AWS certifications are most valuable in the market. With the prevailing demand for cloud engineers across the organizations, there is a great number of requirements to look for AWS certifications. AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C01) certification exam is the most difficult exam of the associate level AWS exam.
If you are preparing for the AWS certification, I would recommend you first to earn the AWS Developer Associate certification which is the easiest exam. Then you can prepare for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SOA-C01) certification and then register for the AWS SysOps certification exam. But, if you are directly preparing for the AWS SysOps SOA-C01 exam, you will learn most of the topics that are not included in other associate level AWS exams.
Tips to Prepare for AWS SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C01) Certification
Let’s concentrate on how to prepare for the AWS sysops administrator certification exam. This article would provide you the step-by-step guide on what are the expected study resources for preparing this exam. There is no official study guide for this exam. Just learning from the AWS website and documents would be sufficient for the exam.
1) Official Website
This is the first place to begin your certification journey. You have to browse the official link for the AWS SysOps certification details. You will get all the details like exam information, blueprint, sample questions, video tutorials, etc.
2) SOA-C01 Exam Blueprint
The exam blueprint is the official syllabus for the exam. This blueprint defines what are the topics that are covered in the exam and weightage of each topic and marks that are expected to gain from each topic. This should be the first study material one should study for preparing for the exam.
3) Whitepapers
This is the collection of documents that give more in-depth information about each service. This whitepaper contains beneficial information about the services. There are many whitepapers available on the official page, but you will not be able to read all the documents for the exam. This page also keeps updated with the updated whitepapers and reports. Based on the exam topics, you can select a few whitepapers and read them.
4) AWS FAQs
AWS gives a FAQ on their website for every certification they provide, and they are excellent resources to prepare for the AWS SOA-C01 exam. There is ample information in the FAQs to retain you busy for weeks but to get a solid foundation on the AWS-SysOps Certification exam.
5) Acquire Hand-On Experience
Amazon expects that applicants for the exam will have 1-2 years of operational experience as a systems administrator, in addition to a minimum one year of hands-on experience with AWS.
Read: 10 Benefits of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certification
6) Online SOA-C01 Practice Tests
Once you have gone through the essential study materials, FAQs, and white papers, then it is the time to take the practice tests. AWS provides a few sample questions on the website. But, that is not enough for the exam. You have to practice on good quality practice questions available in the market to pass the exam with a good score. VMExam.com presents the best practice questions for AWS certification exams.
The aim of this website is to give accurate, updated, and clear material to assist you in studying and passing your AWS-SysOps (SOA-C01) certification exam. The web page is mobile friendly to allow users the ability to study from anywhere, presenting you with a net connection or data to anticipate your mobile device.
7) As You Take the AWS SOA-C01 Exam
As you take the exam, there are a few helpful techniques I’ve noticed that I think to implement equally well at least to all the AWS certification exams.
- First, remember that the exam is timed and you need to be sure to at least attempt every question
- You don’t need to spend too long on one question. So if you’re not sure about an answer and it’s taking too much time, just drop it in the system and come back to it later.
- For the question you are uncertain of, write down a short note on the part of your scratch paper in case a future question comes up later and explains some extra information or you learn something.
- Keep an eye out for questions where knowing something about the topic can help you eliminate one or more of the possible answers – when you don’t know the right answers on these questions you can at least exclude the incorrect answers to give yourself a better chance of guessing the right answer
8) After Passing the AWS SysOps Exam
I’ll think that with all your hard work and preparation you are able to pass the exam. Now what? Well, I think there are a few things you might want to reconsider doing to get the most out of your new certification.
- List the certification to your LinkedIn profile – some organizations and hiring managers specifically look for this as they evaluate you for AWS-related jobs.
- Write a quick LinkedIn blog on your new certification experience too. You’ll not only feel fabulous after your network compliments you for your new achievement, but you also might get some interested recruiters or co-workers reaching out to you.
- Even if you’re not looking for a new job, consider how you might be able to raise this AWS-SysOps certification during a review process or utilize this to help convince new clients of your experience.
I hope the above tips are informative and useful for you to prepare for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate exam.