My Journey To Get AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

I would like to share my experience as Digital Talent Scholarship(DTS) Awardee from Ministry Communication and Information Indonesia. As awardee last year, why I choose to get this Academy again in 2020? Not to mention that, I get chance in DTS Fresh Graduate Academy (FGA) in Informatics ITB last year choose Artificial Intelligence. Actually I get much that knowledge, but at that time the curriculum was mix between Cloud Computing using Amazon Web Service (AWS) for 2 weeks then Machine Learning for 4 weeks. Our project about Machine Learning, but the last exam about Cloud Computing. Because I don’t really get the whole concept and whole theory so I can’t get voucher to AWS Cloud Practitioner (and maybe I too dumb and my score under the rank). But, you know Cloud Computing and Machine Learning was different topics. But, at that time I don’t really understand yet.

Like FGA 2019, before accepted as awardee I must doing exam 40 questions in 30 minutes. Previously, I already studied AWS material, but the exam turns out about Network.

me as Uncle Roger while taking exams

But, its just lucky me, I got accepted. Oh ya, I choose Faculty of Computer Science University Indonesia because I want new atmosphere :). If u wanna check syllabus, come here.

Like syllabus, the schedule quite full, every single day, we get minimum 3 hours Zoom explanations from supporting lecturer (1.5 hours for theory, 1.5 hours for hands-on) in 35 days although Saturday and Sunday. Yeah… thank you our lecturer.

The most challenging things for me is dividing my time between my duties at home as a mother with a toddler. So, in early morning I do other tasks like cooking and tidying up the house, at 8 o’clock, every single day(35 days) I do zoom’s video with lecturers and friends. I did it continuously without skipping because I enjoyed learning AWS, even though we were allowed to skip a maximum of 2 days. What’s interesting is, my friends in class are students who just graduated from bachelor degree, of course my phase has to follow their phase and it’s not difficult for me, who are 4 years apart from them. The challenge for me was persuading my daughter to allow her mother to study without being interrupted for minimum 3 hours every day. Fortunately, my 2.5 year old’s daughter was able to cooperate(ps: thanks to my husband too :D).

“Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.” — Victor Hugo

Because I aspiring to be Software Engineer (haha, read=a cool and nerd human in history), I try to writing what I know and what I don’t know in this medium. Like many newbie at everything, I just allow myself to make some mistakes. If not, then I never learned anything. But, to be more precise, I will ask my friends to proof-reading to correct it.

So ya, this is 35 days material:

Material

Here we go, I would share my one month experience this medium, in the next post. Actually, I want to explain material with my own view and several resources beyond what I’ve got previously. Maybe will be a little difference from the syllabus.

After exam every weeks from Dicoding, I got free voucher exam of AWS Cloud Practitioner. In our class, from 23 students, only 18 students who get voucher. I will tell you how the process before, during and after the Cloud Practitioner exam.

Before Exam

So, we get voucher to exam using PSI, although in many online reviews it’s better to use Pearson VUE. But because we got the PSI voucher, like or not we have to use PSI. The problem is there are some of my friends who experienced problems before or during the exam such like proctors who did not come and even waited for 3 hours, there was no clarity on the process when the exam could or not be held, etc. The solution my friend has already done is send an email to examschedule@psionline.com,
cdcaresocial@psionline.com, jmartin@psionline.com. Besides that also submit a request to this and send email to PSI costumer service in this link by describing the situation that occurred before or during the AWS exam. My friend usually gets reschedule for exams, so that is likely to be resolved. My advice is if we are in Indonesia (and use PSI) choose the exam at night, because our time(WIB) is 12 hours ahead from USA.

How to register for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam (CLF-01 and other AWS exams)

1. Sign in to aws.training using an your Amazon account, not AWS.
2. In the Dashboard and Learning Library there are materials you can learn about AWS services that might help improve AWS CLF-01 exam preparation. Then click Certification then click Go to Your Account.
3. You have entered certmetrics then select Request Accommodation Exam then click ESL (English at Second Language) +30 if you wanna increase the exam time from 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
4. Then select Manage PSI Exam or Manage Pearson Vue Exam and select online from my home or office.
5. Next, check the technical requirements for your device and internet network, for Pearson Vue at here and for PSI at here
6. Then choose the schedule you want, and pay for the exam using CC or Jenius debit. DONE, congratulations, you have registered for the exam.

Additional material that I prepared in addition to hands-on and material on aws.training like this scenario:

1. AWS Documentation here is something we should read even if it is only cursory and repetitive. The important thing is we understand the concept and the differences in its features. For example AWS ec2 standard and convertible, what’s the difference? Keywords: keep going and back to documentation.
2. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide Foundational (CLF-C01) Exam by Ben Piper and David Clinton published in 2019. This book is good enough to review AWS, conceptually nothing has changed by now (2021), but because AWS features are developing very fast, it’s better when reading this book immediately to check back the documentation so we can know its accuracy. Second, I recommend doing the problems in this book, it is very helpful to know if we understand or not about the material.
3. Udemy, it was free when my friend told me. The material only reviews a kind of cheatsheet of AWS features in a more structured manner. Quite helpful, although I will return to the documentation for a more complete explanation.
4. Examtopics. Many questions that can be done with more than 600 questions. I think there is good for training our brain speed in determining the answer (because the answer is in multiple choice). When we are accustomed to answering quickly (without needing to look at the answer key) it means that we may already understand the material. It should be noted that at Examtopics, the answers there and the discussion can go wrong, so we need to (again go back to the official AWS documentation). Some say that the AWS exam is only like Examtopics, in my opinion it’s not quite right because the AWS exam is designed to be more difficult so that people who really understand can pass the exam.
5. All information regarding the Cloud Practitioner exam can be found here. Cost ($100 ), format(multiple choice, multiple answer), time(90 minutes), proctor supervises directly, language (Indonesian language exists, but it’s better to use English so as not to be confusing). There is also an exam guide and what kind of material will be tested here. Also, there are sample questions like this, keep in mind that if there are 4 multiple choices, usually the correct answer is 1, if the multiple choice is 5 then usually the correct answer is 2. So you have to be careful when reading the questions.
6. If you need to prepare for the exam in more detail, you can read it here. If you need classroom, you can come here ,here , here

Study tips

From several articles I have read, learning new things is certainly not easy. What we can do is reconstruct the mind by noting the points that we understand and what we haven’t understood in the book. Taking notes or writing on paper can be the optimal way of learning, although not everything must be noted. You can also write or type on blog, explain again what we have learned using our own language. After that, it really needs to be repeated again in order to get used to the concept, then an independent test where we try as if we are on an exam so that we are not surprised when the actual exam. Notes got me in notion here.

Hands-on learning is very helpful, aws are advised to study for 6 months as preparation. For us, because the program is only 1 month, it only has limited time and independent exploration, and about 2–3 weeks of studying again specifically for exams. In total, I have 2 months of preparation.

scribble on paper

During Exam

Make sure you are in a closed room (doors and windows closed), alone (no one is accompanying you).

1. Click the lauch exam from aws.training, download the software, then install the PSI/Pearson Vue browser
2. Photo ID Chart
3. Face photo by system
4. Wait for verification from proctor
5. Proctor chat (ask for points 6 and 7)
6. Showing the room 360 degrees, including under the table.
7. Show our handphone to the proctor then put it behind us or put it in a place beyond our reach
8. Launch exam
9. 90 minute exam. When the exam is asked not to make a sound or whisper.
10. When finished, the program will automatically show that you passed the exam or not.
11. After that the proctor will chat that the exam has been completed and the program will automatically close.

After Exam

Usually the exam results will take about 1–3 days. You will receive your certificate and test scores. For certificates as below.

After the exam and getting the certificate and then what?
Show, show and show that you deserve it by writing your version of documentation, or making simple videos of what you’ve learned. Everything starts with the fundamentals. All seniors engineer start from juniors engineer, so keep the enthusiasm for learning and self-actualizing. :))

Nova Lailatul Rizkiyah, newbie at everything so that she can learn anything.