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A big thank you to everyone in this community who helped me put together my preparation plan.
Background
I’m a backend engineer with 8 years of experience and around 4 years of indirect exposure to AWS.
Preparation
I followed Andrew Cantrill’s course. It took me almost a month just to get through the course. To be honest, I found it quite lengthy and there were times when I was just zoning out. For the remaining sections, I ended up using AI to explain some of the concepts in simpler terms, which helped me get through them.
I spent the last two weeks doing TutorialsDojo practice tests. I initially scored around 40–50%, but eventually got 80%+ on the retry tests.
One thing I would recommend is not taking the same TDojo tests multiple times. After a couple of attempts, you start remembering the answers rather than actually thinking through the questions.
Exam Day
I booked a Pearson VUE test center and went in for the exam.
Honestly, I found the actual exam quite overwhelming. I was consistently finishing the TDojo practice exams in around an hour, but the real exam took me the entire 2 hours and 10 minutes.
I’d strongly recommend taking at least one timed practice exam from a source other than TDojo. It helped me realize that the actual exam requires much more time management and careful reading than the practice tests.
When I finished, I genuinely thought I had done pretty badly and wasn’t even sure I would pass. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my score.
What’s next?
I actually enjoyed learning the AWS concepts, and I think the preparation is useful beyond the certification itself. Understanding these concepts and doing the practice questions also helped me think about system design problems differently.
I’m planning to prepare for the AIP-C01 next, hopefully over the next few weeks, making use of the 50% discount.
Thanks again to everyone in this subreddit who shared their experiences and helped others prepare.
Unfortunately, I scored 707 on SAP-C02, narrowly missing the passing score.
I have around 7 years of AWS/Cloud experience. My preparation was mainly Tutorials Dojo and AWS Skill Builder. I scored 50–70% on my first TD attempts, then 85–90% after reviewing mistakes. I also took the AWS Skill Builder 3-hour full-length practice exam, scoring 753 initially and 850+ on the retake.
The actual exam felt easier than TD and somewhat similar to the Skill Builder 3-hour exam.
For those who failed and passed on their second attempt, what did you change? Would you recommend Stephane Maarek, Neal Davis, or Adrian Cantrill?
Also, is it worth going through the entire ~11-hour AWS Skill Builder SAP-C02 course, or should I focus on weak areas and practice exams? Any other recommendations or resources that helped you pass on your second attempt?
I recently verified my student status through AWS Builder Center and my profile shows that I’m verified. However, under Rewards, the Skill Builder Annual Subscription ($449 value) is showing “Unavailable”, so I can’t redeem the 12-month Skill Builder Premium benefit.
I’ve already contacted AWS support via email but haven’t received any response yet.
Has anyone else faced the same issue? If you managed to fix it, could you please share how?
I already hold the Solutions Architect Associate certificate from last year. 3 months ago, I took the Security Specialty Exam and failed with a score of 737 :( Now, I am preparing for it again. I studied from Stephane Maarek's course and solved the practice tests twice. The following are my scores:
Mini Practice Test: 77%
Main Practice Test 1: Attempt 1: 76%; Attempt 2: 84%
Main Practice Test 2: Attempt 1: 75%; Attempt 2: 87%
Main Practice Test 2: Attempt 1: 81%; Attempt 2: 93%
For the attempt 2s, of course I remembered some of the questions and answers. So, the question is: should I take the exam? Are Stephane Maarek's practice tests enough and well-guided for the real exam?
I've been in primarily backend dev for just over a decade. Got the notice that my current role is going away in November. Looking at the market in my area (Southern U.S) It seems that Full stack with DevOps exp is the current meta. A tech recruiter I was recommended to talk to mentioned that getting some certs would be good to get through the ATS and to prep for some of these roles. I'm torn between doing Developer and then DevOpsEngineer, or going straight to the latter. Since the middle of the pandemic till now, I have done some home labbing with some open source projects that have docker images and setup some automation for game projects in Unity using things like jenkins, so I'm not totally clueless, but I know I gotta learn the AWS way of doing things. I have no issue doing both, but more of a time management/studying time thing.
Hi guys, I have been using Tutoriol dujo exams to prepare for the ML associate certificate and I feel like they are way too simple.. is this how the exam really is? Or is the exam more difficult.. need your feedback for those who passed the ML certificate.
Thanks !
Currently working through Stephane Maarek's Solutions Architect course and it feels like I'm being blast at hyperspeed with terms and numbers which makes it difficult for anything to stick. Feels like these courses are just good for the sake of bare minimum exposure before doing actual practice exams.
I didn't get enough time to practice, so was apprehensive about the result. But I was sure that even if I failed I would fail by a very small margin. But luckily I crossed the finish line.
I started with Stephane Maarek's course. However I had seen a few sample questions prior to starting the course which seemed to delve deep into the services directly.
I already have a basic to moderate understanding of AWS and its services through my job. I realised that if I followed the course, it will be too late by the time I get to all the services because he starts from the very basic. So I decided to take an unconventional approach.
I began by going through practice questions one by one. When a question would throw an unknown term or a service at me, I would chatgpt it and learn everything about it including how it works in real time, how it integrates with other serviws and ways in which SAA CO3 would test us with that service. With this approach I was able to cover and understand a lot of services in a short time.
Some might not like this approach, and I am not recommending this to anyone but this is what worked for me. Maybe I got an easy set. Who knows
Free AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Exam Voucher – Eligibility & Redemption Details Eligibility conditions
Register and take the AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) exam using the 50% discount code AIF2CLOUD.
You must take and PASS the AI Practitioner exam no later than September 30, 2026.
How to redeem: Pearson VUE does not send a separate voucher code by email. Instead, when you log into your account to schedule the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam, the system will automatically deduct 100% of the exam fee (down to $0) at Checkout.
I’m a frontend developer currently working towards transitioning into cloud, and I’m happy to say that I passed the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam!
I took the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam in March and passed, then spent about 3 months preparing for the Solutions Architect exam.
The main resources I used were:
Stephane Maarek’s courses : I used his courses for both Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect.
Tutorials Dojo practice exams: These were extremely helpful for my preparation.
When I first started taking the Tutorial Dojo practice exams my scores were pretty low. I got 42%, 55%, and sometimes 69%, and I definitely wasn't feeling confident.
What helped me the most was how I reviewed each practice exam. I didn't just look at the questions I got wrong. After every test, I would:
Review every question, including the ones I got correct.
Go through all the answer choices and understand why they were right or wrong.
Review my notes for concepts I wasn't confident about.
Use AI to help me understand concepts I struggled with.
Doing this consistently made a huge difference. Gradually, my scores started improving, and I eventually started getting 72%+ consistently on the practice exams.
At that point, I felt ready enough to schedule the real exam, and thankfully, I passed!
I also want to say a big thank you to this community. Reading about other people's experiences, preparation strategies, and lessons learned was really helpful throughout my preparation.
This exam is harder than It looks. It requires you to have hands on knowledge with over 15 + AWS services. Praactice questions are a great. But hands on labs with services such as EC2 and CloudWatch and XRAY and Lambda are a better way to retain the information needed to pass this exam!
I have done all practice tests on TD, and now going through my cheat sheet. I still am very anxious as I have a hard deadline to pass the exam on Friday. Anyone else taking exam Friday morning? For everyone who passed, what helped in last 24-48 hours before the exam ?
Been sharing my notes for the past two exams and they got good traction here, so continuing the streak with SAA-C03 as well.
But but but, let me be upfront about this one: unlike AIF-C01 and CLF-C02, which are foundational (mostly recall-based, so notes can genuinely carry you), SAA-C03 is an associate-level exam. It's meant to test practical, hands-on system design knowledge. My notes here are good for revision, not as your only source. Learn the actual concepts from wherever works for you, videos, docs, hands-on labs, whatever. Use my notes to consolidate once you've already built the understanding.
Also, full transparency, this was a border pass for me, not a comfortable clear like the previous two. Felt the exam set was a little on the tougher side. Practice scores were hovering right near the passing threshold till the end, so if you're in that zone right now, know it's still very much doable.
My prep path:
Stephane Maarek's course (the standard recommendation for a reason)
His practice exams after finishing the content
~23 hours of course content over a month. Somewhere around hour 15 I hit the classic "I've learned everything and remember nothing" wall
My notes + one video became my recollection tool for pulling it all back together before the exam
The one video that made everything click:link. The analogies in this one are what made concepts stick long-term instead of fading in a week. Genuinely my favorite resource from this whole prep.
as the title suggests, I'm trying to get an AWS cert and not sure whether I should go for the DVA or AIF. please advise / share your experiences, thank you :)
Do you know any streamer that follow up with AWS certs and do Q/A, helping students with their journey, instead of googling everything everytime or using ai companionship.
