I passed my AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA - C03) Exam
Intro
Hello Everyone,
I am Devarsh Shah and I am writing this blog to give a proper direction to ace the SAA - C03 Exam with free resources I follow.
First of all, here’s my credly badge which I received after approximately 16 hours of taking the exam.
I took the exam at 12:30 AM on 8th December. 12:30 AM to 3:30 AM
Mistakes
Booking the exam time slot
I have booked the exam time slot for 7th December at noon, which is not good. I must have booked the exam a week or a month ago.
Also, I have faced issues while making payments. The Pearson website does not support UPI payments or the Debit we use in India. We must make the payment using an International Credit Card or Debit Card. I think an International Debit Card will also not do because I was not able to make payment using my virtual international Debit Card.
So, go for a Credit Card with International payment enabled.
My experience (please ignore if not interested in knowing)
Trying to make payments recurrently from a Visa credit card with no International transaction support has blocked my Pearson’s account. So, I had to contact Pearson’s support team and it took me more than 24 hours to unblock my account and book the time slot.
Booking Time Slot
Before scheduling, decide when you want to give the exam, with a fixed Date and Time. Because, once you click on the particular time slot, and will click on reschedule the exam. You won’t be able to book the exam at that time again.
So, decide when you want to take the exam.
TL;DR
- Book the exam for a week or a month
- First, decide when you want to take the exam and then book the date & time slot.
How much did the exam cost me?
I received the 50% off voucher after watching this video. Where I have to book the exam before 12th December and take the exam before 31st December.
Preparation
I have prepared it completely for free. I haven’t paid for any course or taken any mock exams.
I just have followed the following YouTube channels,
I have started preparing for my exam on 15 October 2024
So, it took me 1.5 months to prepare for the exam and get aware of all the AWS services.
Also, I have shared my learning journey on YouTube, you can refer to my learnings here.
In the final week of my exam. I had completely devoted myself to the exam and was only referring to the YouTube channel Sthithpragnya for practicing questions. Till the last minute.
Yeah, that’s all that it took to achieve the certification.
The twist
Everyone, I have given this exam on 8th December at night. Why? What’s so hurry? Because, I want to present myself as SAA certified when I was at CloudNativeCon + KubeCon 2024 Delhi, India.
Because, one of my seniors told me that, there are so many “Jr. Solution Architects exist nowadays”. Meaning, that must build a project to prove our capability.
Outro
I have built the blog short and crisp mentioning the required key points to crack the exam. Go now and crack the exam, with projects :)