Building an AWS Flashcards App to Study for the SAA-C03 Exam

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m using AI (ChatGPT) to help guide me through this project and to assist with writing these blog posts. The project is still hands-on — I’m doing all the setup, and AWS work myself — but AI is acting as a mentor and documentation assistant along the way.

Why This Project?

I’m currently preparing for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) certification. Instead of only watching videos or reading notes, I wanted a hands-on project that would:

✅ Help me practice real AWS services in a practical way.
✅ Keep me motivated through daily progress.
✅ Double as a tool I can use to study for the exam itself.

That’s how I came up with this project: build a flashcards web app for AWS exam prep, hosted entirely on AWS.

The Plan

The idea is simple:

A web app where I can log in, flip through AWS flashcards, and track my study progress.
The app itself will run on AWS services I need to know for the exam (S3, CloudFront, DynamoDB, Cognito, API Gateway, Lambda, CloudWatch, etc.).
I’ll build it step by step over ~6 weeks, dedicating ~10–15 hours per week.

Rough Roadmap

Week 1: Environment setup + “Hello AWS Flashcards” app running locally and deployed to AWS.
Week 2: Add a backend API with DynamoDB and Lambda.
Week 3: Add user authentication with Cognito.
Week 4: Enhance the app (progress tracking, multiple cards, UI polish).
Week 5: Automate deployment with GitHub + Amplify (CI/CD).
Week 6: Add monitoring, scaling, and optimizations.

Extras later: spaced repetition algorithm, user-created flashcards, image uploads, etc.

How I’ll Track Progress

To keep myself organized:

📋 Trello board → each week’s tasks broken into cards with labels.
📝 Daily logs (like this blog) → a short write-up of what I worked on, issues I faced, fixes, and time spent.
🔁 Repeatable template → so every entry is consistent:
- ✅ Accomplishments
- ⚠️ Issues + Fixes
- ⏱️ Time spent
- 🎯 Next steps

Why Blog About It?

Writing forces me to document what I learn.
It helps me track my journey in a way that’s easy to look back on.
Maybe it inspires others who are studying for AWS certifications to try hands-on projects instead of just videos and books.

What’s Next?

I’ve already completed:

✅ Session 1 (Environment setup)
✅ Session 2 (React “Hello AWS Flashcards” app running locally)

Next up is:

🎯 Session 3 — Deploy the app to AWS (S3 + CloudFront).

📓 AWS Flashcards App – Week 1, Day 1 Log

✅ Accomplishments

Session 1 – Environment Setup
- Verified and installed: Node.js, npm, AWS CLI, AWS CDK, Git.
- Fixed npm/PowerShell script execution issue.
- Installed Git for Windows and added it to PATH.
- Created clean project structure:
```
aws-flashcards/
 ├─ frontend/   (React app)
 ├─ cdk/        (AWS CDK scripts, later)
 ├─ backend/    (Lambda/API code, later)
```
- Configured VS Code with recommended extensions (Prettier, GitLens, React snippets, AWS Toolkit).
Session 2 – Starter React App
- Created React app inside frontend/.
- Replaced App.js with Hello AWS Flashcards component.
- Ran npm start → confirmed app works locally.
- Successfully tested flashcard flip on click. 🎉

⚠️ Issues Encountered & Fixes

npm not working (npm -v blocked by PowerShell security policy).
- Error:
```
 npm.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled
```

Fix: Changed execution policy:

 Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Git not recognized (git init failed).
- Error: 'git' is not recognized as a cmdlet...
- Fix: Installed Git for Windows → added to PATH.
Folder structure uncertainty.
- Fix: Created frontend/, cdk/, backend/ upfront for clarity and future-proofing.

⏱️ Time Spent

Planning & Trello setup → ~1 hr
Environment setup → ~2.5 hrs
VS Code config & project structure → ~1.5 hrs
React app setup & test → ~1 hr

Total today: ~6 hours

🎯 Next Steps (Session 3 – Deploy to AWS)

Build React app for production (npm run build).
Create S3 bucket → enable static hosting.
Upload React build to S3.
Optional: Add CloudFront distribution for caching and custom domain with Route 53.