If you are currently getting ready for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification exam can seem daunting with the breadth of services and concepts to know. Using free and low-cost resources to study can remove the financial barrier for certification. This article provides tips and an exam outline leveraging free materials to pass the test.
The key is to focus your preparation on understanding cloud concepts, the AWS global infrastructure, core services for compute, storage, database, and networking along with their common use cases. Also study key aspects of security, architecture, billing, support, and AWS best practices.
Supplement with practice questions to test your knowledge. Review wrong answers and brush up on weak areas before the exam. With diligent preparation using free training and online resources, certification is within your reach.
Free Online Training from AWS
AWS offers free online training courses and materials to help you prepare for the Cloud Practitioner exam. The AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials course from Coursera provides fundamental knowledge across all exam domains in 7 modules with videos, readings, and quizzes. You can also access the AWS Training Portal for free digital courses on specific services and solutions.
Additionally, AWS publishes sample exam questions on their certification site along with whitepapers detailing key concepts. These free resources directly from the source allow you to focus your study on the most relevant topics.
Supplement with bite-sized video courses like the freeCodeCamp AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner course on YouTube which comprehensively covers all exam subjects. For hands-on practice, leverage AWS Skill Builder for labs and official sample questions.
Using primarily free training from AWS itself as well as third-party video courses and practice questions, you can prepare thoroughly for the Cloud Practitioner exam without expensive study materials.
Recommended Study Materials
To prepare for the Cloud Practitioner exam without breaking the bank, leverage free and low-cost third party resources. The All-in-One Exam Guide from McGraw Hill provides comprehensive coverage with 2 practice exams. Video courses on Udemy like Neal Davis’ AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner 2022 are highly rated and frequently updated.
For practice questions, Tutorials Dojo offers 5 full-length exams covering all domains that closely match the actual test. You can also find a wealth of free materials through Reddit communities where users share study guides, flashcards, and even 450+ homemade practice questions.
The key is using multiple resources to get broad exposure to concepts, services, and test questions. Focus your preparation on the official exam guide and supplement with video courses for foundational knowledge. Then validate your learning with practice tests. Using primarily free or low-cost materials, you can feel confident and ready for the Cloud Practitioner exam.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam Overview
The Cloud Practitioner exam consists of 65 multiple choice questions within a time limit of 90 minutes. A passing score is 70% or higher. Questions cover 6 domains:
- Cloud Concepts (24%): AWS global infrastructure, cloud computing models, elasticity, scalability
- Security (30%): Shared responsibility model, AWS security services, encryption, access management
- Technology (34%): Core compute, storage, database, networking services like EC2, S3, VPC
- Billing and Pricing (16%): AWS Organizations, billing models, cost optimization tools
- Architecture (covered across domains): Well-Architected Framework, design principles
- Support (covered across domains): AWS Support plans, Trusted Advisor, documentation
The exam focuses on cloud principles, basics of key services, and common use cases. Non-technical backgrounds can pass with 6 months of AWS exposure. Review the exam guide for sample questions and content outline.
Leverage online training, whitepapers, and practice tests to prep on relevant services and concepts. Focus study on cloud fundamentals, security, core services, billing, and support.
Key Exam Topics
Target your study on these essential concepts and services:
Cloud Concepts
The Cloud Concepts domain covers 24% of the exam and focuses on understanding the fundamental benefits and principles of the AWS Cloud. Key topics include:
- The value proposition and economies of scale from using cloud infrastructure instead of on-premises data centers. This includes agility, elasticity, high availability, and global reach.
- The pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework that guide cloud design for operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability.
- Different cloud computing deployment models like public, private, and hybrid clouds[4].
- The concepts of elasticity and scalability to automatically provision resources to match workload demands.
- The global infrastructure of AWS regions, availability zones, and edge locations that provide low latency and high resiliency.
Knowing the fundamental benefits of cloud along with AWS architectural best practices ensures you can determine when and how to leverage cloud services. Focus your Cloud Concepts preparation on the key principles that underpin effective use of the AWS platform.
Technology
The Technology domain makes up 34% of the exam and focuses on understanding the core AWS services for computing, storage, database, and networking. Key topics include:
- Major compute services like EC2 for virtual servers and Auto Scaling groups to dynamically match capacity with demand.
- Storage services like S3 for object storage, EBS volumes for block storage, and Storage Gateway for on-premises integration.
- Managed database services like RDS for relational databases and DynamoDB for NoSQL databases.
- Networking services like VPC for isolated networks, Direct Connect for private connectivity, and Route 53 for DNS routing.
- Serverless offerings like Lambda functions and container services like ECS/EKS.
The emphasis is on knowledge of the core AWS building blocks for the cloud, their common use cases, and how they differ from on-premises resources. Focus your study on the key services for compute, storage, database, networking, and their integration. Hands-on practice like setting up a VPC with EC2 instances is invaluable.
Billing and Pricing
The Billing and Pricing domain makes up 16% of the exam and focuses on AWS account structures, pricing models, and cost management tools. There are no upfront fees with AWS – you pay only for what you use following a pay-as-you-go model. The main drivers of cost are compute, storage, and outbound data transfer.
AWS offers five tiers of support plans with monthly fees depending on your business needs. Consolidated billing allows linking multiple accounts for a single bill to leverage volume discounts. You can allocate costs with tags and analyze spend over time in Cost Explorer.
For individual services, pricing varies based on usage. With EC2, you consider instance type, purchase model, load balancing, and monitoring. S3 bills for storage amount, requests, and data transfer out. Be aware of free tier services and limits.
Focus your study on the pay-as-you-go model, support plans, consolidated billing, tagging, tools like Cost Explorer, and pricing factors for key services like EC2 and S3. Understanding AWS pricing fundamentals prepares you for the Billing and Pricing questions on the exam.
Architecture
The Architecture domain focuses on understanding AWS cloud design principles and best practices. Key topics include:
- The AWS Well-Architected Framework offers a standardized methodology for evaluating cloud architecture across pillars like Success in Business Operations, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization.
- Design principles like scalability, disposable resources, automation, loose coupling allow creating resilient, flexible, and efficient systems.
- Architectural patterns like horizontal scaling, load balancing, caching, and stateless systems are common in cloud-based solutions.
- Hybrid cloud extends on-premises infrastructure to the cloud while multi-cloud leverages multiple providers.
- Serverless architectures remove infrastructure management by using event-driven services like Lambda and DynamoDB.
Focus your Architecture preparation on the Well-Architected Framework pillars, core design principles like scalability and disposable resources, and common patterns like horizontal scaling and caching. Understanding these foundations prepares you to make architectural decisions aligned with AWS best practices.
Support
The Support domain focuses on utilizing AWS resources for technical assistance and best practices. Key topics include:
- AWS Support plans like Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise provide increasing levels of access to AWS support engineers, with response times ranging from 24 hours to 15 minutes depending on severity.
- AWS Trusted Advisor provides automated checks and optimization recommendations across cost, security, fault tolerance, performance, and service limits.
- Whitepapers, documentation, and discussion forums offer self-service resources to troubleshoot and build expertise.
- Validated technical partners in the AWS Partner Network can provide guidance tailored to your workloads.
- AWS Professional Services offers consulting packages to accelerate cloud adoption.
- The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides best practices to architect secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure.
Leverage AWS Support plans for production issues. Use Trusted Advisor for proactive optimization. Enable partners and professional services for workload-specific help. Refer to whitepapers and forums for self-guided learning. Adopting the Well-Architected Framework ensures alignment with AWS best practices.
Final Tips
When studying for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, it’s important to focus on the bottom line – being able to demonstrate foundational knowledge of AWS services, security, architecture, pricing, and support. While the exam covers a broad range of topics, aim your preparation efforts on mastering the key concepts and high-value services that underpin effective use of AWS.
Create a study checklist focused on cloud fundamentals, the Well-Architected Framework, core compute, storage, database and networking services, security best practices, cost and billing management, and support resources. Supplement with hands-on practice like setting up a VPC and EC2 instances to gain first-hand experience.
Validate your knowledge by taking practice tests and reviewing where you need additional focus. Use free training materials as much as possible to remove financial barriers to certification. With consistent preparation centered on priority topics, you can gain the AWS knowledge needed to pass the exam.
Stay focused on the bottom line – don’t get overwhelmed by the breadth of services and features. Master the cloud essentials, key services, security, cost management and support. With diligent study using checklists and free resources, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification is within your reach.
Citations:
https://aws.amazon.com/partners/
