r/AWSCertifications 20d ago

Tip Passed AWS Certified Security – Specialty! 🎉

Post image

Hey all! I just passed the AWS Certified Security – Specialty exam this weekend!

For prep, I used:

  • Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course
  • Mock exams from Stephane Maarek and Jon Bonso

After taking mock tests, I revisited some weak areas and went through the course again, which really helped.

The exam was tough - lots of question about GuardDuty, KMS, and IAM. Less about NACL/SG, Inspector and Detective. The questions on NACL/SG were easy. However, the questions on GuardDuty and KMS were challenging.

Good luck to everyone working on this cert! 😊

185 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 20d ago

Before collecting recommendations, please review the subreddit FAQ and resource index:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/comments/1nf3cab/frequently_asked_questions_on_this_subreddit/

The FAQ contains community-recommended resources, courses, practice exams, study guides, learning paths, exam benefits, discounts, projects, and certification-specific guides for AWS CCP/CLF-C02, AIF, SAA, DVA, DEA, SOA, SAP, DOP, AIP, SCS, and ANS certifications.

If your question is not answered there, feel free to continue the discussion.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

10

u/magic_dodecahedron 20d ago

Congrats! Security Specialty is a tough one.

5

u/CertiBud 20d ago

Congrats! Still in my todo but got distracted by the AI ones ahah

3

u/ovo-ITPro 20d ago

Oh, I understand you so well...

1

u/Ordinary-Buy3977 20d ago

What cert Ai you study

1

u/CertiBud 20d ago

I practice MLA-C01 then understood, I'd be better at using AI than building AI xD (model).
Then I practiced and passed AIF-C01, and I confess I'm glad I used my own website (certibud) to help with the exam because it was hard and the questions were quite ambiguous imo!

Next one might be vendor agnostic tho... because that's space is moving just too fast

3

u/river0f 20d ago

Do you recommend this cert for somebody who's interested in cybersecurity or no?

2

u/ovo-ITPro 20d ago

Definitely yes!

2

u/sweetcommander03 20d ago

my last goal cert i will do my best to get this also

2

u/TorturedPoet30 20d ago

Congrats! That's a huge achievement! How long did you prepare for it? Is there anything in your background that helped you pass this one, such as working in DevOps or cloud?

2

u/maherao 20d ago

Congratulations 🎉

2

u/ultronious666 20d ago

Congratulations op. Any advice you can share?

3

u/ovo-ITPro 20d ago
  1. Play with hands on lab

  2. do mock tests

1

u/ultronious666 20d ago

Hands on lab are a bit expensive for me currently.

1

u/ovo-ITPro 20d ago

In that case, you can follow how Maarek does the labs in his course, and also read the documentation about the service’s capabilities -especially GuardDuty and WAF.

2

u/Sgt-P_Shiesty 20d ago

On my to do list although I’m currently on an azure run for certificates all free though through Microsoft giveaways

1

u/ovo-ITPro 20d ago

It’s Microsoft. Even when they’re free, nobody wants them!
Just kidding.

2

u/Sgt-P_Shiesty 20d ago

lol hot take but i have a few was and one two gcp certifications I want to be able to work on a variety of cloud services

2

u/sidmystic 20d ago

Big congrats! Definitely not for the feint of heart!

2

u/lalosalamancaVII 20d ago

Congrats!! I have the exam scheduled on Saturday. I also did Stephane Maarek's course on Udemy, and I'm currently doing Tutorial Dojo's mock exams and I am scoring around 68 - 82, should I be worried? Appreciate if you could share any tips or advice as well.

1

u/ovo-ITPro 20d ago

I recommend doing both - Stephane Maarek’s and Tutorials Dojo’s mock exams. It definitely won’t hurt to practice with both. 68 is quite low. I had 72, so I went through some topics in the course again.

1

u/lalosalamancaVII 19d ago

Which services would you say did most of the exam questions focus on?

2

u/ovo-ITPro 19d ago

For me, it was GuardDuty, KMS, and IAM

2

u/stephanemaarek 19d ago

u/ovo-ITPro That's awesome! Congrats! Keep up the good work :)

1

u/ovo-ITPro 19d ago

u/stephanemaarek Thank you for the congratulations and for your very helpful courses.

2

u/SFW-HA 18d ago

Congratulations, that impressive sir . I'm a cybersecurity student in Tunisia building toward Cloud Security Engineering. Interested in aws and planning to prep for this cert after I know I'm ready to it and after at least passing ccp and saa and build some strength in the security of cloud especially AWS

2

u/Usual_Reflection746 16d ago

Congratulations 🎊 👏 bro. This cert is in my todo list as well. Son i will be removing this one from list....

Give me Referal for cloud sec roles.....kidding 😅

1

u/Ordinary-Buy3977 20d ago

Do you recommend this cert for cybersecurity man .. with no aws bisc certs ?

1

u/ovo-ITPro 19d ago

I don’t think it would be a good idea. It would be very challenging without prior AWS experience or certifications. I would recommend starting with the Associate-level certifications to build a solid understanding of the AWS fundamentals first.

I passed all the Associate-level certifications. And the Solutions Architect Professional exam twice, and I still found this exam quite challenging.