This blog will cover some useful resources and the exam preparation plan to help you pass the AWS SAA certification.

First thing to mention, do not consider this exam to be easy :)

AWS SAA is one of the popular and most challenging exams in the cloud domain which helps you gain knowledge and boost your confidence in using AWS cloud services. So, it’s great that you are planning to take this exam and up-skilling your cloud knowledge.

Now, let’s talk about the resources to prepare for it. As mentioned, this exam is not an easy one, it will test how good you are with AWS services in terms of their usage, best practices, designing and implementing distributed systems on AWS. So, below are some of the good resources which I found helpful.

Courses:

Udemy: Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) by Stephane Maarek

Udemy: AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Training SAA-C03 by Neal Davis

Cloud Academy: https://cloudacademy.com/learning-paths/aws-solutions-architect-associate-saa-c02-certification-preparation-954/

Practice Tests:

Whizlabs: https://www.whizlabs.com/aws-solutions-architect-associate/

Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-amazon-practice-exams-saa-c03/ by Jon Bonzo

Sample Example Questions by AWS: here

AWS FAQs: here

AWS Whitepapers & Guides: here
Some of the important white papers are –

• Overview of Amazon Web Services
• AWS Well-Architected Framework
• Architecting for the Cloud: AWS Best Practices
• AWS Security Best Practices
• AWS Storage Services Overview

AWS Ramp-Up Guide: Architect: here

Learning Path

On average, 35-40 hours or 6-8 weeks should be fine to prepare for AWS SAA exam (if you have some prior AWS experience).

If you are just beginning with AWS, then you might need approximately 50-60 hours or three months to prepare.

Note: These recommendations are in general, and not a hard constraint. Please feel free to go on your own pace which suits you better.

Below is the 3-months learning path for beginners:

Month 1: Get familiar with AWS Services and their best practices

• Course/youtube Videos - 10 hours
• Practice labs/hands-on - 10 hours

Month 2: Deep Dive! Learn about different use-cases and how to implement them using AWS Services such as which service would be the best fit in the given particular scenario and why

• Course/youtube videos/AWS Ramp-Up Guide: Architect - 10 hours
• Read AWS Whitepapers/FAQs - 5 hours
• Hands-on - 5 hours

Month 3: Practice Mock tests!! To pass the exam, practice questions are extremely important. Take any one of the above mentioned practice test series, try to go through all the test questions, check the detailed explanation provided to understand why that particular option was the right one to clear your concepts which will help you perform better in the exam.

Hope it helps. Good Luck!!