Detailed Review Of Preparation
Learning path
This is the learning path recommended by AWS:
https://aws.amazon.com/training/path-architecting/
However, I already had some previous knowledge, so this is the order that I followed:
- AWS Training: I was given an "Architecting on AWS - Accelerator" course. The AWS instructors are top level experts and teachers. This course is highly recommended if you have not passed the Associate level. Also AWS partners can access to digital training videos.
- Review the exam guide and the sample questions.
- Linux Academy course: It is quite large (51h 30min) but every single video is a piece of knowledge that you should not miss. Also you can get hands on experience with the labs. There are many other courses available: A Cloud Guru, Udemy, Whizlabs
- AWS Training and Documentation: Extend your knowledge by reading AWS docs and training videos.
- Practice exams: I recommend follow this order: first Linux Academy AWS Solutions Architect course practice exam, then Jon Bonso Practice Exames (Udemy) and finally AWS practice exam.
- Practice: create an AWS account and practice. You can play with many thing with the free tier.
Tips
- Create a course schedule: e.g. 1 hour/day on average means at least two months!
- In the course videos you can increase speed x1.25 or x1.5 if at that speed you can still understand everything.
- Before you schedule your exam, for non-native english speakers you can 30min more for your exam. Go to https://www.aws.training/Certification, then go to https://www.certmetrics.com/amazon/ , select request examn accomodations and select ESL +30.
- Even if you have a lot of experience with AWS, this is exam is really tough.
- Some questions are even harder an longer than Jon Bonso practice exams. Be sure to pass that practice exams before taking the real exam.
During the exam
- Time control: be sure to answer one question every 2-2.5 minutes. Otherwise you will get out of time. You can also flag a question for later review.
- Understand what the are asking for exactly.
- Look for key information in the question: cost-effective, most efficient, short-term, time restrictions (RTO, RPO), etc.
- Read the answers before: some questions are too large. Try to read before the answers to understand faster what are they asking for.