessions I attended were the #1 thing that prepared me for the exam, I do think that it provided a context for me as to what I should expect to learn. I think you could do this at your own pace with the textbook that I used though without needing the live session necessarily, and AWS has lots of quick videos pertaining to specific topics that you could still utilize if you want that video/presentation format. I think this one comes down to how you learn. Pearson textbook - I 100% recommend this resource! It was very helpful to go through the topics at my own pace and use the quizzes at the end to review. Again, great way to get a large view context about AWS. Pearson Practice Test - I think this practice test provided the best learning experience but once I started taking other practice tests, I felt like it left out some key questions and topics, so I would use it but not exclusively. AWS Boy Practice Tests & Blogs - I, personally, think this site prepared me the best overall. It overwhelmed me at first because there were many topics included that I had barely even heard of before (even though this was a month and a half into studying), but especially using the blogs as review after taking the practice tests definitely gave me some clear explanations and understanding of the material! These were hard, but I feel like it prepared me well in the end. AWS Documentation & Google - Okay, these were my last resort the night before the exam, but I cannot tell you how much these helped!! After taking all of the practice tests on AWS Boy, I wrote down EVERY topic that I felt unsure about including topics I was getting mixed up, and I walked through the AWS documentation (and googled for comparison charts and other additional content) for each service I had listed and either wrote out my understanding of each or just took brief notes. This helped so much for recollection the next day!! In some ways I wish I had done this sooner, but I also think it made sense to do this at the last minute as a complete review.
Conclusion
The night before my exam and even during the exam I did not feel very confident in my answers and understanding. I had been getting consistent 50-65% on all of the practice tests, and I felt like I was still confused about various topics; however, I did feel like studying the night before and using the AWS documentation actually helped me recall a lot of information I don't think I would have otherwise. Through my "last minute" studying I was able to write out my understanding of different concepts or how services differed. I created a pneumonic for the Well-Architected Framework (CROPS - if that helps you), and all of these written notes were glued to my brain when it came time for the test.
So practice tests helped me to understand what the questions might look like and what concepts would be present, but researching on my own and taking notes that helped ME with the items I was confused about helped with recollection so much more!
How did you study for AWS? What worked for you?
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