Prepare for your AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam with us

If you’re planning to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam in the near future but don’t know how
to prepare for it, you’ve come to the right place. In this series, we will present step-by-step the topics and concepts
you should familiarize yourself with to pass the exam. The course reflects our own preparations for this exam, which we
plan to take by the end of this year. It will include coverage of topics, supplementary materials, useful resources, information
about the exam itself, and our preparation methods.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate vs AWS Certified Developer Associate

If you are a developer like me, you may wonder which certification you should choose. At first glance, it looks like
the Developer Associate should be the best choice, since you are a developer after all. The Developer Associate certification
is focused on services such as DynamoDB, Elastic Beanstalk, SQS, and SNS, and it teaches you how to work with them and
present them to the outside world through APIs and SDKs.

Nevertheless, I decided to pursue the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification first, as it provides a
better understanding of a wider range of AWS services and focuses on scenario-based problems. Besides, there’s a
reason why this certification has been ranked as the #1 cloud certification.

There is a lot of overlap between the certifications, so it is generally recommended to pass both of them, starting with
the Solutions Architect certification.

About the exam itself

Exam form:

• 15 underscored questions and 50 scored questions

• multiple choice questions with one of four responses correct

• multiple responses questions with two or more correct responses

• unanswered questions == incorrect answer, so there is no penalty for guessing

• exam is scored of 100 – 1000 points, and you need 720 points to pass

• some sections of exam have more questions and others less, but you need to pass only the overall exam

• The exam has the following content domains and weightings:

  • Domain 1: Design Secure Architectures (30% of scored content)
  • Domain 2: Design Resilient Architectures (26% of scored content)
  • Domain 3: Design High-Performing Architectures (24% of scored content)
  • Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20% of scored content)