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AWS Security Specialty is one of the hardest AWS exams. The focus is entirely on security in AWS, and there is a wide range of services you need to know. I prepared for 4 months, but a lot happened during that time. For example, we had a baby girl, and it’s hard to stay focused on learning when you have a baby at home, and also it’s difficult to find time to learn when you have a full-time job. But I succeed, and you can too, no matter your circumstances. Now, I will outline the main steps I took to successfully pass the AWS Security Specialty exam.
1. Loving to learn
You are in IT, right? We are committed to learning throughout our entire lives, unless you want to quit IT. I love learning, and I am looking forward to exploring new things. It can be stressful, but you have to find motivation and strength to deal with it. On this journey, I had to study a few new services that I didn’t use, and I found joy in that.
2. Pass AWS Solutions Architect first
In October 2023, I passed the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam. I had some experience at that time, but not too much, and I passed it. The AWS Solutions Architect helped me a lot, because it covers many services that you need to know, and how those services depend on other services. I learned about many services back then that I had never even used. I must say, an AWS Solutions Architect should be the first or second step before taking the AWS Security Specialty.
3. Materials you choose to learn
It depends on what you like. Earlier, for AWS Solutions Architect, I prepared with Stephane Maarek's course, and I liked the way he teaches. For the AWS Security Specialty, I tried with Adrian Cantrill's course, because he is also great. But it took me a lot of time to reach 50%, so I switched to Stephane’s course, and I didn’t regret it. Tutorials Dojo is something that you CAN’T skip — it is a platform with practice questions for the exam. Of course, questions from Tutorials Dojo won’t appear on the exam, but the concepts are the same, which is what matters most. I thought it was not enough, so I bought Neil Davis' practice exams and AWS Skill Builder. Kudos to Neal Davis - the questions are similar to Tutorials Dojo. The AWS Skill Builder practice exam is very close to what you can expect on the real exam, maybe even harder.
4. Notes
You can’t succeed without using personal notes. Write down everything you are weak at, and review it daily. Don’t just study, go to the Console and try it out. The day before the exam, go through your entire notes document and review everything. This approach helped me not only with this exam, but it also helped me with every exam so far (AWS x2, Google x2, and Microsoft)
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