[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
Single people should definitely buy a pressure cooker.
This is Okarin from the Shikoku office.
I recently obtained the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA) certification.
Therefore, I've written this article about study methods and tips for answering exam questions. This article
includes more concrete examples than my previous CLF (Certified Solutions Architect) passing article.
study method
CLF preparation, I wrote articles covering various detailed aspects of mindset and approach.
However, this time, instead of rambling on, I will specifically describe which websites I used to pass the exam and my thought process when answering questions.
The study steps themselves are the same as for the CLF, so you may find some useful information in my previous articles.
The site I used to obtain my SAA certificationPing-T.
I've used various reference books and Udemy courses, but I found this site to be the easiest to get started with for studying for the SAA.
While registration is required, the fact that it's free is a major advantage.
Of course, for those confident in their technical skills and knowledge, studying from the basics again on Ping-T might take a little more time.
In that case, we recommend referring to the following link and using other learning materials such as Udemy.
Studying the Udemy practice questions linked below should give you a solid chance of passing.
However, the difficulty level of the questions is higher than the actual exam, so it may be difficult to get started if you are unsure of the 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 "Free Practice," familiarize yourself with every topic within the exam scope.
② In "Mock Exam," review your knowledge in the format of the actual exam.
In terms of ratio, it's roughly ①:② = 3:7.
While it's not a bad idea to place more emphasis on ①, especially for building a strong foundation, I
personally recommend ②, which has a time limit, because it better simulates the actual exam environment compared to ①, which has no time limit.
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:
"Subjects covered": "Not yet covered"
"Scope of questions": "All fields selected"
"Number of questions": "10 questions"
The number of questions you choose will depend on your individual capacity.
I couldn't stand having a string of questions I didn't know the answer to, so I set it to a manageable 10 questions and focused on them more intensely.
However, I felt that 10 questions a day wasn't enough.
As I continued studying, I realized the following:
"Because there are so many questions, by the time I finish solving them all, I've forgotten the questions I started with."
So, I started doing 10 questions x 5 sets.
After reviewing all the problems, if you feel confident, you can move on to the next study method: "mock exams."
If you're not confident, I recommend doing this "free practice" several times.
However, as a personal reflection, I focused too much on "free practice," which resulted in the number of days until the actual exam being longer than I had anticipated.
Looking back now, I think that studying while actually taking "mock exams" would have made the usefulness and differences of each service clearer through the answers, and the information would have stuck in my mind better.
Mock exam
The mock test was set up as follows:
"Order of questions": "Oldest first question date"
"Subjects covered": "All fields"
Regarding the "topics covered," I think the other option, "[Exam Level] Design Based on the Well-Architected Framework," would also be fine.
Personally, I choose "all areas" because I dislike being faced with difficult, nitpicky questions that I can't answer.
Furthermore, the "mock exam" allows you to review only the questions you got wrong after the actual test.
Initially, just taking this "mock exam" will take time, and you probably won't have much time to dedicate to the subsequent feedback.
However, as the saying goes, "strike while the iron is hot," so I believe you can improve your accuracy by reviewing the explanations
for the problems you got wrong after the exam. Therefore, although it requires a lot of concentration, I recommend working through the problems you got wrong after the "mock exam" while referring to the explanations.
Tips on how to solve
However, study methods vary from person to person.
Therefore, in this article, I will write about tips for answering questions on exams.
Naturally,,Howevernothing beats deriving the correct answer based on knowledge and experience.
simply knowing the tips I'll explain next can be useful not only for the exam itself, but also for the preliminary exam preparation.
As a result, knowing these tips may ultimately increase the speed of your learning.
While there are individual differences, I personally feel that using these tips has allowed me to deepen my learning.
To begin with, my understanding of CLF and SAA is as follows
CLFin their raw stateyou have to identify the raw ingredients.
SAAquestionsto suggest an appropriate dish based on the ingredients given.
Ultimately, both can be dismissed as "knowledge-based games."
However, compared to the CLF, the SAA doesn't simply test basic knowledge; it includes more in-depth questions that require you to deduce the correct answer from the information provided.
So, if you think, "CLF was easy, so SAA will be a breeze with the same study method!" or "It'll be easy if I just memorize all the answers!", you'll end up feeling discouraged.
In fact, I was surprised by the difference in difficulty between the CLF and SAA problems, and my studies didn't progress very well.
If you're reading this and thinking, "SAA is difficult," or "Maybe I'm just not talented," 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 difficult to give a definitive tip right from the start, but
ultimately, it's about eliminating unnecessary options.
In other words, 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 isn't a particularly difficult question, so it might not be helpful, but the correct answer is "D".
AWS Config is a service that manages, records, and evaluates the configuration of AWS resources.
From this,for AWS resources" and "checkwe can see that D is the correct answer because it contains the words
──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... You could take a gamble on the four options, but conversely, it might be easier to choose if you exclude the options that describe other services.
This is a description of a service called AWS CloudFormation.
This is a description of AWS Cost Explorer.
As the name suggests, Cost Explorer is related to pricing, so it is an inappropriate option in this case.
The content is somewhat unsettling, but this is a description of Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Since "notify administrator" is one of CloudWatch's features, and it also says "the contents of the logs," we know that this service is in question.
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 infers the answer based on the frequency of words appearing in the answer.
This approach is a common technique not only in AWS but also in tests taken by students.
I'll give you an example
problem
The company operates an order processing application consisting of multiple EC2 instances within an Auto Scaling group.
Orders are distributed to order processing components via Amazon SQS, and processing results are returned.
The company has a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that specifies the time from order receipt to result return, but during peak order times, it is taking close to the specified time limit.
Which of the following improvement measures would a solution architect recommend?
Choices
long!
The questions and answer choices are too long.
However, this level of difficulty is nothing compared to what you'd expect in an actual exam.
By the way, the answer is "A"
Let's try using the techniques mentioned above right away.
Let's look at the answer 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 provided.
The reason is that the problem includes the words "SQS," "taking close to the time limit," and "Auto Scaling group."
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 both A and α, is often the correct answer.
However, this is only a "common" case, and there are, of course, exceptions.
When I actually took the exam, I had the impression that there were more exceptions than correct ones.
- 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's a method of inferring meaning from the vocabulary you've studied.
There aren't any particularly specific examples, but here are some examples:
- 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 memorizing vocabulary can potentially reduce the number of unnecessary choices, so please do your best!
Judging from the set
Which two statements about hosted zones are correct? (Choose two)
A: CNAME records cannot be registered in public hosted zones.
B: DNS queries from outside the VPC can be resolved in private hosted zones.
C: DNS queries from within the VPC cannot be resolved in public hosted zones.
D: Private hosted zones manage DNS records for domains exposed within the VPC.
E: Public hosted zones manage DNS records for domains exposed outside the VPC, such as on 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
These aren't just "incorrect" answers, but rather "absolutely unacceptable" answers.
Examples include the following:
Lambdamore than 15 minutesAttempting to have
-the production environmentAttempting to perform verification work using
-manuallyAttempting to collect data
to predict demand andminimize resource changesAttempting
These are all things that can be avoided by knowing the "overview of various services" and the "Well-Architected Framework."
"absolutely no-goLet's study hard so we can avoid the
In the exam
Naturally, the difficulty level of the SAA questions is significantly higher than that of the CLF.
When tackling difficult problems, it's easy to lose track of your own progress.
"What is my current level regarding this qualification?"
"How much more studying do I need to do to meet the required standards for obtaining the qualification?"
"I'm continuing to study, but what areas am I lacking?"
As I continue studying, these kinds of questions often cross my mind.
When this happens, the path to my goal becomes unclear, which can lead to a decrease in motivation.
The difficulty of groping my way through the darkness is indescribable.
In such cases, I recommend taking the exam as a trial run.
I myself didn't pass the SAA on my first try; I passed on my second attempt.
My first attempt at the exam was to assess my current level, not as a sacrificial lamb, but more like a limit test. I took it with the mindset of
"I want to see how good I really am" and
"This exam is to strengthen the areas where I'm 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,taking the exam with this mindsetI would not recommend
Even though you're using it as a test rather than a throwaway, it's still a negative mindset.
For those of you reading this article, I recommend that once the exam starts, you never give up within the time limit and review the questions.
Surprisingly, my score on my first attempt wasn't bad. I
was just barely close to passing, needing one or two more correct answers.
This was because I couldn't switch gears and think, "I've figured out my weaknesses, there's no point in stubbornly continuing," and I gave up reviewing my answers midway through.
If I hadn't given up until the very end, I might have passed.
To those reading this article:
You might get a higher score than you think, so even if you lack confidence, don't give up and keep trying until the end.
summary
Having recently obtained my SAA certification, I've written an article about my thoughts and feelings when I passed the exam.
Next, I'm vaguely considering aiming for the SOA (Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate) certification.
Or perhaps I'll pursue the Ruby Gold certification, which 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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