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AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam Preparation Tips (SAA-C03)

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AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate is an entry-level exam explicitly designed for professionals seeking a career in this field. The exam is designed to test the knowledge and skills of individuals who want to become certified AWS Solutions Architects. The exam covers a wide range of topics related to AWS, including:

  • AWS architecture and infrastructure
  • AWS core services
  • Security and Compliance
  • AWS deployment and management
  • AWS pricing and billing

Let us now look at some of the important tips and tricks to pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam!

About AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam is designed for candidates who can perform the functions of a solutions architect. They must have at least one year of hands-on experience building available, cost-effective, fault-tolerant, and scalable AWS distributed systems. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam is a widely recognized certification that assesses an individual’s knowledge of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. The exam is designed to test your ability to design and deploy scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems on AWS.

This exam validates a candidate’s ability to create and deliver secure and resilient applications using Amazon Web Services technology. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate pay is $118,266 on average per year, which raises your earning potential.

The following skills are validated by the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification:

  • Knowledge of how to architect and deploy secure and robust applications on AWS technologies is required.
  • Using architectural design principles to define a solution based on customer requirements
  • Providing implementation guidance to the organization based on best practices throughout the project’s life cycle

Let’s now gather some more details about the exam like the exam pattern and the course outline.

Exam Format

Multiple-choice questions are used in the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam. Also, you get 130 minutes to complete the 65 questions in this exam. English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese are the available exam languages. Moreover, the following forms of questions can be there:

  • Multiple-choice questions require you to choose one correct option from a list of four.
  • Multiple-response questions allow for multiple correct answers from the options provided.
  • Furthermore, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam costs $150 USD. To pass the exam, you must obtain a score of 70-75%. This exam is valid for three years.

Key Terms For Better Preparation

Here is a glossary of some key terms and concepts related to the AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam (SAA-C03):

  • Region: a geographic area in which AWS resources are available. Each region consists of multiple availability zones.
  • Availability zone: a data center or group of data centers within a region that is isolated from other availability zones in terms of power and network connectivity.
  • Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): a service that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple EC2 instances or containers.
  • Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. EC2 instances can be launched in a variety of configurations, including different instance types, operating systems, and security groups.
  • Auto Scaling: a service that automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances or containers in response to changes in demand.
  • Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service): a web service that provides highly scalable and durable object storage in the cloud.
  • Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service): a web service that provides managed database services for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, and Amazon Aurora.
  • Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud): a service that allows you to provision a logically isolated section of the AWS cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network.
  • AWS Lambda: a service that allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. Lambda functions can be triggered by events from other AWS services or from external sources.
  • AWS CloudFormation: a service that allows you to create and manage AWS resources as code.
  • AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): a service that allows you to manage access to AWS resources by creating and managing users, groups, and permissions.
  • Amazon CloudWatch: a service that provides monitoring and logging for AWS resources and applications.
  • AWS Trusted Advisor: a service that provides recommendations to help you optimize your AWS infrastructure, improve security, and save money.
  • AWS Well-Architected Framework: a set of best practices and guidelines for designing and operating reliable, secure, efficient, and cost-effective systems in the cloud.

Let us now move to the main point of the article –

Preparing for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam

We can’t deny it: passing this industry-relevant and most difficult certification is no easy task. Besides work experience, the exam dictates a list of skills you have to gain before diving headlong into preparation. You must be completely aware of the concepts at all times. In addition, here are some additional hints to help you get through –

Step 1: Thoroughly study the AWS SAA-C03 exam guide

It is always critical to understand the exam objectives. Download the AWS SAA-C03 exam guide to learn more about exam content. Make sure to first look into the AWS resources. Then, determine whether you require materials and resources in addition to the AWS learning paths. Similarly, match your skills to your prerequisites.

AWS is constantly updating its services and offerings, so it’s important to stay current with the latest developments in the platform. Read AWS whitepapers and follow industry news and developments to ensure you have the most up-to-date knowledge and skills.

Step 2: Review the theories and learning paths

Now that you understand the fundamentals of the AWS solutions architect certification exam, it’s time to begin studying the theory. You can enroll in the AWS CSAA for Architecting paid classroom training. It is a three-day intermediate course that covers all exam concepts.

You can also take the AWS exam preparation course. It comes with 6-8 hours of practice materials, videos, and hands-on labs. In a nutshell, a complete package. If you require additional materials, training program courses are available. They are self-paced and will provide you with a comprehensive exam package that includes theory resources and video courses.

Step 3: Refer to the books

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Books are an excellent way to supplement your study materials. You should read the following books:

  • First and foremost, Zeal Vora’s AWS Certified Solutions Architect – The Definitive Study Guide.
  • Second, Peter’s Serverless Architectures on AWS
  • Third, IP Specialist’s AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Complete Study Guide: 100+ Exam Practice Questions

Step 4: Increase your hands-on experience

It’s time to be confident in your abilities. Hands-on labs, daily challenges, and sandboxes allow you to apply your knowledge in a real-world scenario. The best way to understand and remember concepts is to apply your knowledge in a real-world scenario. You can look at:

  • AWS Cloud Quest is one example of a lab challenge. It’s more like a game that teaches AWS services by allowing you to use AWS services and solve problems just like you would in real life.
  • Hands-on labs are available as part of the training program. These labs are usually nuanced and last an hour. There are also labs that you can use for free. All you need to do is set up an account.
  • You could also use AWS sandboxes. These are virtual and isolated infrastructures that allow you to experiment and apply. You can practice your practical skills by learning and experimenting with your knowledge in a simulated AWS environment.

Step 5: Complete practice papers

You’re getting close to the end of your preparations. Begin by attempting practice papers to assess your knowledge and domain understanding. There are numerous exam dumps and practice papers available. Start with the AWS sample papers and official exam.

These tests provide comprehensive explanations as well as quick assessments. Conduct a SWOT analysis. Fill in the blanks and relearn the weak spots. Then try once more.

Exam Tips:

Here are some tips to help you prepare for and pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam:

  • Gain hands-on experience: The best way to prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam is to gain hands-on experience with the AWS platform. Start by creating and deploying simple applications, and then move on to more complex solutions as you become more confident with the platform.
  • Study the exam objectives: The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam covers a wide range of topics, including designing and deploying scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems, understanding the basics of network architecture and using AWS services to securely store and access data. Make sure you understand the exam objectives and can apply that knowledge to real-world scenarios.
  • Use official AWS resources: AWS provides a range of resources to help you prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam, including training courses, whitepapers, and the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam guide. Make sure you use these resources to increase your knowledge and prepare for the certification.
  • Join a study group: Joining a study group can be a great way to increase your knowledge and connect with others who are preparing for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam. You can find study groups online or in person, and you can use these groups to ask questions, share your knowledge, and support each other as you prepare for the certification.
  • Stay current: AWS is constantly updating its services and offerings, so it’s important to stay current with the latest developments in the platform. Read AWS whitepapers and follow industry news and developments to ensure you have the most up-to-date knowledge and skills.

Expert Advice

While we are preoccupied with acing technical and complex subjects, we frequently forget about very basic and minimal topics during the exam. Simple questions are the best way to score, but they are often difficult to remember in the final moments. So, keep revising them!

Preparation can be stressful at times. Whatever the exam, So try not to become overly anxious or stressed. Stick to the schedule and take one step at a time. Approach the situation strategically. Divide your preparation process into simple phases and steps, and stick to them. With the right strategy, you can pass any exam with flying colors.

AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate – Online Documentation

Only the weightings, test domains, and objectives are shown in the Solutions Architect Associate exam guide. Despite the fact that it is not an exhaustive list of the content on this examination. The main content domains and their weightings are listed in the table of contents.

New AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) Exam Course Outline

Domain 1: Design Secure Architectures
Task Statement 1: Design secure access to AWS resources.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Task Statement 2: Design secure workloads and applications.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Task Statement 3: Determine appropriate data security controls.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Domain 2: Design Resilient Architectures
Task Statement 1: Design scalable and loosely coupled architectures.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:
  • Designing event-driven, microservice, and/or multi-tier architectures based on requirements (AWS Documentation: Event-Driven Architecture)
  • Determining scaling strategies for components used in an architecture design
  • Furthermore, Determining the AWS services required to achieve loose coupling based on requirements (AWS Documentation: Loosely Coupled Scenarios)
  • Determining when to use containers (AWS Documentation: Determining task size)
  • Moreover, Determining when to use serverless technologies and patterns
  • Recommending appropriate compute, storage, networking, and database technologies based on requirements
  • Using purpose-built AWS services for workloads (AWS Documentation: Database)
Task Statement 2: Design highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:
  • Determining automation strategies to ensure infrastructure integrity (AWS Documentation: Protecting Compute)
  • Determining the AWS services required to provide a highly available and/or fault-tolerant architecture across AWS Regions or Availability Zones (AWS Documentation: Architecture guidelines and decisions)
  • Identifying metrics based on business requirements to deliver a highly available solution
  • Implementing designs to mitigate single points of failure (AWS Documentation: Withstand Component Failures)
  • Implementing strategies to ensure the durability and availability of data (for example, backups)
  • Selecting an appropriate DR strategy to meet business requirements (AWS Documentation: Plan for Disaster Recovery (DR))
  • Using AWS services that improve the reliability of legacy applications and applications not built for the cloud (for example, when application changes are not possible)
  • Using purpose-built AWS services for workloads (AWS Documentation: Database)
Domain 3: Design High-Performing Architectures
Task Statement 1: Determine high-performing and/or scalable storage solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • Hybrid storage solutions to meet business requirements (AWS Documentation: Hybrid Cloud Storage)
  • Storage services with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic File System [Amazon EFS], Amazon Elastic Block Store [Amazon EBS]) (AWS Documentation: Storage)
  • Storage types with associated characteristics (for example, object, file, block)

Skills in:

  • Determining storage services and configurations that meet performance demands (AWS Documentation: Storage Architecture Selection)
  • Determining storage services that can scale to accommodate future needs (AWS Documentation: Storage)
AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam
Task Statement 2: Design high-performing and elastic compute solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS compute services with appropriate use cases (for example, AWS Batch, Amazon EMR, Fargate) (AWS Documentation: AWS Batch on AWS Fargate, Compute Services)
  • Distributed computing concepts supported by AWS global infrastructure and edge services (AWS Documentation: Global infrastructure)
  • Queuing and messaging concepts (for example, publish/subscribe) (AWS Documentation: Pub/Sub Messaging)
  • Scalability capabilities with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling, AWS Auto Scaling) (AWS Documentation: Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling)
  • Serverless technologies and patterns (for example, Lambda, Fargate) (AWS Documentation: Serverless)
  • The orchestration of containers (for example, Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS) (AWS Documentation: Orchestrating the containers)

Skills in:

  • Decoupling workloads so that components can scale independently (AWS Documentation: Event-Driven Architecture)
  • Identifying metrics and conditions to perform scaling actions (AWS Documentation: Monitor CloudWatch metrics)
  • Selecting the appropriate compute options and features (for example, EC2 instance types) to meet business requirements (AWS Documentation: Amazon EC2 Instance Types)
  • Selecting the appropriate resource type and size (for example, the amount of Lambda memory) to meet business requirements
Task Statement 3: Determine high-performing database solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS global infrastructure (for example, Availability Zones, AWS Regions) (AWS Documentation: Global infrastructure)
  • Caching strategies and services (for example, Amazon ElastiCache) (AWS Documentation: Caching strategies)
  • Data access patterns (for example, read-intensive compared with write-intensive) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for Amazon RDS)
  • Database capacity planning (for example, capacity units, instance types, Provisioned IOPS)
  • Database connections and proxies (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon RDS Proxy)
  • Furthermore, Database engines with appropriate use cases (for example, heterogeneous migrations, homogeneous migrations) (AWS Documentation: Heterogeneous database migration)
  • Database replication (for example, read replicas) (AWS Documentation: Working with read replicas)
  • Moreover, Database types and services (for example, serverless, relational compared with non-relational, in-memory) (AWS Documentation: Database)

Skills in:

  • Configuring read replicas to meet business requirements
  • Designing database architectures (AWS Documentation: Database Architecture Selection)
  • Also, Determining an appropriate database engine (for example, MySQL compared with PostgreSQL) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for Amazon RDS)
  • Determining an appropriate database type (for example, Amazon Aurora, Amazon DynamoDB)
  • Integrating caching to meet business requirements
Task Statement 4: Determine high-performing and/or scalable network architectures.

Knowledge of:

  • Edge networking services with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon CloudFront, AWS Global Accelerator) (AWS Documentation: Edge networking with AWS)
  • How to design network architecture (for example, subnet tiers, routing, IP addressing) (AWS Documentation: VPC with public and private subnets (NAT))
  • Load balancing concepts (for example, Application Load Balancer) (AWS Documentation: Application Load Balancer)
  • Network connection options (for example, AWS VPN, Direct Connect, AWS PrivateLink) (AWS Documentation: AWS Direct Connect)

Skills in:

Task Statement 5: Determine high-performing data ingestion and transformation solutions.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures
Task Statement 1: Design cost-optimized storage solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • Access options (for example, an S3 bucket with Requester Pays object storage) (AWS Documentation: Using Requester Pays buckets for storage transfers and usage)
  • AWS cost management service features (for example, cost allocation tags, multi-account billing) (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
  • Furthermore, AWS cost management tools with appropriate use cases (for example, AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report) (AWS Documentation: Analyzing your costs with AWS Cost Explorer)
  • AWS storage services with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon FSx, Amazon EFS, Amazon S3, Amazon EBS) (AWS Documentation: Storage)
  • Backup strategies (AWS Documentation: AWS Backup)
  • Block storage options (for example, hard disk drive [HDD] volume types, solid state drive [SSD] volume types) (AWS Documentation: Amazon EBS volume types)
  • Data lifecycles (AWS Documentation: Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager)
  • Hybrid storage options (for example, DataSync, Transfer Family, Storage Gateway)
  • Storage access patterns
  • Also, Storage tiering (for example, cold tiering for object storage) (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon S3 storage classes)
  • Furthermore, Storage types with associated characteristics (for example, object, file, block) (AWS Documentation: Storage)
Skills in:
Task Statement 2: Design cost-optimized compute solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS cost management service features (for example, cost allocation tags, multi-account billing) (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
  • Moreover, AWS cost management tools with appropriate use cases (for example, Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report) (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Explorer)
  • Also, AWS global infrastructure (for example, Availability Zones, AWS Regions) (AWS Documentation: Global infrastructure)
  • Furthermore, AWS purchasing options (for example, Spot Instances, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans) (AWS Documentation: Instance purchasing options)
  • Distributed compute strategies (for example, edge processing) (AWS Documentation: Amazon SageMaker Distributed Training Libraries)
  • Hybrid compute options (for example, AWS Outposts, AWS Snowball Edge) (AWS Documentation: Compute Services)
  • Instance types, families, and sizes (for example, memory optimized, compute optimized, virtualization) (AWS Documentation: Memory optimized instances)
  • Optimization of compute utilization (for example, containers, serverless computing, microservices)
  • Scaling strategies (for example, auto scaling, hibernation) (AWS Documentation: Warm pools for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling)
Skills in:
  • Determining an appropriate load balancing strategy (for example, Application Load Balancer [Layer 7] compared with Network Load Balancer [Layer 4] compared with Gateway Load Balancer) (AWS Documentation: Elastic Load Balancing FAQs)
  • Moreover, Determining appropriate scaling methods and strategies for elastic workloads (for example, horizontal compared with vertical, EC2 hibernation) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for EC2 Spot)
  • Furthermore, Determining cost-effective AWS compute services with appropriate use cases (for example, Lambda, Amazon EC2, Fargate)
  • Also, Determining the required availability for different classes of workloads (for example, production workloads, non-production workloads) (AWS Documentation: Workloads)
  • Selecting the appropriate instance family for a workload
  • Selecting the appropriate instance size for a workload (AWS Documentation: Tips for Right Sizing)
Task Statement 3: Design cost-optimized database solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS cost management service features (for example, cost allocation tags, multi-account billing) (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
  • Furthermore, AWS cost management tools with appropriate use cases (for example, Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report) (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Explorer)
  • Caching strategies (AWS Documentation: Caching strategies)
  • Data retention policies
  • Database capacity planning (for example, capacity units) (AWS Documentation: Read/write capacity mode)
  • Moreover, Database connections and proxies (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon RDS Proxy)
  • Furthermore, Database engines with appropriate use cases (for example, heterogeneous migrations, homogeneous migrations) (AWS Documentation: Heterogeneous database migration)
  • Also, Database replication (for example, read replicas) (AWS Documentation: Working with read replicas)
  • Database types and services (for example, relational compared with non-relational, Aurora, DynamoDB) (AWS Documentation: Database)
Skills in:
  • Designing appropriate backup and retention policies (for example, snapshot frequency)
  • Determining an appropriate database engine (for example, MySQL compared with PostgreSQL) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for Amazon RDS)
  • Furthermore, Determining cost-effective AWS database services with appropriate use cases (for example, DynamoDB compared with Amazon RDS, serverless)
  • Also, Determining cost-effective AWS database types (for example, time series format, columnar format) (AWS Documentation: AWS Cloud Databases)
  • Migrating database schemas and data to different locations and/or different database engines (AWS Documentation: Best practices for AWS Database Migration Service)
Task Statement 4: Design cost-optimized network architectures.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:
  • Configuring appropriate NAT gateway types for a network (for example, a single shared NAT gateway compared with NAT gateways for each Availability Zone) (AWS Documentation: NAT gateways)
  • Also, Configuring appropriate network connections (for example, Direct Connect compared with VPN compared with internet) (AWS Documentation: AWS Direct Connect FAQs)
  • Furthermore, Configuring appropriate network routes to minimize network transfer costs (for example, Region to Region, Availability Zone to Availability Zone, private to public, Global Accelerator, VPC endpoints)
  • Determining strategic needs for content delivery networks (CDNs) and edge caching (AWS Documentation: Working with Content Delivery Networks (CDNs))
  • Reviewing existing workloads for network optimizations (AWS Documentation: Optimize over time)
  • Selecting an appropriate throttling strategy (AWS Documentation: Throttle API requests for better throughput)
  • Selecting the appropriate bandwidth allocation for a network device (for example, a single VPN compared with multiple VPNs, Direct Connect speed) (AWS Documentation: Site-to-Site VPN single and multiple connections)
AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam
Anandita Doda
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