[Must-see for test takers] We'll teach you how to study for the AWS Certified SAA (Solutions Architect) exam!!
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* Ramen Hayato (Minamimorimachi, Osaka City)
Hello!
This is Hide, the ramen king from Beyond Co., Ltd.'s Osaka office.
This is my third post.
In this article, I'll talk about the AWS SAA (Solutions Architect) certification I recently obtained!
Previously,
I wrote articles such as "Let's use Docker commands easily with Makefiles!" and "Let's get access logs with AWS ELB!", so
if you're interested, please check them out!
I've also uploaded the content of this article to YouTube, so
if you prefer watching a video rather than reading text, I'd be happy if you checked it out.
What is AWS SAA?
The AWS SAA (Solutions Architect) is a certification offered by AWS.
Obtaining this certification demonstrates a certain level of understanding of AWS services.
This certification is highly popular and is often used as a selling point during job interviews and as a factor in promotions to management positions,
resulting in a large number of people taking the exam each year.
Furthermore, within the overall AWS certification hierarchy, the SAA is positioned as an "Associate" level certification.
"Wait a minute!!"
"It says '1 year of experience in problem solving and implementing solutions using the AWS cloud'... Can I even get it? (sweat)"
"I'm seriously worried about that... Is it really OK?"
Some of you may be thinking the above, but... don't worry!
This is just to indicate the level of difficulty of the questions that will be asked. You
don't need to meet the above requirements to take the exam, so please rest assured!
However, simply stating "one year of experience in problem-solving and implementing solutions using the AWS cloud"
doesn't fully explain the exam questions, which cover a wide range of topics and require knowledge of AWS services and infrastructure to answer.
"It seems kind of difficult..."
"Jumping straight into the SAA is a bit tough..." "
I want to start with a more basic exam than the SAA!!"
For those who prefer a simpler certification than the AWS SAA, there's the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification.
This certification measures fundamental skills in AWS services, making it relatively easy to obtain. It's a
recommended certification for those who want to steadily acquire certifications one by one.
If you're interested in learning how to study for the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification,
on our official YouTube channel, [Biyomaru Channel].
PR representative Umishu explains it in detail and in an easy-to-understand way
If you're interested, please check it out!
About the exam content
①About the question format
First, the exam format is as follows:
*AWS official website materials.Quoted from
The exam format is multiple-choice, so I think it's relatively easy to take.
If it were essay-based, it would be quite a difficult exam...
However, since it's multiple-choice, be careful not to make careless mistakes such as selecting the wrong answer or choosing only one option when multiple choices are available!
②About the exam scope
The scope of the test is as follows:
*the official AWS website.is quoted from
You probably won't understand this even if you read it, so you probably won't know anything about the services that might be tested lol.
So, based on my experience of seeing and hearing things and passing the exam, I will introduce the services and functions that are likely to be tested, as well as
the services and functions that you should remember to get points.
- 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 features to remember to score points
RDS (DynamoDB), DirectConnect and VPN, Code Series (CodeDeploy, etc.), Lambda, Kinesis, CloudFormation, ElastiCache, Redshift, ElasticBeanstalk, Storage Gateway
③Example
Here are some example questions.
I've tried to create example questions that are very similar to actual exam questions.
Please give them a try!
How did you find the exam questions?
I think the example questions were quite long. The
actual questions also have about 5 to 15 lines of text each, so
you'll be tested not only on your service knowledge but also on your reading comprehension within a limited time.
When solving the exam questions, the key is to clearly understand what the client wants to achieve!
By the way, the answer to this example problem is ②.
I encourage you to look up the reason why this is the correct answer; it will be educational!
"Ah, I see!"You'll probably think,
About the teaching materials
Now, I'll introduce the study materials I used.
When I first started studying, I had a hard time choosing from the many available materials...
But, after researching various things on blogs and Twitter, and also asking my colleagues at work, I'll introduce the best materials I could find.
I hope this will be helpful when you take the exam!
①Reference books
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate Exam Textbook
I haven't used this book myself, but
a colleague who recently passed the exam used it and said that the numerous diagrams were very helpful in the early stages of learning.
It's known as the "black book" in the SAA certification exam community.
Indeed, in the early stages of learning, it's difficult to visualize the structure of different services without diagrams...
Being able to recall the diagrams in your mind while solving problems makes them much easier.
It's highly recommended for those without work experience who prefer to study visually using diagrams!
AWS Certification Exam Textbook AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
I used this book in the early stages of my studies!
It's known as the "orange book" in the community of those taking the SAA certification exam.
This book doesn't use a lot of diagrams, so it's not as beginner-friendly as the "black book," but it
covers even the niche services that appear on the exam, so it's good for getting a quick overview of AWS services.
Each section has questions and detailed answers, and there are also practice tests.
However, I don't think this book alone is enough to pass the exam.
It's a good book for those who like textbooks with a lot of text or who want to get a quick overview!
②Hands-on teaching materials
This is all you need! AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam Preparation Course (SAA-C02 Exam Compatible Version)
This hands-on study material is so highly regarded that every engineer in our company who has ever taken the exam has used it to study.
What makes this material so good is that it covers everything you need to know about the SAA exam.
Furthermore, because it's a video-based course, you can study by watching the videos and actively practicing along with the instructions, and it's packed with helpful diagrams.
On top of that, it includes three full-length practice exams that closely resemble the real thing, and it's incredibly cost-effective.
However, I'm sure some viewers"If I just do this, I don't need a book!"are thinking,
And indeed, if you study using this hands-on material, you might not need a book...
However, because it covers everything, it's quite extensive, so those studying for the first time might get discouraged...
For that reason, if you don't want to get discouraged, I recommend starting with a book.
Also, while I wrote that the practice exams were just like the real thing, my impression is that the actual exam was easier than the practice exams.
Even if you don't score well on the practice exams, you still have a chance of passing if you get 60% or higher, so don't worry!
③Other
techstock
Surprisingly, many people don't know about this problem set.
For a monthly fee, you can solve over 600 problems.
It's highly recommended for anyone who wants to practice before taking a mock exam!
There are still more reasons to recommend this!
This practice test includes questions related to on-premises systems and Windows. These questions were
n't included in the hands-on practice tests, so it was very helpful for my studies, and similar questions appeared on the actual exam!
Furthermore, this site also has practice tests for AWS certifications other than the SAA exam, so you can use it even after passing the SAA!
You can also solve the problems on your smartphone, so you can make use of your spare time.
The price is also low, so please give it a try!
AWS Black Belt Online Seminar
These are official seminar materials published by AWS.
Therefore, actual AWS representatives provide clear explanations of each service, complete with supporting materials.
Furthermore, most of these are uploaded to YouTube, making them easily accessible.
However, if you ask me if it's effective for exam preparation, I'd say not really, so it
might be better to view it as supplementary learning material!
Difficult points and countermeasures
Here, I'll share two points that I and other engineers within our company who have taken the exam found challenging.
Knowing these points beforehand will make it easier to prepare for the exam, so
be sure to check them out!
① It's hard to remember a service you've never used before
In my daily work, which involves server operation and construction, I'm familiar with major AWS services.
For example, I have experience with VPC, EC2, and Route 53.
These major services weren't difficult to learn; I was able to pick them up quickly.
However, I found it very difficult to remember services I had never used before. I
particularly struggled with Kinisis and DynamoDB, which I don't use much in my daily work.
Other services I personally struggled with are listed below.
All of them could potentially appear on the exam, so be sure to check them out!
The best way to tackle this problem, though tedious, is to actually try it out.
It's difficult to retain information long-term just by reading or listening.
You're more likely to retain information long-term and apply it to your actual work after the exam by setting things up yourself, thinking through the process, and experiencing both success and failure, rather than just being given explanations.
Hands-on learning takes a lot of time, but remember the saying, "Haste makes waste," and give it a try!
②The Japanese in the questions is difficult to read
As seen in the example, the text is very lengthy, making it difficult to understand what the client wants.
Therefore, if you spend time reading the question and thinking about the answer, you may run out of time during the exam.
Furthermore, since AWS is a foreign company, the exams themselves are created in English.
Although a Japanese translation of the exam is available for those who cannot read English, making it easier to take in Japan,
the Japanese translation is sometimes unnatural, and combined with the length of the text, the questions are very difficult to read.
To prevent this, it's crucial to isolate only the client's requests.
Using the previous example, if we isolate only the client's requests, it would look like this.
By extracting only the client's requests in this way, you can reduce the time spent reading.
If you get confused while solving problems during an exam, you can simplify the problem statement by extracting only the essential information, which
can increase your chances of getting the correct answer.
Also, by cutting out unnatural Japanese, the meaning becomes clearer to some extent.
If you can read English, you can switch to the English version of the questions, so if you don't understand the meaning,
reading the English version of the questions should make it easier to understand!
summary
I've written about a lot of things, but what did you think?
When you start researching how to study for the AWS SAA from scratch by looking at various articles,
you might find that there are so many options that you end up not knowing how to study at all.
I was able to pass the exam by researching and putting into practice various methods using blogs and Twitter, but
just researching study methods took a lot of time...
In this blog post, I shared my study methods and some of the challenges I faced.
I hope this helps you get a head start on your exam preparation!
Thank you for reading.
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