At the latter end of 2022, I opted to pursue the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification. In order to prepare myself for the exam, I read a number of articles and watched several videos, some misleading and some informative. In this article, I summarise the steps, resources and tips that I found helpful in passing the exam. Please note that this is based on my personal experience and you can use the resources in any order you prefer.
My AWS Badge: https://www.credly.com/badges/bba9ad37-76d8-49b2-90e0-25a7d104800e/linked_in
Why AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and Why is it Important?
As the world becomes increasingly digital, it is important for companies and individuals to make sure they can provide their services to customers no matter where they are located. This has led to a move away from traditional on-site IT services and towards the use of cloud infrastructure, which offers increased resilience, scalability, and availability. This shift in technology presents an opportunity for people to prepare for the future by gaining hands-on experience and obtaining cloud certifications that demonstrate their knowledge. The AWS Cloud practitioner is an entry level certification which teaches you some core concepts of the cloud. It certifies that you have foundational understanding of IT services and their uses in the AWS Cloud.
What is the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner?
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner is a foundational AWS Certification which offers both individuals with no prior IT or Cloud experience, and those with on-premises IT experience an understanding of AWS cloud concepts, services and terminology. It is intended for individuals who can effectively demonstrate an overall knowledge of the AWS Cloud independent of a specific job role and Knowledge of core AWS services and use cases, billing and pricing models, security concepts, and how cloud impacts your business. If you will like to read more on the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Exam, check out the official exam page, and the exam study guide.
Now that that’s clear, Lets speak about the resources I recommend for passing this exam in less than one month.
Resource 1: AWS Skill Builder
AWS Skill Builder offers virtual on-demand classes that allows individuals ramp-up their knowledge on several AWS services. This was a major resource for me when I was preparing for my exam. In particular, I completed the AWS Cloud practitioner Essentials course, the official practice question set, and the AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner.
Resource 2: AWS CCP WhizLabs Practice Test
AWS CCP Whizlabs Practice test is a 65 question practice test by WhizLabs that gives you a feel of what the actual exam will be like. I highly recommend doing practice tests because it helps you know what sections you need to revise and how you can manage your time when answering the questions. I only used the free test in my preparation to keep the price low 😅, but you can definitely buy the other tests if you think you need them.
Resource 3: AWS CCP WhizCard
AWS CCP WhizCard is ‘a last minute exam guide’ offered by WhizLabs that helps you revise numerous services that AWS offers. It acts as a knowledge card/Cheat Sheet with all important points required for the preparation of the Certification Exam. It was made referencing the AWS Documentation, hence the content in it are similar but it is not intended to be used in place of the original AWS Documentation.
Resource 4: Introduction to AWS by ACloudGuru
ACloudGuru is known to be one of the best training platform for individuals who would like to brush up on or learn new IT skills. I used the Introduction to AWS course by Nick Triantafillou to understand some concepts that were quite unfamiliar to me at the time. It has a duration of 5hrs30mins and the AWS concepts and services very easy to learn with each video being under 5 minutes. I was able to access this using the free plan but you can pay for a subscription to access the Hands-on Lab if you will like to use them to practice what you are learn, which is very advisable but I personally used YouTube, which I outline in the next section.
Resource 5: AWS Webinars and YouTube
The last set of resources I found helpful were the AWS White-papers, AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials Day webinar, the AWS Power Hour, AWS Exam Prep and the AWS Cloud Practitioner course offered by FreeCodeCamp. I would recommend using at least one of these to revalidate what you know as most instructors repeat similar contents. In my opinion, the AWS Exam Prep was the most helpful because it helped me in discovering the gaps in my knowledge and I just used the WhizCard and Google to read on those areas. The course on FreeCodeCamp also helped with gain some hands-on knowledge of the AWS Cloud which is very helpful but I personally only skipped to those parts because that was what i needed at the time.
What Next?
At this point, you may be questioning what steps to take next. In my opinion, if you feel confident in your understanding of the key concepts and services for the AWS Cloud Platform, then scheduling your certification exam is the next step. I personally chose to do this before delving deeper into my studies as it motivated me to study harder and gave me a set deadline that I didn’t want to miss, as it would result in additional costs. Additionally, I was able to receive a 50% discount on my certification by participating in the AWS Cloud Practitioner Challenge, which provided me with a voucher valid for approximately 5 months.
After successfully completing the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification, I decided to pursue the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) certification which I passed recently and I am currently in the process of preparing for the AWS Developer Associate certification. I have written about my experiences with these certifications in a separate blog post, which you can find and read.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner is a really good start if you are new to the Cloud. I will say it is not that difficult to pass if you put in the necessary time to study for it and do some practice questions. The exam has a total of 65 questions, with multiple choice (one correct answer out of four) and multiple response (two or more correct responses out of five or more response options) questions. There are 15 unscored questions among the 65, which are indistinguishable from scored questions, so it is important to put forth your best effort on all of them. You can also decide to write the examination either online or in-person depending on your preference. Lastly, it cost $100 to take the exam but I was able to get it for $50 like I alluded earlier, which was all I had to spend to get this certification.
Make sure to check out the AWS Cloud Practitioner Overview to always stay up to date with any changes that might have been made to this exam.
Goodluck in your preparation and your Cloud Journey 🙌🏾.
