[Must-see for test takers] We will teach you how to study for the AWS certification SAA (Solution Architect)! !

 

*Ramen Hayato (Minamimorimachi, Osaka City)

Hello!
My name is Hide, the ramen king of Beyond Osaka Office.
This is my third post.

In this article, I will talk about the AWS SAA (Solution Architect) qualification that I recently obtained!
Last time, let's have fun using docker commands with Makefile! ] and
[Get access logs with AWS ELB!], so
if you are interested, please take a look.

Have fun using docker commands with Makefile!

Get access logs with AWS ELB!

 

 

I have also uploaded the contents of this article to Youtube, so
if you would prefer to watch a video instead of reading the text, please check it out.

 

 

 

 

What is AWS SAA?

AWS SAA (Solution Architect) is a certification established by AWS.
Obtaining this qualification will prove that you have a certain level of understanding of AWS services.
This qualification is extremely popular and is sometimes used to appeal when job hunting or as a basis for determining promotion to a managerial position, so
many people take the exam to obtain it every year. Masu.
In addition, the level of SAA for AWS qualifications as a whole is ranked as [Associate].

 

 

 

“Wait a minute!!”
“It says “1 year of experience in solving problems and implementing solutions using the AWS cloud”...can I take it? (sweat)”
“I’m really worried about that. But... are you okay?”

 

I'm sure some of you thought the above, but...it's okay! !
This just means that the questions you will be asked will be at that level.
Please rest assured that you will not be unable to take the exam unless you meet the above requirements!

 

However, even though it says "1 year of experience in solving problems and implementing solutions using the AWS cloud,"
the questions asked are wide-ranging, and you need to use your knowledge of AWS services and infrastructure to solve them. You will also be asked questions that you don't understand...

 

"It seems like it's kind of difficult..."
"It seems like SAA is a bit tough all of a sudden..."
"I want to take the basic exam even more than SAA!!"

 

 

If you are such a person, you can qualify as AWS Cloud Practitioner, which is easier than AWS SAA.
This qualification is a qualification that measures the basic ability of AWS services, so it is relatively easy to obtain.
This qualification is recommended for those who want to steadily acquire qualifications one by one.

 

 

If you're interested in learning how to become an AWS Cloud Practitioner,

public relations officer Umishu explains it in detail and in an easy-to-understand manner
on our official YouTube channel [Biyomaru Channel] if you're interested, please check it out. hey!

 

 

 

About the exam content

①About the question format

First of all, the format of the exam questions is as follows.
* Quoted from AWS official website materials

 

Since the question format is multiple-choice, I think it is still relatively easy to take as an exam.
If this had been a written test, it would have been quite a difficult test...
However, since it is a multiple-choice test, be careful not to make mistakes or careless mistakes such as choosing only one of multiple choices!

 

 

 

②About the test scope

The scope of the exam is as follows.

* Quoted from AWS official website materials

 

 

Since you probably don't know even if you look at this, I don't think you will know anything about the services that are
likely to be on the exam lol, so if you remember the services and functions that may be on the exam based on my experience of seeing and
hearing and passing the exam, you can get points. Introducing our services and features.

 

• Frequently used services and features

VPC, Route53 (routing type), IAM, EC2, S3 (storage type), ELB (load balancer type), RDS (Aurora), SQS, EBS, EFS, CloudFront

 

• Services and functions that you can get points by remembering

RDS (DynamoDB), DirectConnect and VPN, Code series (CodeDeploy, etc.), Lambda, Kinesis, CloudFormation, ElastiCache, Redshift, ElasticBeanstalk, Storage Gateway

 

③Example

An example problem is as follows.
I tried to think of an example question that is very similar to the actual exam question.
Please take on the challenge! !

 

 

 

 

How were the exam questions?
I think the example question sentences were very long.
The actual questions have about 5 to 15 lines of text per question, so
not only your service knowledge but also your reading comprehension are tested in a limited amount of time.
When solving exam questions, the key is to help the client clearly understand what they want to do!

 

By the way, the answer to this example is ②.
As for the reason behind that answer, please check it out and see if it helps!
I think you'll be like, "Ah, I see!"

 

 

About the teaching materials

From here, I will introduce the materials I studied.
When I first started studying, it was difficult because I didn't know which to choose from among the many teaching materials available....
However, I did some research on my own through blog articles, Twitter, etc. I will introduce the best teaching materials that I have considered, including what I have heard from my colleagues.
Please use this as a reference when taking the exam!

 

①Reference books

 

Thorough Guide to AWS Certified Solution Architect – Associate Textbook

 

I have never used this book myself, but
a colleague of mine who recently passed the exam apparently used this book, and it seems to have been very helpful in the early stages of studying as it has plenty of illustrations.
In the area where people take the so-called SAA qualification exam, this book is called the black book.
It is true that in the early stages of learning, it is difficult to imagine what services are structured without illustrations.... It is
very helpful to remember the structure diagram in your head when solving problems
The problem becomes easier to solve. Recommended for those who have no work experience and want to study visually while looking at diagrams!

 

 

 

 

AWS Certification Exam Text AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate

 

I used this book early in my studies!
In the area where people take the so-called SAA qualification exam, this book is called the Orange Book.
This book does not use many illustrations, so it is less suitable for beginners than the black book, but it
covers even the niche services that will appear on the exam, so you can quickly get a general understanding of AWS services. That's a good point.
Questions and detailed answers are included for each section, as well as mock exams.
However, for me, if you ask me if I can pass the exam with just this, I don't think that's the case.
This book is recommended for those who like reference books with a lot of text and those who want to understand the whole thing quickly!

 

 

 

 

②Hands-on teaching materials

This is all you need! AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam Breakthrough Course (SAA-C02 Exam Compatible Version)

 

This hands-on material is so good that all engineers who have taken the exam at the company have studied it.
What's great about this study material is that it covers all of the SAA exams.
In addition, since it is a video teaching material, you can study while watching the video and actually using your hands, and it includes plenty of illustrations.
Not only that, but it also comes with 3 mock exams just like the real thing, and it's cheap, so it's great value for money.

However, I think there are some people watching who are thinking,
``If I just do this all of a sudden, I don't need a book!'' Indeed, if you study using this hands-on material, you may not need the book...

However, since it covers everything, it is quite large, so those who are studying it for the first time may be discouraged....
Therefore, if you do not want to be discouraged, we recommend that you start from the book.

Also, I wrote that the mock exam was just like the actual exam, but I have the impression that the actual exam was easier than the mock exam.
If you take a mock test and don't get a good score, there is a chance that you will pass if you get a score of 60% or above, so don't worry!

 

 

 

 

③Others

techstock

Surprisingly, many people do not know about this problem set.
After paying a monthly fee, you can solve over 600 questions.
Recommended for those who want to solve the problem set before taking the mock exam!

 

There are still things to recommend!
This question set also includes on-premises and Windows-related questions.
I learned a lot because the questions were not asked in the hands-on mock exam, and the same questions were asked in the actual exam!
Furthermore, this site also has problem sets for AWS qualifications other than the SAA exam, so you can use it even after passing the SAA exam!
You can also solve the problems on your smartphone, so you can make use of your free time.
The price is also cheap, so please take advantage of it!

 

 

 

 

AWS Black Belt Online Seminar

This is the seminar material officially released by AWS.
Therefore, actual AWS personnel will explain each service in an easy-to-understand manner with documentation.
Also, most of them are uploaded to YouTube, so you can easily watch them.

 

However, if you ask me if it is effective as a test preparation, I don't think it is, so
it might be a good idea to use it as a supplementary study material!

 

 

 

 

Points of difficulty and countermeasures

Here, I would like to introduce two points that I and other engineers who have taken the exam at my company struggled with when taking the exam.
Knowing the points you struggled with in advance will make it easier to prepare for the exam, so
be sure to check it out!

 

① It is difficult to remember services that you have never used before.

I interact with major AWS services in my daily work, such as server operation and construction.
For example, I have experience with VPC, EC2, Route53, etc.
There was nothing difficult to remember about these major services, and I was able to pick them up quickly.

 

However, it was extremely difficult for me to remember services that I had never used before.
We had a particularly difficult time with kinisis and DynamoDB, which are not often used in our daily work.
Other services that I personally struggled with are as follows.
All of them may appear on the exam, so be sure to check them out!

 

1. SQS
2. Redshift
3. Storage Gateway

 

The best way to deal with this problem is to actually try it out, although it may be a pain.
After all, it is difficult to remember something in the long term even if you understand it just by reading or hearing it.
I think it's more likely that if you think about it yourself and experience successes and failures rather than having it explained to you, it will become a long-term memory and will be useful in your actual work after the exam.
Hands-on learning takes a lot of time, but let's think ``Hurry up!'' and give it a try!

 

 

 

②The Japanese in the question text is difficult to read.

As mentioned in the example, there is a large amount of text, making it difficult to understand what the client wants.
Therefore, if you are reading the questions and thinking about the answers, you may end up wasting a lot of time on the exam.

 

Also, since AWS is a foreign company, the exam itself is created in English.
In Japan, in order to make the test easier to take, there are tests translated into Japanese for people who cannot read English, but
the Japanese can be a little unnatural and the amount of text makes it very difficult to read. The questions are difficult.

 

In order to prevent this, it is important to focus only on the client's requests.
Based on the previous example, if you cut out only the client's requests, it will look like this.

 

 

In this way, you can reduce the amount of time you spend reading by cutting out only the requests that the client wants to achieve.
If you get confused while solving a question during an exam, you can cut out the question and think about it in a simpler way,
making it easier to answer questions correctly.

 

Also, by cutting out unnatural Japanese, the meaning becomes easier to understand to some extent.
If you can read English, you can also switch to the English problem, so if you don't understand the meaning,
I think it will be easier to understand if you read the problem in English!

 

 

 

summary

I wrote a lot of things, but what do you think?
If you are looking at various articles to find out how to study for AWS SAA, you
may end up having too many options and end up not knowing how to study.

I was able to pass the exam by using blogs, Twitter, etc. to research and practice, but
it took a lot of time just to research study methods...

In this blog, I introduced my study methods and the points I struggled with, so
please read this and get a jumpstart on your exam preparation!
Thank you for reading.