How I passed AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam
The AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification exam is a foundation level AWS exam which can be completed and intended for anyone who has basic knowledge of the AWS platform.
AWS certified cloud practitioners understand the concepts of cloud computing and has foundational knowledge of AWS platform to support cloud operations.
They can build a bridge between the technical and business side for cloud adoption and migration initiatives in their own organisation
Earning AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner validates your cloud fluency and foundational knowledge about AWS.
🤔 Is it necessary for a developer?
This certification is not necessary in order to complete any other AWS certification exam.
💬 Why did I do it?
The reason why I did this exam was for more a confidence boost before taking on a higher level AWS certification.
I was also awarded a 50% discount on my next exam and other benefits for completing this exam too.
📋 What content is in the exam?
It is a 90 minute exam with 65 multiple choice questions. The passing rate is 700/1000.
The questions will focus on 4 domains as shown in the screenshot below
📙 What resources did I use?
AWS provides free training digitally for the certification. I took the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials digital training which was a 6 hour course that goes through AWS Cloud concepts, core AWS services, security, architecture, pricing, and support to build your AWS Cloud knowledge for the exam.
However AWS provides other digital training such as Exam readiness webinars, an Exam Prep course and On-Demand Twitch training.
Learning the content is not enough to be prepared for the exam. You will also have to do practice papers.
I bought Whizlabs practice papers which were extremely helpful before the exam. They provide questions that are very similar to the ones in the exam and also provide in-depth explanation to the answers as well as providing links for resources.
There are also free resources such as ExamTopics and ITExams that you can use.
📚 How I studied?
The most difficult part for me was sticking to a schedule. I blocked out time during my week which was completely dedicated to exam preparation. I started with studying for 1 hour 3 times a week and then increased it as I got closer to the exam date.
It is not a very difficult exam to prepare for if you already use AWS in your day to day role. The questions were technical but purely about AWS concepts and the services they provide.
Conclusion
✨ What did I gain?
You are awarded the following benefits from AWS for passing the exam
- AWS Digital Badge which you can showcase on your social media profile, in email signatures, and more
- You can apply to become a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to help decide exam topics, develop questions, and determine passing scores.
- Unlock access to exclusive AWS Certified merchandise in the AWS Certified store.
- 50% Discount on your next Exam
- You can join the AWS Certified Global LinkedIn Community
🙋🏾♀️ Would I recommend it?
Yes, I would recommend it to any developer who is interested in taking any AWS certification in the future. It provides a real confidence boost as you already know the process and you will be awarded benefits from AWS for completing such as 50% off your next exam. It provides a stable knowledge foundation before you learn any harder AWS concepts and you gain a certification alongside it.
🧐 What I would do differently?
I would have focused on doing the practice papers earlier on. I started doing the practice papers only a day before the exam and it prepared me more than memorising the content. I would advise any future exam takers to do practice papers.
