Getting started in the Cloud might be overwhelming at first since AWS is boasting over 200+ services (growing every year)! Currently, there is a lot of information on the web about AWS like white papers, courses, books, and videos.
But if you’re a beginner in the Cloud industry, all the available content might be overwhelming and you don’t know if the information is of high quality and helps you become a better engineer.
To solve that problem I’ve created the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam guide to help you prepare for the exam.
So you just have to focus on studying and preparing for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam instead of looking for the right learning resources.
So let’s start! Here are the detailed steps to help you get prepared to pass the AWS Certified AWS Cloud Practitioner exam:
Table of Contents
This is an entry-level exam that is intended for people who want to demonstrate a general understanding of the AWS Cloud.
You’re not required to understand deep-level knowledge of specific services. That is more required for the AWS Solutions Architect exam.
In order to pass the exam, AWS recommends that you understand the following topics:
An important note to mention is that when you want to follow up on this guide and start learning, create a free AWS account first.
AWS offers a free tier to get familiar with its services, so you can practice and experiment with the exercises and pieces of training that are provided in this guide.
The exam consists of the following:
As explained in the official AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam guide. The following topics are included in the exam including their weighted percentage:
Scalability is when an application or service automatically grows in capacity to meet demand e.g. with health checks or performance metrics.
Elasticity will automatically add or remove resources to meet changing user demands.
The Well-Architected Framework is a set of principles that AWS recommends as a way of evaluating the pros and cons of designing and building systems on AWS.
AWS Shared Responsibility Model is the shared responsibility between AWS and the customer.
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) helps you to securely control access to AWS resources.
AWS Trusted Advisor is a tool that provides you with real-time guidance to help you provision your resources following AWS best practices.
You should also know the different AWS support plans.
Try to get a basic understanding of the following AWS services:
You should know about EC2 pricing models like spot and reserved instances. Get familiar with the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate costs for AWS services.
Learn what the AWS Total Cost of Ownership Calculator does and learn how to monitor AWS costs using Cost explorer.
Everybody has their own preferred way of learning. One likes to watch videos while the other prefers reading. So I’ve compiled a list of high-quality material that is worth reading and watching.
For reading enthusiasts, I definitely recommend the official AWS Cloud Practitioner study guide: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide: CLF-C01 Exam.
Every topic in the exam is covered in this book and explained thoroughly for beginners. Especially useful are the hands-on exercises combined with the hundreds of practice questions.
The hands-on exercises give you a good understanding of how the AWS console works in combination with its services.
The practice questions in the book are similar to what you can expect at the real exam, so it’s wise to finish the questions in the book.
If you’re more comfortable with the AWS console, I’d highly recommend this free and extensive AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Course.
