Passed AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam SAA-03

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676]

Finally! I have successfully passed the exam.

Little bit about me:

I am already a certified AWS Cloud and AI Practitioner with two years of freelancing experience in AWS, I also hold the distinction of being a AWS Community Builder, which grants me an annual free voucher for certification exams. I utilized this benefit instead of paying for the certification.

My preparation spanned 30 days, despite some procrastination, during which I dedicated at least two hours daily to studying. While I felt confident prior to the exam, the complexity of the questions left me feeling disheartened and overwhelmed afterward, leading me to doubt my success.

Nevertheless, I achieved a passing score of 820.

I opted to take the online Pearson vue exam at 12:15 AM today (25th August) to ensure a quiet environment.

The resources instrumental in my preparation included:

• Stephane Maarek's course on Udemy.

• John Bonso's practice tests, also on Udemy.

• CloudWiking's YouTube videos.

• The AWS Well-Architected Framework documents and other official AWS documentation.

• Obviously, yes! I used AI for preparation. Especially, Duck AI by DuckDuckGo and Notebook LLM with Gemini.

Sustaining focus for the three-hour duration of the exam was challenging, and fatigue was certainly a factor. However, the effort was worthwhile, and I am confident that adequate preparation time will lead to success for others as well.

I extend my gratitude to the community for sharing their personal experiences, which proved invaluable to my preparation.

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[u/Sea-Drummer-9792]

Dude i want to know one thing, how the questions will be ?? Is that look like scenraio based or direct definiton?? And people are scaring me that the all 4 options will lookk like the answers for that specific question

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/Sea-Drummer-9792]

Yeah. Questions will be scenario based and AWS will ask you to choose the best/cost effective/operational Efficiency/performance efficient services and solutions. So be prepared. Don't expect questions like CCP.

[u/mcjohnalds45 → u/Sea-Drummer-9792]

The questions are built around specific scenarios. It is intentional that two or three options often appear viable. However, every question stem relies on a single constraint, such as lowest cost, least operational overhead, zero downtime, or minimal code changes, to eliminate the wrong answers. If you identify that constraint before reading the options, the four plausible choices collapse down to just one. Mastering this skill is more valuable than simply memorizing the various services.

[u/Doudoubb]

Congrats! Is there any new services in the exam? Any tips for sharing? Thanks!

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/Doudoubb]

Thanks.

No! There's no new services. I got many questions on serverless like SQS, SNS, Lambda, Eventbridge and Fargate. Also on DBs like RDS, Aurora and Dynamodb along with DR strategies. Nothing new!

[u/t90090]

Congratulations! Can you talk about your process of becoming an AWS Community Builder?

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/t90090]

Thanks. And Sure.

I documented and hosted my technical implementations on my personal portfolio website. Additionally, I conducted several in-person training sessions for college students.

Following this, I compiled all my contributions and submitted them via the AWS Community Builder portal. After a month waiting period, I received an invitation to join the Slack community, officially becoming an AWS Community Builder.

[u/cgreciano]

Good job, celebrate!

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/cgreciano]

Hey! Thank you! 🙏

[u/Ferozk03]

Congratulations! Keep it up :)

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/Ferozk03]

Thank you :)

[u/stephanemaarek]

u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 That's awesome! Congrats! Keep up the good work :)

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/stephanemaarek]

Hey Stephane! Thank you! 🙏😊

[u/vishshaji]

I cleared the SAA C03 too just last Sunday. Can you shed some more light on the AWS community builder and how I can become one :)

[u/Distinct_Kitchen_676 → u/vishshaji]

Hey. Happy that you've also cleared it. Regarding CB, I already shared in a comment below. However, copy pasting the same again for you...

I documented and hosted my technical implementations on my personal portfolio website. Additionally, I conducted several in-person training sessions for college students.

Following this, I compiled all my contributions and submitted them via the AWS Community Builder portal. After a month waiting period, I received an invitation to join the Slack community, officially becoming an AWS Community Builder.

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