We believe that while revising for any exam, it is essential to get all details and the right resources at one point. Moreover, the purpose of this cheat sheet is to provide you with all the important sources for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam. Talking about AWS, we all know that AWS is the collection of cloud computing services providing big career prospects in cloud computing. And, holding AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification will automatically take your career to next level. Moreover, it increases your earning potential as the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate salary is at an average annual of $118,266.
However, there is also another side to this which is the increase in the level of competition. But, there is no need of stressing out about this. In this cheat sheet, we will cover all the details related to the Solution Architect exam with the basic requirements. And, one good thing about this quick guide is that it is divided into sections. So get ready to start preparing in a sequential manner so you don’t miss anything important.
So, let’s get started with defining the AWS Solution Architect Associate exam and explore the knowledge area.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate: Knowledge Area
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate being an entry-level exam will help you to start a good career in this field. However, the exam measures the ability and skills for performing a solutions architect role. But, as we all know that no exam comes without some requirement. That is to say, for this exam, you must have one or more years of hands-on experience designing available, cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems on AWS. Further, there are abilities and knowledge that are validated for this exam.
Abilities Validated by the Certification:
- Firstly, this will demonstrate your knowledge of how to architect and deploy secure and robust applications on AWS technologies
- Secondly, you must know how to define a solution using architectural design principles on the basis of customer requirements
- Lastly, the ability to provide implementation guidance on the basis of best practices to the organization throughout the life cycle of the project
Recommended Knowledge for the Exam:
- Firstly, it is essential to have one year of hands-on experience in designing available, cost-effective, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems on AWS. Moreover, have hands-on experience in using compute, networking, storage, and database AWS services as well as with AWS deployment and management services.
- Secondly, you should have the ability for identifying and defining technical requirements for an AWS-based application.
- Thirdly, must-have skills for identifying which AWS services meet a given technical requirement.
- Then, knowledge of recommending best practices for building secure and reliable applications on the AWS platform.
- Further, you must have an understanding of the basic architectural principles of building in the AWS Cloud. This also includes knowledge and understanding of AWS’s global infrastructure and network technologies.
- Lastly, you must be familiar with security features and tools that AWS provides and how they relate to traditional services
In order to understand the AWS Architect Learning Path, AWS provides a well-designed architecture that you can use to learn designing applications and systems on AWS.
Quick Guide for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate
For good preparation for the AWS certification exam, you will require a plan and the essential resources. So, here in this quick AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam guide, we will check the various resources from making a blueprint to understand exam topics with essential study material. So, without wasting time, let’s get started with this to help you prepare and pass the exam.
Step 1: Review the Exam Blueprint
Creating a blueprint with mentioning all the important details and topics will provide you benefits during the revision time. However, in this cheat sheet for the AWS exam, we have almost created an accurate blueprint that will help you. Further, this will also help you mark out the areas that you find difficult so that first you can revise them properly.
Step 2: Understanding the Important Exam Concepts
This is an important part of the revision for the AWS certified solutions architect associate certification exam. Getting familiarity with the exam topics will not increase your knowledge but it will help you to understand the concepts instead of cramming it. Moreover, with this, you will get the confidence of giving the exam as almost every part is covered in the exam topics provided by AWS. Below, you can see the list of important topics with important subsections, just go through them.
1. Design Resilient Architectures
1.1 Designing a multi-tier architecture solution (AWS Documentation: AWS Serverless Multi-Tier Architectures)
1.2 Designing highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures (AWS Documentation: Fault-Tolerant Components on AWS)
1.3 Designing decoupling mechanisms using AWS services (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon SQS Dead-Letter Queues to Control Message Failure)
1.4 Choosing appropriate resilient storage (AWS Documentation: Building Mission-Critical Financial Services Applications on AWS)
2. Design High-Performing Architectures
2.1 Identifying elastic and scalable compute solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: Compute Services, Elasticity)
2.2 Selecting high-performing and scalable storage solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: High-Performance Computing Storage Options, Developing High-Performance, Scalable, Cost-Effective Storage Solutions)
2.3 Selecting high-performing networking solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: Networking Solutions, Configuring Networking Solution)
2.4 Choosing high-performing database solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: Selecting database solution, Best storage practices for running production workloads on hosted databases, Right Data Store for Your Workload)
3. Design Secure Applications and Architectures
3.1 Designing secure access to AWS resources (AWS Documentation: Best practices to help secure your AWS resources)
3.2 Designing secure application tiers (AWS Documentation: Building three-tier architectures, AWS Serverless Multi-Tier Architectures)
3.3 Selecting appropriate data security options (AWS Documentation: Best practices for securing sensitive data in AWS data stores, Overview of Security Processes)
4. Design Cost-Optimized Architectures
4.1 Identifying cost-effective storage solutions (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Optimization, Cost Optimization Pillar)
4.2 Identifying cost-effective compute and database services (AWS Documentation: Reducing database cost and improving availability)
4.3 Designing cost-optimized network architectures(AWS Documentation: Cost Optimization, Cost Optimization Pillar)
Step 3: Exploring Amazon Web Services (AWS) Training
AWS provides training that helps you to build competence, confidence, and credibility through practical cloud skills. In the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Training, you can choose to learn online at your own pace. Moreover, they provided an accredited AWS instructor built by experts at AWS. Further, it offers the same level for both beginners who are building on existing IT skills, or professionals with cloud knowledge. So, you can go through these AWS training to clear your doubts and advance your skills.
Step 4: Using Reference Books
Books can provide an advantage to learn and understand things more accurately during revision time. As you can easily start learning the last topic or concept from where you left. Moreover, you can also highlight the areas you want to spend more time on. However, for the AWS Solution Architect Associate exam, there are various books available which you can find online. Some of them are:
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – The Definitive Study Guide by Zeal Vora
- Serverless Architectures on AWS by Peter
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Complete Study Guide: 100+ Exam Practice Questions by IP Specialist
Step 5: Evaluating using Practice Tests
Practice tests are important as by assessing yourself with these tests you will know about your weak and strong areas. So, by practicing you will be able to improve your answering skills which will result in saving a lot of time. Moreover, the best way to start doing the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate practice tests is after completing one full topic as this will work as a revision part for you. So, revise properly and then evaluate yourself to crack the exam.
Enhance your AWS skills and become AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Now!
