On Monday, I sat for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam and passed.
In total, I spent about a month studying with an unplanned schedule and at moments I just felt peaked productivity levels. I had prepared for an approximate total of 84 hours with every passing study session increasing my desire to know more about the cloud. I decided to write this since there was hardly any study guide I had seen during the AWS Sub Saharan Africa Challenge.
For the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam, AWS recommends that candidates have at least six months of experience with AWS Cloud in any role.
I was not prepared to spend, but then my brother, Dennis Machu, who had written a year before had a few practice tests in his Whizlabs practice account which helped bring me to speed. So technically, I didn’t spend but I used paid resources 😂.
TL;DR
- Get a good night’s sleep and have a clear, positive mind before the scheduled exam.
- Prepare with Practice Exams.
- Make use of the flagged-for-review feature to easily review answers you are not certain about.
- Use Cheat Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uI0ujoF7jM8I4QKUS1bR6-TjRBPm6rrr/view (helps revise quickly)
- Use the AWS Cloud Essentials Package — they have very good material.
Read the White Papers
Don’t skip the white papers. What I did not realize until I read the white papers is that a lot of the practice exam questions were based on the white papers. I can’t stress enough how important they are.
Recommended AWS white papers for CLF‑CO1:
- Overview of Amazon Web Services
- Architecting for the Cloud: AWS Best Practices
- How AWS Pricing Works
- Compare AWS Support Plans
Essential Practice Quizzes
I cannot emphasize how essential this is to passing. I took the practice tests on Whizlabs based on domains and then full practice tests, scoring higher in the full practice tests. My score range was 66–92%. I documented topics I needed to review after each practice test, and went over both correct and incorrect answers, writing notes for anything that was confusing. I retook each practice test again and my score range was 77–94%. I would recommend retaking all 6 practice tests until you get at least an 85% on all.
Along with the free AWS exams voucher came the free AWS practice exam voucher. Out of 20 questions, I easily had an 85% score (still thinking about the ones I had wrong). You can decide to take this as it gives you a familiar interface and feeling of the actual exam. It usually costs $20. I got a free practice exam voucher, I had to take advantage 😉.
Practice Quizzes and Tests
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Sample Questions (PDF)
- Whizlabs AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Practice Questions
- Exam Guide (PDF)
I also used the AWS Cloud Essentials Package that contains a self-learning course with practice exams.
I repeated all my practice quizzes again till I was sure I covered ground.
Exam structure
- Multiple choice: Has one correct response and three incorrect responses.
- Multiple responses: Has two or more correct responses out of five or more options.
You require at least 70% (700/1000) to pass. I was given 65 questions.
You will not be penalized for answering a question incorrectly, so if you do not know the answer to a question, it is better to guess than to leave it blank.
The exam covers four domains:
- Cloud Concepts — 26%
- Security and Compliance — 25%
- Technology — 33%
- Billing and Pricing — 16%
What’s next for me?
I plan to improve my AWS Cloud knowledge and delve into Cloud Security.
I am excited and proud I decided to take this opportunity provided by AWS to get certified. I had a great score in my opinion considering it was on my first try.
Best of luck to anyone planning to take the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam soon! Feel free to connect if you would like more information. Happy cloud studying!
Originally published on Medium — Nov 5, 2021.