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Tips and tricks to get certified: links to tutorials, videos, practice exams.

Overview

Type of AWS Service
AWS Exams
Social
FREE AWS Training Resources
For-fee Training resources
Practice exams
- Other Practice Tests
AWS Practioner
AWS Associate
AWS Professional
References
More on Amazon

This page covers preparation for certification exams by several dimensions:

by AWS exam
by type of AWS service

NOTE: Content here are my personal opinions, and not intended to represent any employer (past or present). “PROTIP:” here highlight information I haven’t seen elsewhere on the internet because it is hard-won, little-know but significant facts based on my personal research and experience.

PDF: Plan your AWS Certification Journey

Type of AWS Service

Security, Identity, and Compliance (Organizations, Users, Permissions security, AWS Config, Inspector, Security Hub)
Management, Monitoring, and Governance (CloudWatch, X-Ray)
Application Integration (Config, SQS, SNS, EventBridge)
AWS Cost Management:
Networking and Content Delivery (Regions, AZs, VPNs, DNS, Route 53, IPs, CIDR, DMZ, VPCs, Peering, Gateway, NAT, SGs, NACL, ENIs, ELB, WAF, CDN, ASG)
aws-Architecture (Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity, ASG, Snapshots, Log shipping)
Compute (AMI, Server Types, CPUs, AWS Batch)
Storage (EBS volumes, EFS, Snow)
Databases (RDS, Athena, Elastic)
Analytics: Amazon Elasticsearch Service (Amazon ES)
Migrations

Covered only in specialty exams:

Machine Learning (Polly, Rekognition, Amazon ML, Greengrass, Deep Learning AMIs (DLAMI) )
DevOps (Cloud9, CodeBuild, CodeCommit, CodeDeploy, CodeStar)
Mobile Hub, SDK
IoT

AWS services Not covered in exams:

Amazon Chime
Amazon SES (Simple Email Service)
Amazon CloudSearch to add rich search capabilities to your website or application.
Amazon Connect to provide customer service with a cloud contact center GUI

AWS Exams

Official info on AWS exams: PDFs lists the services tested:

Associate level exams:

PDF: $100 to answer 65 questions in 90-minute
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
PDF: $150, 80-minute
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SOA-C02)
PDF: $150, 80-minute
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate
PDF: $150, 80-minute
AWS Certified Developer - Associate DVA-C01

Pearson Practice test at OReilly has a “study mode” which allows you to provide answers after every question from across 4 complete exams.

Professional level exams:

Specialty exams:

Design and deploy dynamically scalable, highly available, fault-tolerant, and reliable applications on AWS.

The “and deploy” applies to Professional level exams.
Associate exams has just “design”.

PDF: $300, 170-minute
AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty
PDF: $300 to answer 65 questions in 180-minute
AWS Certified Database - Specialty
PDF: $300, 170-minute
AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty
PDF: $300 to answer 65 questions in 180-minute
AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty MLS-C01 [Schedule]

3-day classes:
PDF: $300 to answer 65 questions in 170-minute
AWS Certified Security - Specialty SCS-C01
- Pluralsight
- https://github.com/acantril/aws-security-specialty
PDF: AIF-C01 $300, 170-minute
AWS AWS Certified AI Practitioner Course
- Understand the fundamentals of Generative AI.
- Master Foundation Models and their deployment on AWS.
- Explore advanced concepts in Generative AI architecture and implementation.
On Coursera by Whizlabs
1. 4 hr Foundation Models and Generative AI in AWS
2. 4 hr Fundamentals of AI & ML in AWS
3. 2 hr AWS Managed AI/ML Services
4. 3 hr Prompt Engineering and Responsible AI in AWS
5. 1 hr Secure AI Solutions in AWS

https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications

stackoverflow

FREE AWS Training Resources

For-fee Training resources

Gradually revealed diagram videos (great for visual and auditory learners), “animals4life.org” sample app in a GitHub (migrating from on-prem to AWS), plus quizzes with instant feedback make learn.cantrill.io by Adrian Cantrill in Melbourne, Australia (@adriancantrill) the premier resource for comprehensive AWS training. All 5 exams (except specialty) for just $200.

Each course covers the basics (as “refresher”):
ACloudGuru.com (began in Sydney Australia)
LinkedIn.com Learning on AWS

CloudAcademy.com provides hands-on lab instances with their tutorials.

Learning Path for Associate
ORilly.com:
- AWS Certified Database - Specialty Complete Video Course by Chad Smith
http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/aws-certified-sysops-admin-associate
https://scotch.io/tutorials/deploying-a-mean-app-to-amazon-ec2-part-1
https://scotch.io/tutorials/deploying-a-mean-app-to-amazon-ec2-part-2
https://www.aws.training/home?courseid=8&language=en-US&src=web_en_course-developing&view=table
AWS re:Invent 2016: Become an AWS IAM Policy Ninja in 60 Minutes or Less (SAC303) by Jeff W
Script to launch Amazon EC2 Spot instances with a simple Python script
1. create a new key pair if one doesn’t exist
2. create a security group if one doesn’t exist
3. request a new spot instance
4. wait for the spot request to be fulfilled
5. wait for the instance to boot
6. connect to it via SSH and run a script of your choice

Practice exams

CloudAcademy has practice exam for each AWS exam actual length.

Practitioner exam
Associate exam: 2h 10m to correctly answer 72% of 55 questions.

Each retake shows more questions from a large pool.

Because a minimum score of 35 percent is needed on each exam domain, Pearson Practice tests at OReilly has a “study mode” which allow you to provide answers after every question from across 4 complete exams.

PROTIP: If you have an OReilly.com subscription (to Pearson) you can also filter to focus questions by exam domain!

For the AWS Certified Cloud Practioner (CLF-C01) (number of questions in bank):
- 01 - The AWS Cloud Defined (26)
- 02 - Advantages of the AWS Cloud (10) * 03 - Core AWS Services
- 04 - Cloud Architecture Design Principles
- 05 - The AWS Shared Responsibility Model
- 06 - Cloud Security and Compliance
- 07 - AWS Access Management Capabilities
- 08 - Resources for Security Support
- 09 - Methods of Deploying and Operating in AWS
- 10 - The AWS Global Infrastructure
- 11 - Resources for Technology Support
- 12 - Using the Free Tier to Build a Web Server
- 13 - AWS Pricing Models
- 14 - Account Structures for Billing and Pricing
- 15 - Resources for Billing Support
For the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C01) test
For the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C02
For the AWS Certified Security – Specialty SCS-C01
For the AWS Certified Machine Learning-Specialty (ML-S)
For the WS Certified Big Data - Specialty (CCENT)

Other Practice Tests

http://www.techexams.net/forums/cloud/131715-passed-cv0-001-a.html
Practice exam dumps for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner 2018 $5.99 or Kindle Unlimited.

AWS Practioner

AWS Associate

the “AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate” exam (PDF)

AWS Professional

12.5%	Design for Organizational Complexity
31%	Design for New Solutions
15%	Migration Planning
12.5%	Cost Control
29%	Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions

References

https://www.gliffy.com/blog/aws-architecture-diagram-examples

https://online.visual-paradigm.com/drive/#diagramlist:proj=0&new=AWSDiagram

https://warren2lynch.medium.com/aws-architecture-diagram-with-2019-new-icons-over-50-examples-d401a76c6d5c

https://www.diagrams.net/blog/aws-diagrams

https://www.conceptdraw.com/How-To-Guide/aws-icons-2

More on Amazon

This is one of a series on Amazon: