Hi Friends.

My AWS Solution Architect Professional expires in mid-2022. Since then, I've occasionally thought about renewing, but I didn't want to invest the time to prepare. But now a customer was paying me to take the exam, so why not. Here's some advice that helped me minimize the effort and still pass the exam.

Learning for the exam

First of all, cherish learning! Learning is fun and studying for the exam is fun!

My favorite way to learn efficiently is to do mock exams like you get on Udemy or other learning platforms. For one, they prepare you for the test exam. And for others, it is a great way to have an amazing learning when you answer a question wrong. Usually the learning platform explains you exactly why your answer was wrong.

Learn in chunks

The main goal when using these test exams should be to maximize your learning with chunking your learning as this works better for humans. I don't think you should answer all 75 questions in one go. Rather, you should answer about 5, 10, or 15 so that when you review, you can see what you got wrong and write down what you learned. The goal is to get one or two questions wrong, which will give you a great learning opportunity. If you get all the questions right, you can increase the number of questions you answer in the next session or move on to the next quiz. This way you can have amazing learning every day.

Loud Sticks

Read the questions aloud and try to say important keywords like 'media company', 'cost effective' or 'availability' extra loud. I find that I pay more attention to the questions and answers when I do this. This is not only useful when preparing for the exam. It is also useful during the exam. But be cautious. The online exam will require silence from you. So what I did was whispering which was allowed.

So you've already maximized your learning opportunities through my tips, so let's move on to the next phase, registration and the actual exam.

Registration

First of all, do not be afraid of failing! Unfortunately failing is still not too accepted in our society, but failing is great as long as you learn from it and try to do better next time. Just look at my two cute little kids. They failed all the time, like when they were trying to walk or talk, but they never gave up and now they walk and talk like professionals.

So I suggest you to register for the test when you reach like 70% correct answers of a new test exams test like you get them on Udemy or other learning platforms. Don't wait until you get about 90% correct. The sooner you try, the better. Because even if you fail, you can analyze the results and see where you need to improve and just keep learning.

Sure, paying those 300 or what dollar for the exam isn't easy affordable for everyone. Yes, you have a fair point there! If that is difficult for you to do, try to get one of those vouchers to either reduce or completely eliminate the cost. For example, I know that the AWS Community Builder program gives you an exam voucher every year.

At home or not

When you register for the exam, you can choose to take it at home or at a testing facility. Both are great choices. I will choose home because I know I am most productive at home and I can have a quiet room for those 4 hours. Also, I know when my brain works best and that is after my morning workout and hot/cold shower. I'm going to use that little brain boost for the exam.

Celebration

Celebrate your exam journey! Celebration is fun and we usually do it to less. Celebrate your everyday learning. Celebrate the registration and celebrate the passing or failing of the exam.

Conclusion

Preparing and doing the exam is fun but! Enjoy the learnings during preparing for it. Tell me your tips for passing those exams :)!

Bonus - AB Picturer

.

Did you notice the cool blog title picture? I love writing blog posts and choosing nice pictures for them. It is actually one of two randomly selected pictures. But often I want to choose THE BEST picture. So to find the best picture I'm using AB Testing. If you are curious about it, have a look at the https://ab-picturer.com tool and provide me feedback or even better become an engaged tester :).

Share