Introduction

[About this article]
In October 2024, I passed the AWS Security Specialty exam on the first try, even though I am a complete beginner in security. I would like to write a review of my experience.

[Target audience]

• People taking or considering taking the AWS SCS exam
• People interested in AWS certification

[What you will gain from reading this article]

• Efficient study methods for AWS SCS (compared to our company)
• Trends in questions actually asked in AWS SCS

[Brief self-introduction before this chapter]
◆Undergraduate graduate (non-information)
◆ I joined an SIer as a new graduate in my third year, and have been working on AWS projects for three months.
◆Qualifications obtained

Until I obtained the sysOpsAdministrator Associate, I had never been involved with AWS infrastructure in my work.

What is AWS Security Specialty?

This exam tests your understanding of specialized data classification and AWS data protection mechanisms, data encryption methods and AWS mechanisms for implementing them, and AWS mechanisms for implementing secure Internet protocols.

• Exam time: 170 minutes
• Number of questions: 65 questions
• Fee: 300 USD

https://aws.amazon.com/jp/certification/certified-security-specialty/

Study method and study period

https://kws-cloud-tech.com/

I only used CloudTech, which has 385 questions, so I studied until I got 90% correct.

The study period was two weeks, and the breakdown of the two weeks is as follows:

Weekdays: about 3 hours

Holidays: about 4 hours

Total: about 50 hours

I personally found the style of trying to solve the problems right away and researching the parts I don't understand to be the most efficient.

I think the key to passing is not to memorize the questions and answers, but to be able to explain for each option why it is wrong and why you should choose that option.

Exam schedule and results

The exam time is 170 minutes, but I finished in about an hour and a half, and left with about 80 minutes.
As for the time of the results, which is surprisingly interesting, I received an email after 7pm and was able to check my score report.

Actual exam experience

There were about 5-10 questions similar to the ones I solved in Cloudtech, but the rest were difficult, and I honestly thought I had failed during the exam.

Frequently Asked Questions

• DDoS Attacks
• Security Groups and Network ACLs
• Encryption Keys
• SCP (choosing between StringLike and StringNotLike, Deny and Allow)
• Logging
• Root User Protection
• GuardDuty

Conclusion

I hope this article was useful.
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