INTRO
6 Steps. 12 Days. Let's Go!
When it comes to passing a certification exam, you need two things;
- a plan, and
- consistency.
My name is John Davy, and the following is a plan that will help you to pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam in 12 Days.
Here’s one item of note. Ideally you should have a decent understanding of the following technical concepts;
- SQL and NOSQL databases,
- Firewalls,
- Access Control Lists,
- Subnets, and
- Anycast.
Step 1: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam Guide
When you start prepping for this exam, you want to understand what this exam expects you to know. So what you want to do is read the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam Guide. It’s not a long read. At least compared to what’s coming next.
The exam guide gives a general understanding of what you should have a solid understanding of prior to taking the exam.
That includes;
- AWS Cloud concepts
- Security and compliance within the AWS Cloud
- Understanding of the core AWS services
- Understanding of the economics of the AWS Cloud
You will also find the official exam domain and objectives that you need to know.
There’s also a section on this document called “Which key tools, technologies, and concepts might be covered on the exam?”
This section is important because Amazon is stating that most, if not all the questions will be coming from what’s listed on these three pages at the end of the exam guide
And speaking from my own experience, it definitely felt like most of the questions I saw on my actual exam were from the items listed in this section.
Your goal should be to knock out Step 1 in a day.
Step 2: The Overview of Amazon Web Services
After you read the exam guide, the next step is to read the AWS Whitepaper called: “The Overview of Amazon Web Services”.
A lot of what you will read here is interesting, but this part of the process is the most painful.
The document is only 81 pages long, but it can be a DENSE read if you’re trying to study and pass within a week to 10 days.
Basically, you need to read about Amazon’s perspective on the advantages of cloud vs on-premise.
After that, You need to read about the plethora of AWS cloud services. Most of this document is about the AWS services.
Each service has a quick breakdown of what it’s about, how it benefits you, and a link to a webpage that gives even more context about the technology.
Remember what I said about the last three pages of the Exam Guide from step 1?
Most, if not all the questions will be coming from what’s listed on these three pages at the end of the exam guide.
Well the “Overview” document has a lot more services listed than what’s on the exam guide.
I would still read all the services, but essentially you will only need to do extra studying for the items listed in the appendix of the Exam Guide.
Now each service description has a link to that service’s webpage. Take an extra 5 minutes to get a little more context about each specific AWS service listed on the exam guide.
Make sure you look at the pricing info. You want to start to be familiar with pricing terms like “On-Demand” & “Spot Instances”.
Remember, Billing & Pricing will be roughly 16% of your exam questions, so don’t sleep.
You might be tempted to make flashcards, but I wouldn’t recommend making flashcards this early in the review.
At this point you’re just dumping raw data in your head. You need to let this stuff marinate for a couple of days.
Speaking of days, get step 2 done in 3 days.
Step 3: How AWS Pricing Works
There’s another AWS whitepaper called “How AWS Pricing Works”. It’s 43 pages long and guess what?
You have to read all 43 pages.
So what this document is doing is giving you all the different ways you can elect to be charged for using AWS.
It’s up to you to know which combination of plans, service types, and features will generate the best mix of cost savings while addressing your firm’s technical needs.
At this point you should start making flashcards. Make sure you only spend time making pricing flashcards for the services that are listed on the exam guide.
I recommend you use the Quizlet app and website for your flashcards.
That way you can always study with just your phone if you’re just trying to kill time somewhere.
Step 3 should take you 1 day to complete.
Step 4: Compare AWS Support Plans
There’s a page on the AWS training site called “Compare AWS Support Plans”. There are 2 sections on this page.
The 1ST section describes how AWS provides customer support.
The 2ND section compares the features, pricing, and service expectations of the 4 support plans.
When you start taking practice exams, you will be coming back to this page on the AWS website.
That’s because the pricing questions for this exam are going to test your ability to remember and understand almost everything on this webpage.
You have to know the price ranges and response times for each support plan.
You need to know how each support plan approaches
- training,
- technical account management,
- concierge support,
- enhanced technical support,
- and Trusted Advisor checks.
Use Quizlet on your computer so you can copy and paste to your flashcards quicker.
Step 4 should take 1 day to complete.
Step 5: Watch the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials Course
This is a self-paced AWS video course that goes over in detail about everything you read in the previous steps.
It includes a final assessment where you have to solve questions similar to those found on the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam.
I remember this took awhile to knock out. I spent a lot of time cross-referencing an AWS service mentioned in these videos with the corresponding AWS webpage about that service.
You need to visit the main page for a lot of the services for better context to what is being described in the videos.
The links are included in each video, so you don’t have to waste time searching for them. Again, visit the links for more context.
The information on those pages are really helpful to understanding what
- the specific AWS technology does,
- the benefits,
- who should use it,
- and how pricing works for that particular AWS service.
The videos themselves aren’t too long, but you will have to work on flashcards while bouncing back and forth from the AWS site to the video course.
You’re going to need some coffee as Step 5 should take 3 days to complete.
Step 6: Buy the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Practice Exams 2022
At this point, you are halfway home. Yes, that's right. Even though this is the last step, this is the most important step.
Basically this is where you take test after test until you are ready for the real exam.
You’re going to go to tutorialsdojo.com and buy the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exams for about $15 bucks. This is the key to closing out your review.
The exam questions are going to give you a variety of scenarios in which you need to select the best AWS service that will satisfy the business requirements in the question.
You are going to see numerous practice questions that will test you on which support plans have which support features.
The questions are going to test your ability to pick the best pricing plan that meets the business needs while saving the most money.
Each question will have a written breakdown for the correct and incorrect answers.
Anything you get wrong, spend 5-10 minutes reviewing the concept and making the Quizlet flashcard.
Keep your flashcard simple. Use as little words as possible. You might have to break up a concept into two or more cards.
Take at least 5 tests. If you are scoring over 70% for the last three exams, then you are ready to sit for the real exam.
This is the final STEP, and you should spend 3 days focused on this last step. Ideally you want to start this process 4 days before the actual exam.
There’s no need to drag it out. Trust me if you follow this plan with true intent, you will pass.
