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Back to SAA-C03

Solutions Architect Associate Exam Guide

A comprehensive 8-week study plan to help you prepare for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification exam.

Exam Information

130 minutes

Duration

65 questions

Questions

720/1000

Passing Score

$150 USD

Exam Cost

Recommended Study Plan

Week 1

AWS Fundamentals & Compute

Design Resilient Architectures (26%)

12-15 hours

AWS global infrastructure (regions, AZs, edge locations)
EC2 instance types and purchasing options
Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing
AWS Lambda and serverless compute

Recommended Resources:

AWS Documentation

A Cloud Guru

Week 2

Storage Solutions

Design Resilient Architectures (26%)

10-12 hours

S3 storage classes and lifecycle policies
EBS volume types and snapshots
EFS and FSx file systems
AWS Storage Gateway

Recommended Resources:

AWS Console

Hands-on Labs

Week 3

Databases

Design High-Performing Architectures (24%)

12-14 hours

RDS, Aurora, and database engines
DynamoDB design patterns
ElastiCache (Redis, Memcached)
Database migration strategies

Recommended Resources:

AWS Documentation

Practice Labs

Week 4

Networking

Design Secure Architectures (30%)

12-14 hours

VPC design and subnets
Security groups and NACLs
Route 53 routing policies
CloudFront and Global Accelerator

Recommended Resources:

AWS VPC Labs

Documentation

Week 5

Security & Identity

Design Secure Architectures (30%)

10-12 hours

IAM policies, roles, and best practices
AWS Organizations and SCPs
KMS and encryption strategies
AWS WAF, Shield, and security services

Recommended Resources:

IAM Policy Simulator

Security Labs

Week 6

Application Integration

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%)

10-12 hours

SQS, SNS, and EventBridge
Step Functions and workflows
API Gateway and microservices
Decoupling patterns

Recommended Resources:

AWS Documentation

Tutorials

Week 7

Monitoring & Optimization

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%)

8-10 hours

CloudWatch metrics, logs, and alarms
CloudTrail and AWS Config
Cost Explorer and budgets
Trusted Advisor and Well-Architected

Recommended Resources:

AWS Console

Well-Architected Framework

Week 8

Review & Practice Exams

All Domains

15-20 hours

Complete multiple practice exams
Review weak areas
Architecture scenario practice
Final preparation

Recommended Resources:

Practice Exams

AWS Whitepapers

Exam Tips & Strategies

Think Architecture

Focus on designing solutions, not just knowing services. Understand when to use which service and why.

Time Management

With 130 minutes for 65 questions, you have about 2 minutes per question. Flag difficult ones and return later.

Hands-On Practice

Use AWS Free Tier to build real architectures. Understanding how services work together is essential.

Read Whitepapers

Study the Well-Architected Framework whitepaper thoroughly. Many questions align with its principles.

Key Topics to Master

Multi-tier architecture design

High availability and fault tolerance

Disaster recovery strategies (RTO/RPO)

S3 storage classes and lifecycle

EC2 instance types and pricing

VPC design and security

IAM policies and roles

RDS Multi-AZ and Read Replicas

DynamoDB design patterns

Lambda and API Gateway

CloudFront distributions

Route 53 routing policies

SQS and SNS patterns

Cost optimization strategies

Well-Architected Framework pillars

For the most up-to-date exam information, visit the official exam guide.

View Official Exam Guide

Back to SAA-C03

Solutions Architect Associate Exam Guide

A comprehensive 8-week study plan to help you prepare for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification exam.

Exam Information

130 minutes

Duration

65 questions

Questions

720/1000

Passing Score

$150 USD

Exam Cost

Recommended Study Plan

Week 1

AWS Fundamentals & Compute

Design Resilient Architectures (26%)

12-15 hours

AWS global infrastructure (regions, AZs, edge locations)
EC2 instance types and purchasing options
Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing
AWS Lambda and serverless compute

Recommended Resources:

AWS Documentation

A Cloud Guru

Week 2

Storage Solutions

Design Resilient Architectures (26%)

10-12 hours

S3 storage classes and lifecycle policies
EBS volume types and snapshots
EFS and FSx file systems
AWS Storage Gateway

Recommended Resources:

AWS Console

Hands-on Labs

Week 3

Databases

Design High-Performing Architectures (24%)

12-14 hours

RDS, Aurora, and database engines
DynamoDB design patterns
ElastiCache (Redis, Memcached)
Database migration strategies

Recommended Resources:

AWS Documentation

Practice Labs

Week 4

Networking

Design Secure Architectures (30%)

12-14 hours

VPC design and subnets
Security groups and NACLs
Route 53 routing policies
CloudFront and Global Accelerator

Recommended Resources:

AWS VPC Labs

Documentation

Week 5

Security & Identity

Design Secure Architectures (30%)

10-12 hours

IAM policies, roles, and best practices
AWS Organizations and SCPs
KMS and encryption strategies
AWS WAF, Shield, and security services

Recommended Resources:

IAM Policy Simulator

Security Labs

Week 6

Application Integration

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%)

10-12 hours

SQS, SNS, and EventBridge
Step Functions and workflows
API Gateway and microservices
Decoupling patterns

Recommended Resources:

AWS Documentation

Tutorials

Week 7

Monitoring & Optimization

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%)

8-10 hours

CloudWatch metrics, logs, and alarms
CloudTrail and AWS Config
Cost Explorer and budgets
Trusted Advisor and Well-Architected

Recommended Resources:

AWS Console

Well-Architected Framework

Week 8

Review & Practice Exams

All Domains

15-20 hours

Complete multiple practice exams
Review weak areas
Architecture scenario practice
Final preparation

Recommended Resources:

Practice Exams

AWS Whitepapers

Exam Tips & Strategies

Think Architecture

Focus on designing solutions, not just knowing services. Understand when to use which service and why.

Time Management

With 130 minutes for 65 questions, you have about 2 minutes per question. Flag difficult ones and return later.

Hands-On Practice

Use AWS Free Tier to build real architectures. Understanding how services work together is essential.

Read Whitepapers

Study the Well-Architected Framework whitepaper thoroughly. Many questions align with its principles.

Key Topics to Master

Multi-tier architecture design

High availability and fault tolerance

Disaster recovery strategies (RTO/RPO)

S3 storage classes and lifecycle

EC2 instance types and pricing

VPC design and security

IAM policies and roles

RDS Multi-AZ and Read Replicas

DynamoDB design patterns

Lambda and API Gateway

CloudFront distributions

Route 53 routing policies

SQS and SNS patterns

Cost optimization strategies

Well-Architected Framework pillars

For the most up-to-date exam information, visit the official exam guide.

View Official Exam Guide