How I passed AWS SAA-C02 exam

Saw a message from GOUP community on Dec 18 (https://goupaz.slack.com/archives/CL62M4GKW/p1608325198000600) about SAA-C02 exam guide. Got interested and did some research to find out more about this exam. I decided that it would be a cool challenge to accomplish based on these criteria:

it perfectly fits my current role of a Software Architect AWS is a leading cloud platform that is used by most companies it would be nice to showcase a badge on my LinkedIN profile there was an upcoming COVID shutdown in my country and I was bored Started to actually prepare for the exam starting from Dec 21. For this I started to watch a course on LinkedIN Learning platform (I already had a subscription), but a bit later I found out that the course is just scratching the surface without actually digging deeper on exam topics. I switched to Safari Books platform where I also had a subscription. To my surprise the video course there was the same as on the LinkedIN Learning platform. I did again my research and based on that decided to buy a course by Neal Davis on Udemy. The course is perfect for preparing for the exam and I highly recommend it. It gives you full understanding of AWS services with hands on practice.

Everyday I spent at least 3 hours preparing for the exam (except Dec 30 and 31). 2 weeks later I finished the course and decided to buy Jon Bonso practice exams on Udemy to be more confident about my knowledge. I passed the first 3 exams with 75%, 84%, 78% scores during the first week. This is when I thought that I’m ready for the exam and scheduled the exam to the 19th Jan. Later I rescheduled the exam to the 22th Jan because I still wasn’t confident and wanted to pass the remaining 3 practice exams. Unfortunately there was an “urgent” meeting on my company on the 22th Jan and I had to again reschedule the exam to the 25th Jan. You can reschedule the exam 2 times without any charges.

There are 2 options for taking the exam: online proctored exam at home on your computer or at special exam centers. After reading a lot of bad reviews about a proctored exam I decided to take it at Pearson VUE center. Plus I didn’t want to have a heart attack in case I suddenly lost my internet connection during the exam. The questions on the actual exam were a lot easier than the ones on the practice tests by Jon Bonso. But there were still some “ambiguous” ones. In general everything went well and I got that “passed” message on my screen after the exam. 2 days later I got my exam results and a badge. I passed the exam with 940 score out of 1000. I was already familiar with the 80% of exam topics, but the preparation for the exam helped me to structure my knowledge and fill the gaps on some AWS services. My advice for future exam takers: consistency is the key, don’t rush it if you’re not confident, do some practice tests an hour or two before the actual exam (my mind was in a “sleeping” state and I spent 4 minutes just on the first question).