AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder-Speciality

AWS Alexa Skill Builder-Speciality Certification

The AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty exam (AXS-C01) will retire on March 23, 2021.

AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty is Amazon’s first AWS certification for Alexa, the popular virtual assistant used in Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot smart speakers. This certificate is launched by Amazon to provide a path to developers who want to acquire the validation for working with the virtual assistant for smart speakers.

AWS Certificate Alexa Skill Builder is best-suited for candidates performing a role as an Alexa skill builder. The AWS Alexa Skill Builder exam validates a candidate’s ability to build, test, and publish Amazon Alexa skills. AWS Certified Skill Builder – Specialty Exam (AXS-C01) is intended to prove a candidate’s ability to prove knowledge about building, testing, publishing, and certifying Amazon Alexa Skills.

Learning Objectives: AWS Alexa Skill Builder–Speciality Exam

Elucidate the value of voice.
Design the user experience.
Understanding AWS and Alexa’s best practices for a skill.
Designing and developing the architecture to build a skill.
Develop a skill.
Test a skill.
Validate a skill.
Troubleshoot a skill.
Manage the skill publishing process
Work with Alexa Developer Console
Manage Skill operations and lifecycle

Alexa Skills

Alexa Skills are basically the third-party applications that Amazon uses for its smart speakers, such as:

Weather Programs,
Home Automation Functions,
Games, and more.

Alexa Skills Kit is the software utilised by candidates and future developers to build and publish new skills. Generally, developers use Amazon’s AWS Lambda service to run their code entirely in the cloud.

Prerequisites for AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder’s Exam

There are various prerequisites that are recommended by Amazon to give the Alexa Skill Builder Exam, such as:

Candidates are expected to have at least six months of hands-on experience building Alexa skills using Alexa Skills Kit, including skills that incorporate services from the AWS Cloud.
One must be proficient in at least one programming language.
Candidate must have published an Alexa Skill before.

Exam Details

The AWS Alexa skill builder exam consists of multiple-choice and multiple answer question. Candidates are required to finish the exam within 170 minutes. The exam is available in only two languages: English and Japanese. The registration fee for the same USD 300.

Course Outline: AWS AXS-C01 Exam

This exam guide comprises of weightage of domains, all the subdomains, and objectives. It is not just a comprehensive listing of the content on this examination. But, the table below illustrates the main content domains and their weightage in the AWS Alex Skill Builder Certification.

Domain	% of Examination
Voice-First Design Capabilities & Practices	14%
Skill Design	24%
Skill Architecture	14%
Skill Development	20%
Test, Validate & Troubleshoot	18%
Publishing, Operations & Lifecycle Management	10%
TOTAL	100%

Domain 1: Voice-First Design Practices and Capabilities (14%)

1.1 Explain how user-interaction takes place with skills (AWS Documentation: Understanding How Users Interact with Skills)
1.2 Map features and capabilities to use cases (AWS Documentation: AWS Cloud Map)

Domain 2: Skill Design (24%)

2.1 Design and develop an interaction model (AWS Documentation: Create the Interaction Model for Your Skill)
2.2 Design a multi-turn conversation (AWS Documentation: Building natural, extensible voice conversations, Enable Multi-Turn Dialog with Decision Tree Sample Skill)
2.3 Use built-in intents and slots (AWS Documentation: Built-in Slot Types, Built-in Intents, Standard Built-in Intents, Implement the Built-in Intents)
2.4 Handle unexpected conversational requests or responses (AWS Documentation: Create a Question and Answer Bot with Amazon Lex and Amazon Alexa)
2.5 Design multi-modal skills using one or more service interfaces (for example, audio, video, and gadgets) (AWS Documentation: Building a Multimodal Skill)

Domain 3: Skill Architecture (14%)

3.1 Identify AWS services for extending Alexa skill functionality (Amazon CloudFront, Amazon S3, Amazon CloudWatch, and Amazon DynamoDB) (AWS Documentation: Build Skills with the Alexa Skills, Amazon DynamoDB)
3.2 Use AWS Lambda to build Alexa skills (AWS Documentation: Using AWS Lambda with Alexa, Host a Custom Skill as an AWS Lambda Function)
3.3 Follow AWS and Alexa security and privacy best practices (AWS Documentation: Alexa Security Best Practices, Alexa Privacy and Data Handling)

Domain 4: Skill Development (20%)

4.1 Implement in-skill purchasing and Amazon Pay for Alexa Skills (AWS Documentation: Understand In-Skill Purchasing, Sell Goods and Services with Transaction APIs, Set Up Payments for In-Skill Purchasing)
4.2 Use Speech Synthesis Markup Language for expression and MP3 audio (AWS Documentation: Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML), Best Practices for Using Amazon Polly Voices)
4.3 Implement state management (AWS Documentation: State Management at Three Different Levels, Understand State and Change Reporting)
4.4 Implement Alexa service interfaces (audio player, video player, and screens) (AWS Documentation: AudioPlayer Interface Reference)
4.5 Parse Alexa JSON requests and provides responses (AWS Documentation: Request and Response JSON)

Domain 5: Test, Validate and Troubleshoot (18%)

5.1 Debug and troubleshoot using Amazon CloudWatch or other tools (AWS Documentation: Troubleshooting the CloudWatch Agent)
5.2 Use the Alexa developer testing tools (AWS Documentation: Test Your Skill, Alexa Skills Kit)
5.3 Perform beta testing (AWS Documentation: Skill Beta Testing for Alexa Skills)
5.4 Troubleshoot errors in the interaction model (AWS Documentation: Common Error Messages for Custom Alexa Skills, Creating the Interaction Model)

Domain 6: Publishing, Operations, and Lifecycle Management (10%)

6.1 Describe the skill publishing process (AWS Documentation: Skill Certification and Publication, Test and Submit Your Skill for Certification, Create and Publish Private Skills)
6.2 add and remove users in the developer console (AWS Documentation: Invite and Remove Users)
6.3 Perform analysis of skill analytics in the developer console (AWS Documentation: View Skill Metrics, Skill Metrics Overview, ASK Analytics)
6.4 Differentiate among the statuses/versions of skills (for example, In Development, In Certification, and Live) (AWS Documentation: Understand the Different Skill Models, Certification Requirements)

Exam Policies

AWS Certification provides exam policies to support the candidates by providing every detail related to the certification program. However, candidates during studying for the AWS AXS-C01 Exam should first go through and understand the AWS Certification exam policies. On this page, the candidates will get information about after the exam or before exam procedures. This includes the exam retaking process, rules to be followed during the exam time, and other information about the exams and its testing centres.

While preparing for the AWS AXS-C01 Exam you will be solely responsible for understanding and complying with AWS AXS-C01 Exam exam policies, together with the specified exam delivery provider’s policies and procedures.

For more Queries, Visit the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder- FAQ

Study Guide to qualify the AWS AXS-C01 Exam

Just to clarify, the AXS-C01 Exam is not a difficult exam. That clearly implies that you can easily clear the exam and acquire the certification. However, not prepping for the exam will unquestionably result in a tragedy for obvious reasons. Therefore, we highly recommend going through our step by step routine for an excellent result.

AWS Alexa Skill Builder Exam preparatory guide

Review all Exam Objectives

Before, venturing on any journey, one must have a clear idea of what he/she is putting themselves into. With that being said, reviewing each and every exam objective becomes the most important part of your preparation. So, make sure you visit the Official website of AWS, to have a clear view. Since it is the most authentic site to provide any information regarding the AXS-C01 Exam. After you’ve gone through the basic exam details. It’s time to hit the exam guide.

AWS Alexa Skill Builder Exam study guide

Download the Course Outline

The second most crucial step is to download the Course outline aka the Exam Guide. It consists of all the domains and topics of the examination. So, make sure to download the Course Outline. This allows you to prepare for the AXS-C01 Exam, keeping in mind all the objectives.

Exploring AWS Learning Paths

This learning path is designed for software developers, voice developers, solutions architects, UI developers, voice designers, and others who perform a role involving Alexa skill-building. It is also designed for anyone with beginner-level coding experience who wants to learn to build, test, and publish Amazon Alexa skills.

Recommended AWS Knowledge

It is recommended that candidates must have at least 6 months of experience of hands-on experience building Alexa skills using the Alexa Skills Kit, including skills that incorporate services from the AWS Cloud. Also, proficiency with a programming language.

Online Courses

If a candidate wishes to join an Online Course for the same. There are various courses available online. In fact, the internet is cluttered with so many courses. So, makes sure to find a suitable course, which is available in your price range. These courses provide you with online video study material, that can get digested easily. Also, they even provide the candidate with sample papers. So, you can try them out.

Important Links: AWS AXS-C01 Exam

Sometimes it’s hard to find information regarding the AWS Alexa Skill Builder exam. Therefore, for your convenience, we are providing you with important links.

Join the Community/ Online Forum

Online forums and study groups are a great way to prepare for the certification exam. Therefore, feel free to get in touch with other candidates through study forums or online groups to ask a question related to the topic you’re having difficulty with.

However, it’s not something you have to join. It’s just something very subjective. Not to mention, these online groups help you stay equated with the other people who are also walking through the same path as yours. Moreover, you can also ask a question related to the topic you’re having difficulty with.

Self-evaluation Time

Finally, we’re on the last step for the preparatory guide. Further, this final step will give the candidate the exact insight of the topics in which they’re lacking. So, make sure you’re going through sample tests after you have gone through the entire syllabus. Most importantly, all the practice tests are designed to encounter the real exam environment around you. However, practice papers can be from various sources. Above all, remember the more you test yourself the better you’re going to become. SO START PRACTICING NOW!

Jump start your career with the all new learning resources. Become an AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder.