How to get AWS Solutions Architect certification

In 2023, the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate certification ranked among the top 10 most pursued certifications, and it’s easy to see why. AWS is the leading cloud service provider (CSP), and professionals with AWS expertise are in high demand. If you are also looking to stand out in the competitive cloud industry and increase your chances of getting picked by the next job recruiter looking for an AWS-certified solutions architect, you are at the right place.

Getting a solutions architect certificate is not just about passing the exam. It’s about understanding the fundamentals of cloud computing and learning how to design, deploy, and manage AWS systems effectively. In this blog, you’ll go through a well-structured approach any individual can undertake to achieve the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate certificate.

Who is an AWS Solutions Architect?#

It’s important to clarify who is an AWS solutions architect and why companies hire a person for this position. An AWS solutions architect is responsible for creating and managing AWS architectures and transferring workloads to the architecture.

They are responsible for the following duties:

• To keep the architecture highly available, i.e., recover from failures without facing longer downtimes.

• Keep the data and services secure from security breaches.

• Always go for the architecture that has the least cost but can do everything an organization needs from it, making the architecture cost-effective.

• Create high-performing architectures according to an organization’s needs and ensure that their architecture can handle high traffic, large workloads, and complex tasks efficiently.

The responsibilities of a solutions architect can vary depending on an organization’s needs, but they are mostly a combination of the tasks listed above.

How to schedule the AWS Solutions Architect certification exam#

You have to follow the following steps to schedule the AWS certification exam

• Step 1: Sign in with your AWS Builder ID.

• Step 2: Schedule the exam with the AWS Certification account. 

To schedule an exam with AWS, you must first sign in with your AWS Builder ID (If you don’t have one, you will have to create it). You will also have to create a new AWS Certification account if you don’t have it already. After this, you can schedule the exam. You can opt for two options for taking the exam:

• Test center: You can take the certification exam in person at a testing center. You will have to select a center, a date, and a time for the exam. The test date should be selected based on prior experience in AWS.

• Online: You can also opt to take the exam online, where a proctor would monitor you. The test will be recorded for test quality, security, and integrity.

How to prepare for the AWS Solution Architect certification#

This is the most important part of getting the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate certification. Preparation for the exam can vary for individuals based on their prior experience in AWS.

• Beginner: If you know little about AWS or cloud computing, preparing for the exam will probably take two to three months. It can also be good to start with the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification, which focuses on the fundamentals of cloud computing and the core AWS services.

• Intermediate: If you have some experience in AWS but do not have extensive experience in building and managing AWS architectures, then it would take you around one to two months to prepare for the exam.

• Experienced: If you work with AWS on a day-to-day basis and have experience building architectures in AWS, it will probably take you under a month to prepare for the exam.

Here comes the part where you must be well-organized to prepare for your exam. Exam preparation can be done in four steps:

• Step 1: Review the exam guidelines.

• Step 2: Prepare by learning the content that will be tested in the exam.

• Step 3: Practice the theory by building different AWS architectures.

• Step 4: Take practice exams to better equip yourself to complete the exam in time.

Step 1: Review the AWS Solutions Architect certification exam guidelines#

Before preparing for the exam, it’s important to consider what is included and its curriculum. The AWS Solutions Architect certificate exam consists of 65 multiple-choice questions. Some of these questions have a single correct answer, and some have multiple correct answers. The Solutions Architect - Associate exam questions detail a scenario for a company with requirements, and as a solutions architect, you have to choose the best solution to fulfill the requirements.

Out of these 65 questions, 50 are scored, and 15 are unscored. The unscored questions are added to the exam experimentally to check candidates’ behavior on them. However, it is not disclosed to the candidate which questions are scored and which are not. The candidates have to attempt the exam in 130 minutes.

The total score of the exam is scaled to 1000, and 720 is the minimum benchmark a candidate has to achieve to pass the exam. The scaled scoring helps compensate for the different difficulty levels of questions by assigning high weightage to difficult questions and low weightage to easy questions.

The questions are divided into four categories. Each category has a certain percentage of presence in the scored questions of the exam, with Design Secure Architectures having the largest and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures having the smallest share.

Each category comprises further subtypes that make up the general impression of each category.

Step 2: Take an AWS Solutions Architect course#

There are a few ways you can go about to prepare for the exam. You can go through every AWS service and feature documentation and learn the important details expected in the exam. Another way is you start watching hours-long videos related to the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate certification on YouTube, which you’ll have to rewind if you don’t understand anything, and fast forward if there are some unnecessary details.

The most efficient way that I found is to take a well-structured course to prepare for your AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C03 Exam.

Studying through a dedicated course is always better than searching for online material and then going through each one, only to find out later that you missed some learning materials that were included in the exam.

Step 3: Hands-on practice#

Although hands-on practice is not mandatory for the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate exam, it is highly recommended. Studying the details of each service in the course does provide valuable insights, but the best way to learn something and retain it is to experience it by actually performing the tasks. Another reason is the nature of exam questions where you are given a scenario with requirements, and often, you need to select the best solution that integrates into the existing architecture while fulfilling the requirements. Hence, a hands-on integration of multiple AWS services to build an architecture comes in handy.

This could give you an excellent experience preparing for your exam by applying your knowledge of implementing different solutions on AWS. This will provide you with confidence in acing the solutions architect certificate exam and boost your confidence in landing your dream job.

Step 4: Attempt practice exams#

Remember, your goal is to pass the Solutions Architect - Associate level exam, and one of the best ways to verify the knowledge you’ve gained is to take practice exams. You need to find a source with sufficient practice exam sets that provide the closest possible experience to the certification exam.

By attempting the practice exams, you will not only know if you are ready to attempt the exam or not, but you will also be able to know where you went wrong in picking options. The practice exams will also better equip you to manage time during the exam day and finish the exam on time. The practice exams proved to be a very near experience to the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate exam for me.

Exam day preparation#

To make sure everything goes well, you should go through the exam day guidelines:

• Arrive at the exam center 15–30 minutes before the scheduled time to review the sign-in procedure. If you are attempting your test remotely, launch the test 30 minutes before the scheduled time to go through the self-check-in procedure.

• Keep your primary and secondary IDs with yourself as they will be checked before the start of the exam and they must have the same first name and last name as you had entered while registering for the exam.

Well, that's all for now. Now, you have a structured plan that you can follow to prepare yourself for the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate exam. So let’s get started!