Guide to pass AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam
A few days ago, I passed my AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam. Since then, I have been getting a lot of queries regarding exam resources, what/how to prepare, the syllabus, and my personal experience. In this blog, I will be explaining all about this AWS Certification and my personal experience.
You can view my AWS Certification Badge here: https://www.credly.com/badges/ca961368-0c2e-4685-a74b-65c0c09ef50c/public_url
Exam Guide:
AWS Cloud Certified Practitioner exam is a foundational level exam. There are 65 questions (multiple choice and multiple responses) and the time limit is 90 minutes. The cost of this exam is 100 USD but you can get a 50% discount voucher if your institution is a part of AWS Academy. The exam is available in both online and offline modes. You can also request accommodation if you choose to give the exam in offline mode. The exam score is scaled from 100-1000 and you need a minimum of 700 to pass the exam.
This exam tests your basic knowledge of the following domains:
These are all the important points of the exam but you can find the full exam guide below. Do give it a read before scheduling your exam, it lists down all the syllabus, course outline, and passing criteria.
You can schedule your exam at: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-cloud-practitioner/. You’ll have to create an AWS Training and Certification account before scheduling your exam.
Certification Preparation Resources:
Below are my recommended AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification preparation resources:
1. AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials: AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials is a foundational level course provided by AWS Training and Certification. It covers the basics of Cloud Computing, most important AWS Services, etc. This course is built by AWS Experts. The language is clear and understandable. Each module ends with a bunch of MCQs to test your understanding of the module. It is the recommended training for preparing for your AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam.
If your college is an AWS Academy Partner, then you might already have this course as “AWS Cloud Foundations Course”. If your college is an AWS Academy Partner and you don’t have this course, then try mailing the concerned faculty of your college to invite you to this course.
‘AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials’ Course Link: https://www.aws.training/Details/eLearning?id=60697
2. AWS Whitepapers (Optional): AWS provides a lot of whitepapers and technical documentations that provide a detailed understanding of its services, benefits, etc. It also recommends a few whitepapers to better understand cloud concepts and pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam. If you successfully read these whitepapers and remember them, I think you’ll be fully prepared for whatever is coming in the exam (given that you have also completed the course).
AWS recommends the following whitepapers for exam preparation:
- Overview of Amazon Web Services: This technical documentation explains all the AWS Services briefly.
- How AWS Pricing Works: This technical documentation explains the cost tools, and how this cost is calculated for all the AWS Services.
- Compare AWS Support Plans: This section explains all the benefits and support plans provided by AWS to the customer.
But in my opinion, they are optional and can be left out. It’s because these whitepapers are too lengthy and contain some unnecessary information from the exam point of view. Also, for a beginner in Cloud Computing or AWS, these whitepapers can become too much. It will be a lot to learn and understand. The thing here is, if you have completed the course then you are already 70–80% prepared for the exam, but, you’ll still have some gaps and concepts that you need to cover before sitting for the exam. Those gaps you can fill either by going through these whitepapers or by practicing some exam questions (I’ll be talking about it in the next section).
3. Practice Exam Questions: It is very important to solve some practice tests, previous year exam questions, etc. to know exam patterns, important topics, and your weaknesses, and most importantly to fill your gaps. Many practice exams are available on the internet on many websites, but most of them are not free. So, below are some free resources which are really and helped me clear my exam.
- 100% Pass AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification — Real Exam Questions: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_0RK_1F4sTDNZOzu4aQ0h7RBA6tPwuUj
- Free Practice Exam by Whizlabs: Whizlabs provides various online courses and practice tests for different technologies. Along with that, it also provides one free practice test for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam. It is very helpful. You can just sign up for Whizlabs and try it for free. Link: https://www.whizlabs.com/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner/
One most important tip that I’ll like to give is to make note of all the new terminologies and topics that you find in these practice questions and read upon them. There is no need to give them an in-depth read, just read what are they and what are they used for. Some questions that came in my exam were the same as these and others had a very similar pattern. So you if go through these, you’ll definitely get a clear idea of what you are aiming for.
What’s next?
There are many more AWS Certifications that you can achieve. AWS Cloud Practitioner is just a foundational level certification but you can go for the associate level or professional level certifications as well. If you want to pursue a career in AWS, Cloud Computing you should go for higher certifications as well.
These certifications hold great value and are even a requirement for many job roles. There are three levels of certifications in AWS: Foundational → Associate → Professional. Additionally, there are specialty certifications if you are interested in a particular domain like data analytics, security, etc.
So, for example, if you want to become a Solutions Architect, your recommended path would be:
For specialty certifications, you are required to have some domain knowledge and then you can move from AWS Cloud Practitioner to any specialty certification.
