{"id":99698,"date":"2025-06-24T18:24:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/?p=99698"},"modified":"2025-06-24T20:01:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:31:21","slug":"top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 15 Must-Knows for AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are about to take the <\/span><a title=\"AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/aws-solutions-architect-associate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03)<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> exam, you should ensure that your abilities to plan and implement scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-effective architecture on AWS have been met. Our learners are stimulated by it, and, given proper preparation, it is quite doable. Pick up this guide and find out more.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_76 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ea7e02;color:#ea7e02\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ea7e02;color:#ea7e02\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#How_the_SAA-C03_Exam_is_Structured_Format_Duration_and_Domains\" >How the SAA-C03 Exam is Structured: Format, Duration, and Domains<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Core_Topics_Covered_in_the_SAA-C03_Exam\" >Core Topics Covered in the SAA-C03 Exam<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_1_%E2%80%93_Design_Secure_Architectures_IAM_Security_Groups_KMS_and_Encryption\" >Topic 1 \u2013 Design Secure Architectures: IAM, Security Groups, KMS, and Encryption<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_2_%E2%80%93_Design_Resilient_Architectures_High_Availability_with_ELB_Auto_Scaling_and_Route_53\" >Topic 2 \u2013 Design Resilient Architectures: High Availability with ELB, Auto Scaling, and Route 53<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_3_%E2%80%93_Design_High-Performing_Architectures_Amazon_EC2_EBS_S3_Performance_Optimization\" >Topic 3 \u2013 Design High-Performing Architectures: Amazon EC2, EBS, S3 Performance Optimization<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_4_%E2%80%93_Design_Cost-Optimized_Architectures_Choosing_Between_On-Demand_Reserved_and_Spot_Instances\" >Topic 4 \u2013 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures: Choosing Between On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot Instances<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_5_%E2%80%93_Understand_Well-Architected_Framework%E2%80%94Operational_Excellence_Reliability_and_Efficiency\" >Topic 5 \u2013 Understand Well-Architected Framework\u2014Operational Excellence, Reliability, and Efficiency<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_6_%E2%80%93_Serverless_Architectures_with_Lambda_and_API_Gateway\" >Topic 6 \u2013 Serverless Architectures with Lambda and API Gateway<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_7_%E2%80%93_Storage_Solutions_S3_EBS_EFS_Glacier\" >Topic 7 \u2013 Storage Solutions: S3, EBS, EFS, Glacier<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_8_%E2%80%93_Networking_and_Content_Delivery_VPC_CloudFront_Route_53\" >Topic 8 \u2013 Networking and Content Delivery: VPC, CloudFront, Route 53<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_9_%E2%80%93_Databases_on_AWS_RDS_DynamoDB_Aurora\" >Topic 9 \u2013 Databases on AWS: RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_10_%E2%80%93_Monitoring_and_Logging_CloudWatch_CloudTrail_Config\" >Topic 10 \u2013 Monitoring and Logging: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_11_%E2%80%93_Disaster_Recovery_Strategies_on_AWS\" >Topic 11 \u2013 Disaster Recovery Strategies on AWS<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_12_%E2%80%93_Hybrid_Architectures_and_VPNDirect_Connect\" >Topic 12 \u2013 Hybrid Architectures and VPN\/Direct Connect<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_13_%E2%80%93_Compute_Options_EC2_ECS_Fargate_Lambda\" >Topic 13 \u2013 Compute Options: EC2, ECS, Fargate, Lambda<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_14_%E2%80%93_Identity_Access_Management_Deep_Dive\" >Topic 14 \u2013 Identity &amp; Access Management Deep Dive<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Topic_15_%E2%80%93_Exam-Day_Strategy_and_Sample_Question_Breakdown\" >Topic 15 \u2013 Exam-Day Strategy and Sample Question Breakdown<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Study_Resources_Videos_and_AWS_Certified_Solutions_Architect_Associate_Course\" >Study Resources: Videos and AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Course<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Practice_Exams_Hands-on_Labs\" >Practice Exams &amp; Hands-on Labs<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-20\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#FAQs_on_the_AWS_Certified_Solutions_Architect_Associate_Certification\" >FAQs on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-21\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Common_Mistakes_to_Avoid\" >Common Mistakes to Avoid<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-22\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/top-15-aws-architect-associate-exam\/#Summary_of_Must-Know_Topics_for_Cracking_the_AWS_Solution_Architect_Associate_Exam\" >Summary of Must-Know Topics for Cracking the AWS Solution Architect Associate Exam<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_the_SAA-C03_Exam_is_Structured_Format_Duration_and_Domains\"><\/span><b>How the SAA-C03 Exam is Structured: Format, Duration, and Domains<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SAA-C03 focuses on people who have at least a year of practical experience designing distributed systems on AWS. It examines practical knowledge rather than theoretical, and it is important to know how to apply things as much as one knows the services to be remembered.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exam consists of 65 questions, which can be a mix of multiple-choice and multiple-response, and you have 130 minutes to complete it. It\u2019s divided into four main domains:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-99707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/aws-solutions-architect-a-ssociate-domain-and-weightages.webp\" alt=\"aws solutions architect-associate domain weightages.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/aws-solutions-architect-a-ssociate-domain-and-weightages.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/aws-solutions-architect-a-ssociate-domain-and-weightages-300x125.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/aws-solutions-architect-a-ssociate-domain-and-weightages-1024x428.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/aws-solutions-architect-a-ssociate-domain-and-weightages-768x321.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/aws-solutions-architect-a-ssociate-domain-and-weightages-150x63.webp 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Core_Topics_Covered_in_the_SAA-C03_Exam\"><\/span><b>Core Topics Covered in the SAA-C03 Exam<br \/>\n<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-99706\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam.webp\" alt=\"core topics covered in saa-c03 exam\" width=\"1702\" height=\"1900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam.webp 1702w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam-269x300.webp 269w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam-917x1024.webp 917w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam-768x857.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam-1376x1536.webp 1376w, https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/core-topics-covered-in-the-saa-c03-exam-150x167.webp 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1702px) 100vw, 1702px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_1_%E2%80%93_Design_Secure_Architectures_IAM_Security_Groups_KMS_and_Encryption\"><\/span><b>Topic 1 \u2013 Design Secure Architectures: <\/b><b>IAM, Security Groups, KMS, and Encryption<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Security is a major theme in the exam. You\u2019ll see multiple questions about Identity and Access Management policies, roles, and permission boundaries. Also, understand how Security Groups and Network ACLs work in practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Key Management Service (KMS) is frequently mentioned and mainly refers to encryption at rest and in transit, cross-account access, and key rotation. Be aware of how to encrypt S3 objects and EBS volumes, and the way KMS can be used along with <\/span><a title=\"Amazon RDS\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/amazon-rds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Amazon RDS<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Lambda.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Common Questions on AWS Security in SAA-C03<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA company needs to share encrypted data with another AWS account securely. Which services\/features should they use?\u201d Hint: KMS with cross-account access.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_2_%E2%80%93_Design_Resilient_Architectures_High_Availability_with_ELB_Auto_Scaling_and_Route_53\"><\/span><b>Topic 2 \u2013 Design Resilient Architectures: High Availability with ELB, Auto Scaling, and Route 53<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fault tolerance and high availability are a must to know. Knowing the difference between Multi-AZ and Multi-Region configurations is one of the questions that are being tested rather frequently during the exam. Make sure that you are very confident in designing architectures using Elastic Load Balancers, auto-scaling groups, and Route 53 failover policies in the most adequate way.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Real-World Scenarios Asked in the SAA-C03 Exam<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One scenario described a legacy app running in a single <\/span><a title=\"Amazon EC2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/amazon-elastic-compute-cloud-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Amazon EC2<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> instance. How can availability be boosted with minimal change? Was the question. Learn the timing to introduce an ALB or to switch to managed services such as <\/span><a title=\"AWS Elastic Beanstalk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/aws-elastic-beanstalk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>AWS Elastic Beanstalk<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or ECS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_3_%E2%80%93_Design_High-Performing_Architectures_Amazon_EC2_EBS_S3_Performance_Optimization\"><\/span><b>Topic 3 \u2013 Design High-Performing Architectures: Amazon EC2, EBS, S3 Performance Optimization<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ll get questions that require you to optimize latency and throughput for EC2 and S3. An example could be learning the difference between the volumes in GP3 and IO2 and ways to improve the throughput of S3 by utilizing multipart uploads and Transfer Acceleration.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Tips for Solving Performance-Related Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on matching the workload to the right instance types and storage classes. Questions will often use phrasing like \u201ca read-heavy application\u201d or \u201cbursty traffic\u201d; recognize these as clues for selecting services like ElastiCache, Provisioned IOPS, or EFS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_4_%E2%80%93_Design_Cost-Optimized_Architectures_Choosing_Between_On-Demand_Reserved_and_Spot_Instances\"><\/span><b>Topic 4 \u2013 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures: Choosing Between On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot Instances<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cost optimization isn\u2019t just about choosing the cheapest option\u2014it\u2019s about picking the most appropriate pricing model for the use case. Know the differences between On-Demand, Reserved Instances (RI), and Spot Instances.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Using AWS Trusted Advisor for Cost Optimization<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expect questions where AWS Trusted Advisor flags underutilized resources. You\u2019ll need to identify next steps, terminating unused EC2s, resizing RDS, or setting up budget alerts in AWS Budgets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_5_%E2%80%93_Understand_Well-Architected_Framework%E2%80%94Operational_Excellence_Reliability_and_Efficiency\"><\/span><b>Topic 5 \u2013 Understand Well-Architected Framework\u2014Operational Excellence, Reliability, and Efficiency<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I strongly advise going over the AWS Well-Architected Framework and the five pillars in particular. The queries can ask about the application of this principle, such as operational insights with CloudWatch Alarms or autoscaling as a means of reliability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_6_%E2%80%93_Serverless_Architectures_with_Lambda_and_API_Gateway\"><\/span><b>Topic 6 \u2013 Serverless Architectures with Lambda and API Gateway<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn the communication with AWS Lambda and API Gateway, EventBridge, and Step Functions. You will likely encounter those situations when a serverless solution would be more desirable than a traditional EC2-based solution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_7_%E2%80%93_Storage_Solutions_S3_EBS_EFS_Glacier\"><\/span><b>Topic 7 \u2013 Storage Solutions: S3, EBS, EFS, Glacier<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn S3 storage classes (Standard, IA, One Zone-IA, Glacier, and Deep Archive) and how to use EBS or EFS. Questions were raised about lifecycle policies and what could be done to optimize archival storage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_8_%E2%80%93_Networking_and_Content_Delivery_VPC_CloudFront_Route_53\"><\/span><b>Topic 8 \u2013 Networking and Content Delivery: VPC, CloudFront, Route 53<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn about the basics of VPC subnets, route tables, NAT gateways, and peering. As well, you must be aware of how CloudFront accelerates the content and what the difference is between routing policies in Route 53 (latency routing, failover routing, and geolocation routing).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_9_%E2%80%93_Databases_on_AWS_RDS_DynamoDB_Aurora\"><\/span><b>Topic 9 \u2013 Databases on AWS: RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find out how to work with RDS, <\/span><a title=\"Amazon Aurora\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.aws.amazon.com\/AmazonRDS\/latest\/AuroraUserGuide\/CHAP_AuroraOverview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>Amazon Aurora<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and DynamoDB. Read how DAX or Global Tables can be used with DynamoDB and Aurora Serverless v2 features.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_10_%E2%80%93_Monitoring_and_Logging_CloudWatch_CloudTrail_Config\"><\/span><b>Topic 10 \u2013 Monitoring and Logging: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Know how to set <\/span><a title=\"AWS CloudWatch\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/aws-cloudwatch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>AWS CloudWatch<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">metrics, alarms, and dashboards, and how CloudTrail tracks API calls. Some of the questions included AWS Config and an audit of changes to resources over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_11_%E2%80%93_Disaster_Recovery_Strategies_on_AWS\"><\/span><b>Topic 11 \u2013 Disaster Recovery Strategies on AWS<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You must know the difference between Backup &amp; Restore, Pilot Light, Warm Standby, and Multi-Site Active-Active architectures. Real-world scenario questions tested RTO and RPO requirements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_12_%E2%80%93_Hybrid_Architectures_and_VPNDirect_Connect\"><\/span><b>Topic 12 \u2013 Hybrid Architectures and VPN\/Direct Connect<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understand how VPN and AWS Direct Connect link on-premise data centers with AWS. I had a question on ensuring consistent latency for hybrid workloads\u2014knowing when to use Direct Connect was key.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_13_%E2%80%93_Compute_Options_EC2_ECS_Fargate_Lambda\"><\/span><b>Topic 13 \u2013 Compute Options: EC2, ECS, Fargate, Lambda<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exam puts a lot of focus on use case-compute pairing. Understanding when to use ECS and EC2 and when to use Fargate, or the role of Lambda in an event-driven framework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_14_%E2%80%93_Identity_Access_Management_Deep_Dive\"><\/span><b>Topic 14 \u2013 Identity &amp; Access Management Deep Dive<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond IAM basics, you\u2019ll need to understand roles vs. policies, cross-account access, and federation with SAML or Cognito. Multi-factor authentication and service control policies in AWS Organizations also come up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Topic_15_%E2%80%93_Exam-Day_Strategy_and_Sample_Question_Breakdown\"><\/span><b>Topic 15 \u2013 Exam-Day Strategy and Sample Question Breakdown<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are tricky distractors in the exam; therefore, questions should be read carefully. Mark the ones that you are not sure of and review them. Questions are mostly situation-based and aim at testing judgment rather than memory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Study_Resources_Videos_and_AWS_Certified_Solutions_Architect_Associate_Course\"><\/span><b>Study Resources: Videos and AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Course<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Practice_Exams_Hands-on_Labs\"><\/span><b>Practice Exams &amp; Hands-on Labs<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t skip <\/span><b>practice exams<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They train your brain to think the AWS way. I recommend <\/span><b>the official resources <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>Whizlabs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Spin up EC2s, configure S3 buckets, and practice IAM policies with your <\/span><a title=\"Hands-on labs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/hands-on-labs\/?&amp;sortedBy=popularCourse&amp;page=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Hands-on labs<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a title=\"Sandboxes\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/cloud-sandbox\/?&amp;sortedBy=popularCourse&amp;page=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Sandboxes<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; it is sometimes more than you think\u2014it&#8217;s like playing around and learning at the same time! It is for sure a win-win situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQs_on_the_AWS_Certified_Solutions_Architect_Associate_Certification\"><\/span><b>FAQs on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>How many questions are in an AWS Certified Solutions Architect associate exam?<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">65 fixed questions, unlike the adaptive questions of Azure certs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Do I need coding skills to pass this AWS certification?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not really, but understanding JSON and Lambda basics helps.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Is the exam hard?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s a challenging one, but we would say it&#8217;s manageable if you prepare consistently and don\u2019t doubt yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Common_Mistakes_to_Avoid\"><\/span><b>Common Mistakes to Avoid<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t just cram theory; it might seem easy, but while taking the exam, I am sure you might have second thoughts about getting <\/span><b>hands-on experience. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do not regret taking those much-needed labs.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t overlook <\/span><b>cost and security questions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014they\u2019re everywhere.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoid tunnel vision. AWS loves <\/span><b>scalable, managed solutions;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> do not limit yourself to a few favorite services of yours.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summary_of_Must-Know_Topics_for_Cracking_the_AWS_Solution_Architect_Associate_Exam\"><\/span><b>Summary of Must-Know Topics for Cracking the AWS Solution Architect Associate Exam<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As read, focus deeply on:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>IAM, VPC, EC2, S3<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Resilience with ELB and ASG<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Serverless options<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Cost-optimization models<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Well-Architected Framework<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Passing this exam can boost your confidence and help you speak more fluently about cloud architecture. Just stay focused, practice smart, and go in with the plan you made. Good luck on your prep \u2014see you on the other side of AWS certification success! Let us know in case of queries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are about to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam, you should ensure that your abilities to plan and implement scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-effective architecture on AWS have been met. Our learners are stimulated by it, and, given proper preparation, it is quite doable. Pick up this guide and find out more. How the SAA-C03 Exam is Structured: Format, Duration, and Domains The SAA-C03 focuses on people who have at least a year of practical experience designing distributed systems on AWS. It examines practical knowledge rather than theoretical, and it is important to know how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":438,"featured_media":99704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Sree Gowthaman","author_link":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/author\/banu-sree\/"},"uagb_comment_info":6,"uagb_excerpt":"If you are about to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam, you should ensure that your abilities to plan and implement scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-effective architecture on AWS have been met. Our learners are stimulated by it, and, given proper preparation, it is quite doable. Pick up this guide and find&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/438"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99698"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99733,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99698\/revisions\/99733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}