how I passed the AWS cloud practitioner exam on my first attempt
When I began studying for the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam, I honestly didn’t know where to start. If you’re like me, you have probably already googled something like ‘aws cloud practitioner practice test’ or ‘practice questions’ .. and you were probably overwhelmed with how many results came up. The goal of this blog post is to help you save time filtering through all those results, and pass the exam as quickly as possible. So here is my step by step guide to pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam:
- Create a FREE AWS Skill Builder Account
This will give you access to free courses, training videos, and labs you can use to help prepare for the exam. I would recommend these trainings specifically:
- ‘Exam Prep: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01) (with Practice Material)’
- ‘AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Official Practice Exam’
- ‘Cloud Essentials Learning Plan’
- ‘AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials: Cloud Concepts’
- ‘AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials: Core Services’
- ‘AWS Skills Centers: Becoming a Cloud Practitioner — Full-Quiz Review
2. Complete CloudQuest (with Cloud Practitioner Role)
I didn’t find this until a week before I took the test, and I wish I had used it from the very begging. CloudQuest is a virtual game where your character helps out people on the island by completing tasks. What makes CloudQuest so valuable is that during these tasks you actually get to use AWS services for FREE. Additionally, a lot of the scenarios given to you in the game are extremely similar to scenarios posed in questions on the test.
I would highly recommend completing the CloudQuest challenges. And while doing so, take notes on the ‘key concepts’ section at the bottom of every step. These key concepts are extremely important!!
3. Take the FREE PRACTICE EXAMS on the AWSBoy website
AWSBoy provides a lot of practice questions divided by domain as well as 4 full practice exams. Having taken the test, I can confirm that these practice exams are very similar (some are even the same) to questions on the real exam.
4. Memorize this Quizlet
I know theres a lot of questions in this Quizlet, but it truly does contain everything you need to know to pass the exam. If you can learn all the flashcards in this quizlet, you are more than prepared to pass the exam.
5. DON’T PAY FOR ANY PRACTICE EXAMS OR STUDY GUIDES
I repeat, don’t do it. Some of these website look really ‘legit’ but trust me, there’s nothing more legitimate than the AWS Skill Builder practice tests and courses (and those are already free). I have already made this mistake for you by paying for courses with companies like tutorials dojo and cloud academy, they were all disappointing, with minimal question banks and barely any explanations for wrong answers. Trust me, between AWSBoy and AWS Skill Builder, you have all the practice content you need.
6. Passing the Exam
To pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C01) you need to score at least 700 on a scale of 100–1000. The day before I took the exam, I re-took the AWS Skill Builder practice test as well as a couple from AWSBoy, I was scoring between 830 and 920 on these practice exams, and passed the real exam with flying colors. So I would recommend making sure you’re in this range before taking the real exam.
One last piece of advice, schedule your Exam now. If you’ve read this entire post and follow the steps, you’ll be more than prepared to pass the exam within the next couple weeks or whenever you’ve completed these steps. I was nervous about scheduling my exam for a while, with so many AWS services and concepts you’ll always be able to find a new niche topic you feel you need to learn more before you schedule the test. But trust me, you don’t need to dive that deep to pass this exam … just schedule the test!
forcing yourself to have a deadline will motivate you to be prepared.
Goodluck!
