Who am I?
I'm Maran Sowthri Kalailingam, Software Engineer @ athenahealth.
When did I get certified?
On July 19, 2021. You can check out my badge here.
Steps that I followed
5 months back I bought this course on Udemy for 8$. This is a 32 hours on-demand course taught by Stephane Maarek. It comes with many practical & theoretical sessions.
After buying this, I prepared my schedule. I planned to spend 60 - 90 mins on each working day & 120 - 180 mins on each holiday. I started watching the tutorials and trying all the explained services in my AWS account (Stephane will also help you to properly set up a free AWS account).
Within 2 months I completed the course and (I thought) I was well prepared. Then I attended the practice exam which was provided in the course.
Here's my score.
So I felt that this is not enough. After reviewing all the questions and correct answers I replayed the complete course. That took me around 45 - 50 days.
Since I knew all the answers for the given practice exam, I bought a new practice exams bundle on Udemy for 6$. It was having 6 practice tests and was prepared by the same guy.
I attended 1 practice test a day and reviewed all the correct answers and explanations for the next 2 days. This was going on for 15 - 20 days.
Here are my practice tests results.
The average score that I got is 73% (which is 1 % more than the passing score). So, I was still not ready. And I didn't want to replay the course again.
I was looking for some blueprints and key topics to remember for this exam. Then I found this amazing guide on digitalcloud. It was prepared by Neal Davis. I wanted to replay my first course again only for the key topics and read all the cheat cheats on digitalcloud.
After finishing that I wanted to test my skills again. I bought one more practice exams bundle on Udemy for 6$. It was having 6 practice tests and was prepared by Neal Davis.
I followed the same plan. 1 exam per day, review all the questions for the next 2 days.
Here are my test results.
🎵 Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road, I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more 🎵
I desperately wanted to book my exam on the same day, by paying 177$ (150$ + 27$ tax). But I waited! On the very next day, I saw a post on LinkedIn stating that I can register for a free practice exam in AWS. I registered right away and was able to book the "official" AWS practice exam on the next day.
Here's my score.
I was devastated 🤕 I wanted to take a break.
After 3 days, I replayed my course again on 3 topics (Security, Development & Deployment) and that took me 10 - 15 more days. Then I registered for one more official practice exam.
Finally, I planned to book my exam. I paid 177$ and scheduled my exam at 5:45 AM on 19th July 2021.
The day came, and I appeared 30 mins before the exam. My proctor verified all my proofs and allowed to me start. I finished it on time and got the results the next day.
P.S. My company athenahealth reimbursed my entire examination fees 💖
Roadmap
Ultimate AWS Certified Developer Associate Course by Stephane Maarek
Practice Exams | AWS Certified Developer Associate 2021 by Stephane Maarek & Abhishek Singh
AWS Certified Developer Associate Practice Exam Questions by Neal Davis
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My Digita Badges
You can check out all my digital badges here.
