A few months ago, I successfully passed the AWS Developer Associate certification. Here are some tips for preparing for and taking the exam!
Preparation
Here is a list of resources I used to prepare for the exam:
| Resource Name | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Official AWS Certification Information and Policies | Free | AWS Certification Information |
| Official AWS Sample Questions | Free | Official Mock Questions |
| AWS Free Practice Test Questions GitHub Repo | Free | GitHub Repo |
| AWS Bites Podcast | Free | AWS Bites Podcast |
| Tutorials Dojo | $14.99 | Tutorials Dojo |
| A Cloud Guru | varies | A Cloud Guru |
It took me about 2.5 months to prepare for the exam. I used A Cloud Guru's training and tried to study for at least 1 hour every day and 2-3 hours on the weekends. I like A Cloud Guru because it's a good mix of theoretical and hands-on training: they give you test accounts so you can practice on the real AWS console without using your personal account (and risk getting charged!). (I have no affiliation with A Cloud Guru!).
In my opinion, it is important to get as much hands-on experience as possible to understand how the services work and how to apply them to real-world scenarios. The exam includes scenario-based questions, so this is important. An in-depth understanding of the main services (including EC2, Lambda, API Gateway, S3, DynamoDB, CloudFront, Systems Manager Parameter Store, Secrets Manager, SQS) and how they work together is essential.
To deepen my knowledge, I listened to the AWS Bites podcast in my spare time, especially the episodes on Serverless, S3, Lambda, Cognito, and DynamoDB. The episodes are short and of good quality. I enjoyed listening to them and would definitely recommend the podcast.
When I finished A Cloud Guru's course, I took all of their sample exams. After each exam, I reviewed the questions I got wrong. A Cloud Guru gives you an explanation for each answer, so it is easy to see why you got it wrong.
As my exam date approached, I almost panicked when I checked reddit and people said that preparing with A Cloud Guru wasn't enough and recommended Tutorials Dojo's sample exams. I bought Tutorials Dojo and took a few. They are harder than the real exam, so don't be afraid if you score lower on them. They also have good in-depth explanations of the answers to the questions, so it's good to supplement your preparation.
The exam
I took the exam online with Pearson VUE. The experience was smooth, and I didn't have any problems. There is a check at the beginning, so before the exam, clear the room of any posters or unnecessary items. Just leave your computer on the table.
As for the exam itself, most of the questions are scenario-based, and you have multiple choices. It's important to read each question carefully, but don't overthink it. Try to understand the scenario and the problem, and then eliminate the choices that you are sure are incorrect. If you don't know the answer, use common sense. Try all the questions because there are no negative marks. There was a big focus on Serverless in my exam, and many questions revolved around Lambda, API Gateway, CloudFront, S3, and DynamoDB.
I hope this guide was helpful! Good luck on the exam! You can do it!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! You can also find me on Github, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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