The Journey of my AWS Developer Associate Certification Exam and how I managed to crack it
Special thanks to SourceFuse.
The Beginning
I heard about AWS certification exams in 2018.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to go with AWS Developer Associate which was more server-less focused and I was already familiar with lambda, s3, SQS, IAM, API gateway, Systems Manager, X-ray, etc. I went through a few topics through courses but unfortunately, I failed to give sufficient time for the preparation.
The Lockdown Period and the AWS Certification Announcement
But then the pandemic happened. I rushed home as our company requested all employees to work from home 5–6 days before the nationwide Lockdown. I started to work even more in-home than the office (due to no travel barrier). But anyways I was getting bored sitting at home, started to feel monotonous. No travel, very less outings (only when required wearing masks for purchasing useful stuff), and too many office meetings.
After 30th March, AWS announced that the aspirants can give certification exams from home through a remote online proctor (a person who monitors your examination through a webcam) using Pearson Vue or PSI. By that time I had only Linux Installed at my office laptop and my other laptop was damn slow since Pearson Vue Prohibits allowing exam conducted on Linux or any Linux specific OS. Anyways I talked to Management and installed Windows 10 Pro by first removing Linux(a big shout out to the cloud saga :P)during the installation process and then further reinstalling Linux along with Windows and activated by further talking to Management. Got cloned office stuff from Github and did all necessary software installations.
The preparation Time
Now all was set on the system. I was in the middle of my preparation through A Cloud Guru and completed it and did all quizzes and mock tests which were easy but really helped me testing my basics. Also, I followed Stéphane Maarek’s Course for AWS Developer Associate on Udemy as well and also his practice questions’ set. Believe me, it was an awesome course.
Initially, I was getting between 55%-65% answers correct. I found some silly mistakes and pointed out my weaknesses in some topics. Some questions were really scenario-based and made me confused. Then I read the question in depth and saw what actually they were asking. For example in a large scenario-based question, they were asking to reduce latency so ElasticCache was the preferred choice.
I also followed some whitepapers and AWS Documentation and used my company’s AWS console but for only those services which cost negligible. Still, I recommend you that if you have AWS free tier, do use AWS console as well as I was able to answer questions more frequently for those AWS services which I have used in the past.
5–6 before the examination date, I practiced 5 mock tests on Whizlabs and it really shaped me tackling scenario-based questions. Was getting 70–80% questions correct.
On a day before Exam
I started to feel slightly been nervous and attempted a practice exam has 20 questions. I received my score report on Pearson and then:
DAMNIT!!! ONLY 60% SCORE!!! I started to feel a little “insecure” in the “security” section. Then I quickly grasped AWS Exam Readiness which was like a quick summary and the instructor told me how to eliminate wrong answers in Sample Questions. He also told us to focus on the most important parts in a question that what a question is actually asking. For Example, a person doesn’t want to manage infrastructure(serverless) so any option containing services like EC2 or RDS will be eliminated. Gone through FAQs for some services which I feel I need to revisit.
On the Exam Day
I already informed my parents about the exam time and locked up my room. All doors closed and put my phone charging. The laptop was connected using the Mobile Hotspot. Please don’t use tethering as they don’t allow mobile phones within the reach of your arms.
Now the exam start time, I clicked on “Begin Exam” and they gave me an access code. Now I opened up OnVue Software and pasted the code. First of all, OnVue checked out system requirements, asked me to took a picture of the room in all directions, and then asked for front and back cover photo. I showed a PAN card. Also made mobile phone on silent mode.
I was fully focused on my screen, a chat message window appeared and the proctor asked me to show my desk, arms, and ID proof(PAN Card works by the way). Now I was redirected to an exam with instructions and then the exam started. The online proctor was monitoring me until the end of an exam. So you cannot even move away from your desk since they have a very strict policy.
As I already know, there were lots of scenarios (and annoying :P) based questions. Some questions really made me confused between two options that were a little hard to identify after eliminating incorrect answers. What questions were “marked as review” and reviewed later. Few questions were easy to answer.
In my opinion, if I rate the difficulty level of an exam, I will rate as 3 out of 5. This means neither it was too difficult nor it was too easy.
The time limit was 140 minutes, I was able to complete the exam in 90 minutes and then reviewed 5–7 questions that were marked for review. After completing the exam, they asked me a few simple questions like how many months I put for preparation, what was the main reason behind giving this exam, etc. Finally, I got the result on my testing screen.
Result: PASS. I was feeling like:
The very next day I received the Exam Score and Certificate. Got a score of 829/1000. To pass this exam, the minimum score required was 720. AWS uses statistical analysis(see their site for more info) to calculate exam scores and it ranges from 100 to 1000. But then I got a stupid question in my mind that if someone does not attempt even one question, will he get a 100 score :\?
Conclusion and Exam Tips
So finally I got AWS Certified on my first AWS exam in the first attempt and I am sharing a few tips from my opinion:
- First of all, go through the courses and practice tests. Follow whitepapers as well. Read AWS documentation if you need clarity in depth. For example, I read dynamo DB documentation for finding difference between the Local secondary Index and Global Secondary Index. Stéphane Maarek’s courses were really awesome.
- You can follow exam readiness at AWS.training for a quick summary.
- Don’t forget to practice mock tests. They are really helpful in finding your weak points. You can start practicing on A Cloud Guru for testing your basics and then jumping to Stéphane Maarek’s practice tests and Whizlabs.
- Follow Pearson Vue’s Exam policies at-least a week before the exam. Or PSI if not using Pearson.
- Start your preparation at-least one month before the exam.
- By the way, if you are completely new to AWS, you can start by giving AWS Certified Cloud practitioner Exam. It is easier than AWS Developer Associate and it is a foundational level Exam.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.
