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AWS Solutions Architect Associate

A route to AWS Solutions Architect Associate: the exam guide, a guarded sandbox account, labs across the four design domains, timed practice exams, scenario reading skills, booking and exam day.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for AWS Solutions Architect Associate, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

201

Starter tasks

🏅 Tech & Engineering Certifications

AWS Solutions Architect Associate

Studying for AWS Solutions Architect Associate: resilient, high-performing, secure and cost-aware designs, hands-on labs, practice exams and scenario questions.

  1. SAA exam guide and domain map folder
  2. Cloud skills audit before SAA study
  3. Diagnostic SAA practice exam and baseline score
  4. Sandbox AWS account with billing guardrails
  5. Choosing an SAA course and question bank
  6. SAA study calendar to a target exam week
  7. Service comparison notebook for the in-scope list
  8. AWS certification account and booking set-up
  9. Four SAA study blocks a week routine
  10. Wrong-answer log with domain tags
  11. Weekly SAA lab build and teardown
  12. Monthly timed SAA practice exam
  13. Daily flashcards for SAA service distinctions
  14. Sandbox cost and cleanup sweep
  15. SAA domain score tracker
  16. Monthly SAA study plan reset
  17. Weekly architecture whiteboard with a study partner
  18. Exam guide and service change watch
  19. IAM policies, roles and multi-account access
  20. VPC design with subnets, routing and endpoints
  21. Hybrid connectivity with VPN and Direct Connect
  22. Encryption, keys and secrets for data protection
  23. Security groups, NACLs, WAF and Shield
  24. Multi-AZ resilience and disaster recovery strategies
  25. Decoupling with queues, topics and events
  26. Load balancing and Auto Scaling patterns
  27. Choosing storage for each SAA scenario
  28. Choosing databases and caching layers
  29. Ingestion and analytics services at associate depth
  30. Serverless and container options for architects
  31. Cost-optimised compute and purchasing options
  32. Data transfer and storage cost traps
  33. Reading SAA scenario questions for the key requirement
  34. Well-Architected Framework and key whitepapers
  35. Closing the weakest SAA domain after the second mock
  36. Online proctored or test centre decision
  37. SAA exam readiness go or postpone decision
  38. Booking the SAA exam slot
  39. Final fourteen days before the SAA exam
  40. SAA exam day plan
  41. SAA result, badge and profile update
  42. SAA retake plan after a below-pass result
  43. SAA for an on-premises sysadmin moving to cloud
  44. SAA for a software developer new to infrastructure
  45. Studying for SAA as a working parent
  46. SAA from the Caribbean and other smaller markets
  47. SAA in a second language
  48. Running an SAA study cohort for your team
  49. Capstone three-tier design with written trade-offs
  50. Architecture decision records at work after SAA

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

SAA exam guide and domain map folder

AWS writes the Solutions Architect Associate exam from its published exam guide, which lists the four design domains, the task statements under each and an appendix of in-scope and out-of-scope services. Saving the current guide with its version and date, and turning it into a one-page domain map, means every course, lab and question bank is checked against the source rather than a forum thread.

First tasks

  • Download the current Solutions Architect Associate exam guide from the AWS certification site
  • Copy the four domain names and their task statements onto one page
  • Save the in-scope and out-of-scope service appendix next to the domain map
  • Note the current fee, duration, question types and retake waiting period with today's date

Cloud skills audit before SAA study

Most people who struggle with the associate exam are not short of AWS facts but of the networking, Linux and application basics the scenarios assume: CIDR ranges, DNS, TLS, how a load balancer and a database actually talk.

First tasks

  • Rate yourself one to four on networking, Linux, security, databases and each SAA domain
  • List every AWS service you have used at work or at home and for how long
  • Split a 10.0.0.0/16 range into four subnets on paper as a quick networking check
  • Write down whether you start SAA now or do a fundamentals block first

Diagnostic SAA practice exam and baseline score

A full practice exam taken cold, before any study, shows which domains are already strong and which are close to zero, and it sets the number every later mock is measured against. Without it, people spend weeks on comfortable topics like EC2 and leave storage classes and hybrid networking until the final fortnight.

First tasks

  • Block a quiet uninterrupted slot this week for a full timed practice exam
  • Take the practice exam without notes and without pausing
  • Record the overall score and the score for each domain
  • Tag each wrong answer with the service and domain it tested

Make it yours.

Install AWS Solutions Architect Associate, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.