The latest articles on DEV Community by Madialagan Ajith kumara (@ajithkumara). https://dev.to/ajithkumara https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4067624%2F21020bee-eb5a-4e2d-8643-b3f7620d01d8.jpg https://dev.to/ajithkumara en Madialagan Ajith kumara Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:05:42 +0000 https://dev.to/ajithkumara/how-i-passed-aws-solutions-architect-associate-saa-c03-in-4-weeks-36c0 https://dev.to/ajithkumara/how-i-passed-aws-solutions-architect-associate-saa-c03-in-4-weeks-36c0 <p>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.</p> <h2> Exam at a glance </h2> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Item</th> <th>Details</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Exam code</td> <td>SAA-C03</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Questions</td> <td>65 (multiple choice / multiple response)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Time</td> <td>130 minutes</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Passing score</td> <td>720 / 1000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cost</td> <td>150 USD</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Validity</td> <td>3 years</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <p><strong>The 4 domains:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Design Secure Architectures – 30%</li> <li>Design Resilient Architectures – 26%</li> <li>Design High-Performing Architectures – 24%</li> <li>Design Cost-Optimized Architectures – 20%</li> </ol> <p>Notice that security is the biggest chunk. Don't skip IAM.</p> <h2> Step 1: Read the official exam guide (30 minutes) </h2> <p>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.</p> <h2> Step 2: Create a free-tier account and set a budget alert FIRST </h2> <p>Before touching any service, protect yourself from surprise bills:</p> <ol> <li>Go to <strong>Billing → Budgets → Create budget</strong> </li> <li>Choose <strong>Zero spend budget</strong> </li> <li>Add your email</li> </ol> <p>Also enable MFA on the root user and create an IAM user for daily work.</p> <h2> Step 3: Learn the core services (2–3 weeks) </h2> <p>Focus your time here, in this order:</p> <ul> <li> <strong>IAM</strong> – users, roles, policies, least privilege</li> <li> <strong>VPC</strong> – subnets, route tables, IGW, NAT Gateway, security groups vs NACLs</li> <li> <strong>EC2</strong> – instance types, pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot, Savings Plans)</li> <li> <strong>ELB + Auto Scaling</strong> – ALB vs NLB, scaling policies</li> <li> <strong>S3</strong> – storage classes, lifecycle rules, versioning, encryption</li> <li> <strong>RDS &amp; Aurora</strong> – Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas (this comes up a LOT)</li> <li> <strong>DynamoDB</strong> – when to pick NoSQL</li> <li> <strong>Route 53</strong> – routing policies</li> <li> <strong>CloudFront</strong> – caching and edge</li> <li> <strong>SQS, SNS, EventBridge</strong> – decoupling</li> <li> <strong>Lambda &amp; API Gateway</strong> – serverless basics</li> <li> <strong>CloudWatch, CloudTrail</strong> – monitoring vs auditing</li> </ul> <h2> Step 4: Get hands-on (don't skip this!) </h2> <p>Reading alone won't stick. Build these mini labs:</p> <ol> <li> <p><strong>Launch a web server in a custom VPC</strong></p> <ul> <li>Create a VPC with 2 public and 2 private subnets</li> <li>Launch EC2 in a public subnet, install nginx</li> <li>Put an ALB in front with an Auto Scaling group</li> </ul> </li> <li><p><strong>Host a static website on S3 + CloudFront</strong></p></li> <li><p><strong>Create an RDS database in a private subnet</strong> and connect from EC2</p></li> <li><p><strong>Build a serverless API</strong>: API Gateway → Lambda → DynamoDB</p></li> </ol> <p><strong>Delete everything after each lab.</strong> Watch out for NAT Gateways and RDS; they cost money even when idle.</p> <h2> Step 5: Learn the "keywords" pattern </h2> <p>SAA questions are scenario-based. The keyword usually tells you the answer:</p> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>If the question says...</th> <th>Think...</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>"Most cost-effective"</td> <td>S3 lifecycle, Spot, right-sizing</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Highly available"</td> <td>Multi-AZ</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Read-heavy workload"</td> <td>Read Replicas, ElastiCache</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Decouple components"</td> <td>SQS</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Least operational overhead"</td> <td>Managed / serverless services</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Disaster recovery across regions"</td> <td>Cross-region replication, Aurora Global</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Static content, global users"</td> <td>CloudFront</td> </tr> <tr> <td>"Temporary credentials"</td> <td>IAM Roles, STS</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <h2> Step 6: Practice exams (1–2 weeks) </h2> <ul> <li>Do at least 4–6 full-length practice exams</li> <li>Aim for <strong>80%+ consistently</strong> before booking</li> <li>Review EVERY wrong answer, and the right ones you guessed</li> <li>Keep a "mistakes notebook" sorted by domain</li> </ul> <h2> Step 7: Exam day tips </h2> <ul> <li>Book via Pearson VUE (online or test center)</li> <li>If taking it online, clear your desk completely and check your webcam the day before</li> <li>Use <strong>flag for review</strong>; don't get stuck on one question</li> <li>Eliminate obviously wrong answers first; usually 2 options are clearly out</li> <li>There's no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a question blank</li> </ul> <h2> My biggest lessons </h2> <p>1.Networking was my weakest area until I built a VPC by hand</p> <ol> <li>Hands-on practice beats watching videos at 2x speed</li> <li>Understand <em>why</em> an answer is right, not just memorizing it</li> </ol> <h2> Final thoughts </h2> <p>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.</p> <p>If you're preparing right now, drop a comment with your exam date. Happy to answer questions! 🚀</p> <p><em>I'm Ajith, a DevOps/Platform Engineer and visiting lecturer. I share DevOps and cloud content</em></p> <p>Connect with me on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajithkumara-madialagan/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajithkumara-madialagan/</a></p> aws certification cloud beginners