[2024 Graduate] It's been half a year since I got my CLF. I've also got my SAA, so I'll write about my study methods and tips for passing
table of contents
First
If you're single, buy a pressure cooker.
This is Okarin from the Shikoku office.
I recently obtained the AWS SAA certification (AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate).
So, I wrote this article about how to study for the SAA and tips for answering exam questions. It
includes more concrete examples than the CLF passing article below.
study method
the CLF , I wrote many detailed articles about mindset and way of thinking.
However, this time, instead of explaining things in a long-winded way, I will specifically describe which websites I used to pass and how I thought about answering questions.
The study steps themselves are the same as during the CLF, so if you look at my previous articles, you may find them somewhat helpful.
The site I used to obtain my SAA this time Ping-T .
I've used various reference books and Udemy courses, but I found this site to be the easiest to get started with when it comes to studying SAA.
While membership registration is required, I think the fact that it's free is a major advantage.
Of course, for those who are confident in their skills and knowledge, learning from the basics again with Ping-T may take a little time.
In that case, we recommend you refer to the link below and use other study materials such as Udemy.
If you study the Udemy problem sets in the link below, you should be sure to pass.
However, the questions are more difficult than the actual exam, so it may be difficult for those who are unsure of their basics or lack confidence.
How to use
Ping-T has two features: "Free Practice" and "Mock Exam," as shown in the image below
My personal learning roadmap was as follows:
1) In the " Free Practice " section, you will touch upon all areas of the exam content at least once.
2) In the " Mock Exam " section, you will reaffirm your knowledge in accordance with the exam format.
In terms of ratio, the ratio is about ①:② = 3:7.
It's not a bad idea to focus on ①, including the meaning of building a solid foundation, but
since ① doesn't have a time limit, I personally recommend ②, which has a time limit, as it can simulate the actual exam.
From here on, I will list my recommended settings for each study method ① and ②
free exercises
For the "free practice", I used the following settings:
"Target": "Not yet tested"
"Problem scope": "Check all fields"
"Number of questions": "10 questions"
The number of questions depends on the individual's capacity.
I couldn't stand the constant stream of questions I didn't understand, so I set it to 10 questions, which was a low load, and decided to focus on those questions.
However, I felt that 10 questions a day was not enough.
As I continued studying, I realized that
there were so many questions that by the time I finished them all, I would forget the questions I had covered earlier.
So I started doing 5 sets of 10 questions each.
After going through all the questions, if you feel confident, you can move on to the next study method, the "Mock Exam."
If you are not confident, we recommend doing this "Free Practice" a few times.
However, as a personal reflection, I placed too much emphasis on the "free practice" and the number of days until the actual exam took longer than expected.
Looking back now, I think that if I had actually studied while thinking about the "mock exams," the usefulness and differences of each service would have become clearer through the answers, and I would have remembered them better.
Mock exam
The mock test was set up as follows:
"Question order": "Oldest question date and time"
"Question target": "All fields"
Regarding the "Subject Matter," I think the other option, "Design based on the Well-Architected Framework (Exam Level)," would also be fine.
Personally, I don't want to be faced with difficult questions that nitpick and I can't answer, so I chose "All Areas."
Also, in the "mock test," you can take only the questions you got wrong after the test so that you can review them.
At first, just taking this "mock test" will take time, and you probably won't have much time to devote to feedback afterwards.
However, as the saying goes, "strike while the iron is hot," I believe that you can increase your success rate by solving the questions you got wrong after the exam while looking at the explanations.
Therefore, although it will require a lot of concentration, I recommend that you try to solve the questions you got wrong after the "mock exam" by following the explanations.
Tips on how to solve
However, study methods vary from person to person,
so in this article I will provide some tips on how to answer questions on the exam.
Obviously, there's nothing better
than deriving the correct answer based on knowledge and experience However, just knowing the tips I'll explain below can be useful not only for exams, but also for studying for exams before they even begin.
Therefore, knowing these tips may ultimately increase your learning speed.
While this varies from person to person, I personally feel that by actually utilizing these tips, I have been able to deepen my learning.
To begin with, my understanding of CLF and SAA is as follows
The CLF questions are a quiz
are asked to identify the ingredients the SAA questions to suggest an appropriate dish based on the given ingredients .
In the end, both games can be described as "knowledge games."
However, compared to CLF, SAA has more questions that go a step further, such as asking for the correct answer from the information presented, rather than simply testing knowledge.
So, if you think, "CLF was a breeze, so SAA should be a breeze if I use a similar study method!" or "If I memorize all the answers, it'll be a breeze!", you'll end up discouraged.
In fact, I couldn't hide my surprise at the difference in difficulty between the CLF and SAA questions, and I couldn't make much progress in my studies.
If you are reading this article and you feel like "SAA is difficult" or "maybe I don't have the talent," don't worry.
You're not alone. I felt the same way.
Here, we will go into detail about each tip
Process of elimination
It's hard to say exactly what the trick is from the very beginning, but
ultimately, it's about eliminating unnecessary options.
In other words, I think the process of elimination is the simplest and easiest method.
For example, we will ask a question about AWS Config
Which of the following can be achieved with AWS Config?
Please choose one of the following four answers:
This question isn't particularly difficult, so it probably won't be of any use as a reference, but the correct answer is " D. "
AWS Config is a service that manages, records, and evaluates the configuration of AWS resources.
This shows that D, which includes the words against AWS resources " and " check,
──To explain it in an easy-to-understand way for gamers, when you open the settings screen it often says "config," right?
You don't know which is the correct answer... One option is to take a gamble with the four options, but it might be easier to choose if you eliminate the options that explain other services.
It is an explanation of a service called AWS CloudFormation.
This is about AWS Cost Explorer.
As the name Cost Explorer suggests, it is related to pricing, so it is an inappropriate option in this case.
The contents of this post are a little scary, but it explains Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Since "Report to Administrator" is one of the CloudWatch features, and it also says "Log contents...", we can see that this service applies.
I explained it at length,
When you come across a word or question you don't understand, eliminate the options that clearly explain something different
This is the first tip
Frequency of words in the options
As the name suggests, this method makes guesses based on the frequency of words in the answer.
This approach is not limited to AWS, but is a common method often seen in tests taken by students.
I'll give you an example
problem
A company operates an order-taking application that consists of multiple EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group.
Orders are distributed to order processing components via Amazon SQS, and the processing results are returned.
The company has a service level agreement (SLA) that specifies the time it takes from receiving an order to returning the result, but during peak order periods, it is taking close to the upper limit of the specified time.
Which of the following would a solutions architect recommend as an improvement measure?
Choices
long!
The questions and multiple choice questions are too long,
but this is not even close to what the actual exam will be like.
By the way, the answer is "A"
Let's try using the above techniques.
Let's look at the answers again.
Is there anything you notice?
"A", "B" and "C" each have descriptions about scaling!
In this case, "scaling" appears frequently among the four options, so the correct answer will likely be one of A, C, or D, which both contain "scaling."
Of course, there are exceptions, but in this case, it will be one of the options.
The reason is that the problem contains the words "SQS" and "Auto Scaling group" that are "taking nearly the maximum time limit."
I won't go into detail here about why B is different, so I encourage you to research it yourself
Besides,
- A, α
- B, α
- A, β
- C, γ
In this case, option 1, which contains A and α, is often the correct answer.
However, this is only "common," and there are of course exceptions.
When I actually took the exam, I got the impression that there were more exceptions than A.
- You are using a large number of EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group
- We are using SQS for distributed processing, but the processing is taking a long time
- How to solve the above problem?
Linking by keyword
It is a method of guessing from the words you have studied.
There is no specific example, but some examples are as follows.
- Video data capture
- Delivered to storage or database
- Processing, visualization and analysis
- What collects data?
By catching keywords and selecting options related to the services associated with them, the answer is often found
That is what it means
Just by memorizing words, you may be able to reduce unnecessary choices, so please do your best.
Judging from the set
Which two statements about hosted zones are correct? (Choose two)
A: You cannot register CNAME records in a public hosted zone.
B: A private hosted zone can resolve DNS queries from outside the VPC.
C: A public hosted zone does not resolve DNS queries from within the VPC.
D: A private hosted zone manages DNS records for domains published within the VPC.
E: A public hosted zone manages DNS records for domains published outside the VPC, such as to the Internet.
- One of the following descriptions for a "public hosted zone": "A", "C", or "E"
- One of the descriptions of "private hosted zone": "B" or "D"
Of course, there are exceptions, and this decision is proportional to the amount of study an individual does, so care must be taken
Exclude the impossible
Some of the questions contain options that are clearly inappropriate
called "incorrect" answers, but rather " absolutely not acceptable " answers.
Examples include the following:
You are trying to make
Lambda more than 15 minutes . ・You are trying to perform validation work
using the production environment ・You are trying to collect data
manually . ・You are trying to predict demand and reduce resource changes.
All of these can be avoided by knowing the "Overview of Various Services" and the "Well-Architected Framework."
Study hard so you can avoid the " absolutely no-no
In the exam
Naturally, the difficulty of the SAA questions is much higher than that of the CLF questions.
When working on difficult questions, it can be hard to know where you stand.
"What is my current level for this qualification?"
"How much more study do I need to do to reach the required level for the qualification?"
"I'm continuing to study, but what areas do I lack?"
As you continue your studies, these kinds of questions often cross your mind.
When you reach this state, your motivation may decrease because the path to your goal is unclear.
The pain of groping your way through the darkness is indescribable.
In such cases, I recommend that you take the plunge and try taking the test once.
I didn't pass the SAA exam on the first try, but I passed on my second attempt.
The first time I took the test, I did it to check my current level, and it wasn't a throwaway, but I did approach it with the image of it being a limit test. I
took the test with the mindset that "I want to test my level" and
"This is an exam to improve the areas where I am lacking."
If you have the financial means, I recommend taking the exam after studying for a certain period of time, when your motivation starts to wane
However, you should be careful, as two pairs of Shibusawa Eiichi and Kitasato Shibasaburo will be leaving to take the SAA exam!
However, I do not recommend
taking the exam with this mindset Even though you are using the exam as a test rather than a sacrifice, it is still a negative mindset.
I would recommend to anyone reading this article that once the exam begins, never give up within the time limit and review the questions.
Surprisingly, my score on the first try wasn't bad.
It was the bare minimum that would have allowed me to pass if I had gotten one or two more questions right.
This is because I couldn't switch my focus and think, "I've realized what I'm lacking, so there's no point in sticking with it any longer," and gave up on reviewing halfway through.
If I hadn't given up until the very end, I might have been able to pass.
To those reading this article:
You may be able to get a higher score than you think, so even if you're not confident, don't give up and keep trying until the end.
summary
I recently passed the SAA, so I wrote an article about what I was thinking when I passed.
Next, I'm vaguely thinking about trying to get the SOA (Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate) certification.
Or maybe I'll get the Ruby Gold certification that I had given up on.
Anyway, I'll write an article about it next time I obtain a qualification
Thank you for reading to the end
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