How I Passed 4 AWS Certifications in 41 Days

I completed four AWS certifications over the past 2 months, including the Solutions Architect Professional exam. Here's how I did it.

The Goal

The objective was to pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional exam. Initially, I planned to take the Solutions Architect Associate exam and then proceed directly to the professional level. However, all of the courses recommended completing all three Associate-level certifications (Solutions Architect, Developer, and SysOps Administrator) before tackling the professional exam.

In the end, I'm glad I completed them all.

Learning Resources

Courses and practice exams

Resource Website Cost Notes
Stephane Maarek Courses on Udemy udemy.com $20/month Slides and lectures: good for AWS theory
Neal Davis digitalcloud.training $20/month Slides, lectures, good hands-on labs.
Adrian Cantrill learn.cantrill.io $29/month In-depth lectures and hands-on labs.
AWS Skill Builder skillbuilder.aws N/A Official AWS practice tests for certifications.
Tutorials Dojo tutorialsdojo.com/ ~$15/exam Practice exams for all exams. "Review Mode" is very helpful

There is tension between learning the theory of AWS in order to pass the exam quickly vs completing hands-on labs to reinforce the theory. Maarek's courses were almost all theory, containing many hundreds of slides but not many hands-on labs. The Davis courses were lighter on theory, but the hands-on labs were comprehensive. Cantrill has the most in-depth material (both lectures and hands-on labs). His lectures and labs were excellent, but difficult to ingest quickly.

ChatGPT

Incredible for interactive learning.

AWS Documentation and Hands-On Experience

While many learning sites offer sandboxed labs, I preferred building solutions directly on AWS to gain real-world experience. I kept the costs minimal by tearing down resources upon completion.

Reddit

The Reddit AWS Certifications Community (r/AWSCertifications) is a great resource for tips, resources, and advice from others.

Study Techniques

Active Recall and Self-Testing

Andrew Huberman released this very timely episode on August 26: Optimal Protocols for Studying & Learning episode. The TLDR is "test yourself early and often".

Here's a related clip on Active Recall with Cal Newport.

After consuming new material, I would close my eyes and attempt to teach the concept to an imaginary audience.

Notecards and Spaced Repetition

Most of the topics required memorization. For example: how many read capacity units are used when performing an eventually consistent read of 5kb of data from DynamoDB?

DynamoDB Notecard

I created around 200 handwritten notecards, which I reviewed immediately after finishing a section. I'd group the notecards and periodically review them before sleep and on waking.

Notecards

Exam Experiences

The Associate-level exams each have 65 questions over 130 minutes, and I generally finished them with at least 20 minutes to spare.

But the SA Pro exam was a beast--75 wordy questions over 180 minutes. I needed to read each question multiple times, and the answer choices were lengthy, often differing by just a single word. I needed to rush the last couple of questions in order to finish in time.

Cost Summary

Resource Monthly Cost Duration (Months) Total Cost
Adrian Cantrill's Subscription $29 x 2 months $58
Neal Davis's Digital Cloud Training $20 x 2 months $40
Udemy Personal Plan $20 x 2 months $40
ChatGPT Subscription $20 x 2 months $40
Tutorials Dojo $42 for 3 courses $42
AWS Charges for Hands-On Practice ~$5 ~$5
SAA exam cost (50% off) $75 $75
DVA exam cost (50% off) $75 $75
SOA exam cost (50% off) $75 $75
SAP exam cost (50% off) $150 $150
Total $600

Credentials Earned

Certification Date Passed Credly Badge Link
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate August 14, 2024 View Badge
AWS Certified Developer – Associate August 26, 2024 View Badge
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate September 3, 2024 View Badge
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional September 24, 2024 View Badge