AWS Beginner

I registered for the Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam August 12th, 2018.  This is the official final day you can take the older version of the exam.  The new version was released in February, 2018 and the word on the street is, it’s harder than the older version.  The newer version contains more longer scenario based questions, incorporating more of the “Well Architected Framework“.   

So what have I been doing to prepare for the exam?  Well the past year and a half or so, I’ve been attending classes, learning, and practicing AWS.  Interest is the primary driver to learn.  Since I committed and registered for the exam however, there are a few resources I have found to be helpful.  I’ll mention them briefly here.

1. LinuxAcademy.com – CSA-A course is an excellent explanation.  The instructor is Thomas Haslett, and he has an excellent way of explaining the concepts in a easy to understand fashion.
2. ACloud.Guru – Ryan Kroonenburg is truly a Cloud Guru.  He really really knows his stuff, and even though he goes kinda fast through the material in his CSA-A course, it still was very helpful and one of the best resources available for certification study.
3. ACloud Guru’s exam simulator has been my favorite practice test so far.  The idea is to simulate the real AWS exam as much as possible, and it provides a crisp, clean practice environment.
4. Whizlabs.com has a nice set of practice exams with good explanations of your incorrect answers, so you actually get a chance to learn from your mistakes.  There’s over 900 questions in their question bank.  It’s well worth the $19.99 price tag.

There are other resources available to practice, but these above have been my goto ones.  You can see a more extensive list on my facebook page.