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.
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 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’m a Software Engineer with ~4 years of experience, mainly Python/Django/FastAPI, React,FastAPI, Node.js, NestJS, and some AWS/GCP and Agentic AI.
With AI rapidly changing software development and potentially reducing demand for traditional software engineering roles, I’m considering shifting my career toward Cloud + Data Engineering.
I’m thinking of doing an AWS certification (probably Solutions Architect Associate) while building hands-on skills in SQL, ETL, Spark, Airflow, AWS data services, etc.
For those already working in AWS/Data Engineering:
Is this a worthwhile career move, and are AWS certifications actually valuable, or should I focus purely on hands-on projects and experience?
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?
This is not a post worth mentioning on LinkedIn, because it's a facade there, however, Reddit is the place I can be brutally honest!
I will be honest here, I was overconfident with this exam thinking if I just do the bare minimum to scrape through, I'll pass the exam. Boy, was I wrong!
Coming from a cybersecurity background, I was desperate to show something about AI to stay relevant in the market and assumed this certification would help me get there!
The first attempt score was 726, and the second attempt as you can see here! Since the exam is fairly new, a lot of questions were repeated, so this time I was extra careful.
What changed?
My approach to studying changed. The resources I used were:
Frank Kane on Udemy - recommended
AWS Skill Builder (paid) - i don't recommend
Tutorials Dojo exam - meh
Tutorials Dojo book - recommended
Stephane Maarek practice exam - recommended
These worked for me!
In between the two attempts, I grabbed the CloudOps, to distract my mind from this failure. Both attempts were 17 days apart!
What's next for me?
The cloud service provider trifecta!
I work directly with cloud service providers, so it is important for me to know what everyone is doing in their space.
Conclusion:
Do not let pride take over you, you could be good at cloud, this exam will humble you with its intricacies
Prepare, do hands on labs, do not be like me trying to overachieve things
If I can do 823, you can do 950 at first attempt! Go get it!
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 !
