Getting Started – Why I Took This Exam
Before I started preparing for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam, I asked myself: Why do I want this certification?
For me, it was about reinforcing my cloud architecture knowledge and validating the experience I had already accumulated. This certification is one of the most recognized entry points into AWS’s certification path and is a fantastic way to prove that you can design secure, scalable, and cost-efficient cloud solutions.
Another reason I took the exam was because people in my team often said things like, “With your skills, you could easily pass the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam.” But the truth was—I had never actually taken it before. I wanted to challenge myself and see where I really stood.
Whether you’re coming from a systems background, software development, or even transitioning into the cloud space, this exam will push you to think like an architect.
The Preparation Process – What Worked for Me
There’s no perfect study plan, but here’s what worked for me:
- 🧠 Courses: I started with ACloudGuru and the excellent freeCodeCamp YouTube course. They helped me structure the basics and break the content into digestible chunks.
❗ While a quick search will show you plenty of free courses, I strongly recommend taking a structured course if you don’t have hands-on experience with AWS Cloud Infrastructure. YouTube videos are great for understanding the theory, but they won’t give you the practical experience you need to truly grasp how things work.
- 📝 Practice Exams: I practiced questions from ACloudGuru and other websites. You’ll find that real exam questions often feel like two or three of these practice questions combined into one.
- 📚 AWS Whitepapers: The Well-Architected Framework is a must-read. It builds your mindset as a cloud architect.
🔥 Tip: If you’re new to cloud computing or haven’t used AWS hands-on before, don’t skip the labs. They may take time, but they’ll help you make sense of the exam questions. You’ll start off taking 90 minutes for one lab, but after a few tries, you’ll get them done in 30 minutes or less.
Even with just the Free Tier, you can experiment with EC2, IAM, VPCs, and S3. However, for exam-heavy topics or areas you find confusing—like VPC Peering or NAT Gateways—investing a small amount for real setup experience is worth it.
Exam Topic Breakdown
The SAA-C03 exam is broad. You’re tested not just on AWS services, but on how to choose the best one for a given scenario. Here’s a breakdown of what to focus on and the traps to avoid:
🔧 Compute (EC2, Lambda, ECS, Fargate)
- Use EC2 for full control or legacy workloads.
- Use Lambda for event-driven, short-running, serverless tasks.
- Use Fargate when running containers without managing infrastructure.
🧠 Trick: Just because EC2 works doesn’t mean it’s the right answer. If the question asks for “least operational effort,” choose Lambda or Fargate instead.
📦 Storage (S3, EBS, EFS, Glacier)
- S3: Object storage, scalable, great for logs, backups, static assets.
- EBS: Block storage for EC2 instances.
- EFS: Network file system, shared across EC2s.
- Glacier: Cold storage for archival.
🎯 Watch for lifecycle transitions in S3. These show up a lot on the exam.
🌐 Networking & VPC
This section trips up many test-takers.
- Know how subnets, route tables, NAT Gateways, and Internet Gateways work.
- Understand VPC Peering vs Transit Gateway, and VPC Endpoints.
- Be ready for questions on security groups and NACLs.
❗ Common trap: Assuming public subnet = internet access. You need an Internet Gateway and route table configuration. Same goes for NAT Gateways in private subnets.
🔐 Security & IAM
- Understand IAM users, roles, policies, and STS.
- Use least privilege principles.
- Study how S3 bucket policies and service access controls work.
📌 If the question says “secure and auditable access”, think IAM roles with logs in CloudTrail.
🧮 Databases (RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB)
- RDS is great for managed relational DBs.
- Aurora is faster and offers features like Global Databases.
- DynamoDB is NoSQL, serverless, and supports massive scaling.
⚠️ Trap alert: RDS Multi-AZ ≠ Multi-Region. Multi-AZ is for high availability within a region.
🌍 High Availability & Disaster Recovery
- Know the difference between Multi-AZ (automatic failover) and Multi-Region (disaster recovery).
- Understand backup and restore strategies.
- Use Route 53 failover, S3 cross-region replication, etc.
❗ Exam gotcha: “The app must survive regional failure” = Multi-Region required. Multi-AZ won’t cut it.
💰 Cost Optimization – One of the Most Important Sections
Many questions will ask: “What is the MOST cost-effective solution?”
Even if multiple options technically work, your job is to find the cheapest one that still meets the requirements.
- Use S3 instead of EBS for logs.
- Use Spot Instances when interruptions are okay.
- Use managed services (like Lambda or RDS) to reduce admin overhead.
✅ This part is crucial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If multiple solutions are valid, always choose the most cost-effective one. AWS wants you to think like an architect and a budget-conscious engineer.
4. Things to Do Before the Exam
- ✅ Run the Pearson VUE system test in advance—especially if using a work laptop. I had to pause my exam five times due to a background service (BridgeCommunication.exe) running on my HP machine. à This is why I recommend to use your personal laptop instead of company laptop.
- ✅ Review quotas and limits – Questions often revolve around knowing default values or maximums.
- ✅ Practice exams—again and again - Repeat them multiple times, but don’t just focus on memorizing the answers. Again, focus on understanding the underlying concepts and why each answer is correct or incorrect.
- ✅Understand the principles - Don’t just memorize the practice questions from the course—real exam questions are often a combination of multiple concepts rolled into one.
5. During the Exam – Stay Sharp
- ⏳ Don’t rush, but also don’t spend 10 minutes on a single question. à VERY IMPORTANT
- 🔍 Read answer choices carefully. A single word—like "most secure" or "least effort"—can change the correct answer.
- 💡 Mark difficult questions for review. Come back later if needed.
- ✅ Double-check tricky wording like: “Use AWS Backup” vs “Use backup from EC2” “Most scalable” vs “Easiest to deploy”
Final Thoughts
The AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam isn’t just about knowing services—it’s about using judgment. You’ll need to evaluate trade-offs, understand design patterns, and think critically under pressure.
Here’s how I think through every question:
- ✔️ Does it work?
- 🎯 Does it meet the requirement (cost, security, availability)?
- 🚫 Is it limited by quotas, region support, or design flaws?
If you keep that in mind—and invest time in labs, practice exams, and mindset—you’re already halfway there.
Thanks for reading, and good luck on your own journey! 🌟
LinkedIn Article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/journey-aws-solutions-architect-associate-sunsick-yoon-johhe/
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