I'm a DevOps/Platform Engineer from Sri Lanka, and I passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam after 4 weeks of preparation. In this post I'll share the exact plan I followed, so you can skip the confusion I had at the start.
Exam at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Exam code | SAA-C03 |
| Questions | 65 (multiple choice / multiple response) |
| Time | 130 minutes |
| Passing score | 720 / 1000 |
| Cost | 150 USD |
| Validity | 3 years |
The 4 domains:
- Design Secure Architectures – 30%
- Design Resilient Architectures – 26%
- Design High-Performing Architectures – 24%
- Design Cost-Optimized Architectures – 20%
Notice that security is the biggest chunk. Don't skip IAM.
Step 1: Read the official exam guide (30 minutes)
Download the exam guide from the AWS Certification page. Highlight the in-scope services. This is your syllabus; anything outside it, don't stress about.
Step 2: Create a free-tier account and set a budget alert FIRST
Before touching any service, protect yourself from surprise bills:
- Go to Billing → Budgets → Create budget
- Choose Zero spend budget
- Add your email
Also enable MFA on the root user and create an IAM user for daily work.
Step 3: Learn the core services (2–3 weeks)
Focus your time here, in this order:
- IAM – users, roles, policies, least privilege
- VPC – subnets, route tables, IGW, NAT Gateway, security groups vs NACLs
- EC2 – instance types, pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot, Savings Plans)
- ELB + Auto Scaling – ALB vs NLB, scaling policies
- S3 – storage classes, lifecycle rules, versioning, encryption
- RDS & Aurora – Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas (this comes up a LOT)
- DynamoDB – when to pick NoSQL
- Route 53 – routing policies
- CloudFront – caching and edge
- SQS, SNS, EventBridge – decoupling
- Lambda & API Gateway – serverless basics
- CloudWatch, CloudTrail – monitoring vs auditing
Step 4: Get hands-on (don't skip this!)
Reading alone won't stick. Build these mini labs:
-
Launch a web server in a custom VPC
- Create a VPC with 2 public and 2 private subnets
- Launch EC2 in a public subnet, install nginx
- Put an ALB in front with an Auto Scaling group
Host a static website on S3 + CloudFront
Create an RDS database in a private subnet and connect from EC2
Build a serverless API: API Gateway → Lambda → DynamoDB
Delete everything after each lab. Watch out for NAT Gateways and RDS; they cost money even when idle.
Step 5: Learn the "keywords" pattern
SAA questions are scenario-based. The keyword usually tells you the answer:
| If the question says... | Think... |
|---|---|
| "Most cost-effective" | S3 lifecycle, Spot, right-sizing |
| "Highly available" | Multi-AZ |
| "Read-heavy workload" | Read Replicas, ElastiCache |
| "Decouple components" | SQS |
| "Least operational overhead" | Managed / serverless services |
| "Disaster recovery across regions" | Cross-region replication, Aurora Global |
| "Static content, global users" | CloudFront |
| "Temporary credentials" | IAM Roles, STS |
Step 6: Practice exams (1–2 weeks)
- Do at least 4–6 full-length practice exams
- Aim for 80%+ consistently before booking
- Review EVERY wrong answer, and the right ones you guessed
- Keep a "mistakes notebook" sorted by domain
Step 7: Exam day tips
- Book via Pearson VUE (online or test center)
- If taking it online, clear your desk completely and check your webcam the day before
- Use flag for review; don't get stuck on one question
- Eliminate obviously wrong answers first; usually 2 options are clearly out
- There's no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a question blank
My biggest lessons
1.Networking was my weakest area until I built a VPC by hand
- Hands-on practice beats watching videos at 2x speed
- Understand why an answer is right, not just memorizing it
Final thoughts
SAA isn't about memorizing every service; it's about thinking like an architect: secure, resilient, fast and cost-effective. Follow these steps, stay consistent, and you'll get there.
If you're preparing right now, drop a comment with your exam date. Happy to answer questions! 🚀
I'm Ajith, a DevOps/Platform Engineer and visiting lecturer. I share DevOps and cloud content
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajithkumara-madialagan/
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