Took about 2 months, did all the labs and all the training, and failed by 2 questions. None of the practice questions matched the exam, and none seem to be clear enough to figure out the questions with elimination. It’s sad I now need to pay 300 USD to re-take this exam. I don’t even know where to start to re-study for this because none of the material is enough to get the correct answers. Do not take the exam after just doing this or Tutorial Dojos it’s not enough.
3 Answers
Hi Stan,
Sorry to hear that you didn’t pass on your first go.
However, it’s not all bad news:
1) You said you "failed by 2 questions", so your studies have got you very close to passing – sounds like with some more studying, and a different set of questions on a different day next time, you’ll pass
2) You don’t necessarily need to pay 300 USD to re-take this exam – you know you get a 50% off exam voucher from AWS for passing your previous exams, right?
3) In my experience, IT exams, and especially AWS exams, reward effort. Failing is just feedback that you didn’t do enough to pass, yet. Also, I’d say that 2 months is very much on the short side to pass a tough exam like this one
4) Here’s one of my threads from passing an AWS exam (https://acloud.guru/forums/aws-cda-2018/discussion/-MA8fx1uteDx0myaAdm/17~2F06~2F2020-passedcd-a_with). Ask yourself whether you did all of this and, if not, see what extra you can add in
5) For the Security Speciality, review the "Additional Resources For Exam Preparation" lecture for steps that Faye recommends to help pass
Hope this helps 🙂
1. Yes, but this was mainly due to the course not being enough. I watched aCloud.Guru videos many times, with many tests being taken and scoring 90+ on the exam many times but still didn’t pass the regular. The goal should be to teach not to just pass a exam.
2. Yes I do. I used the 50% to take the test now I don’t have any more coupons.
3. I do not agree with this. Spending 90 hours doing practice tests, and watching many videos and such should be enough. If the training materal covers what is on the exam it should be that easy. For instance, the exam is showing IAM policies in JSON and they want the correct one for multi-factor. Where is that in this training?
4. Thanks
5) Already did that.
Hi Stan,
We’ll have to agree to disagree then, since I don’t understand why you say "Spending 90 hours doing practice tests, and watching many videos and such should be enough.".
There’s no magic 90 hours mark that means someone will pass – they’ve done enough when they pass.
That being said, you’ve now got three options:
1) Do nothing – but that seems like a massive waste since you’ve worked so hard and got so close to passing
2) Revisit the study methods you used and take the exam again – a different set of questions on a different day might be all that’s needed for you to pass
3) Try a different study method to get you over the line – I see that you mentioned Tutorials Dojo above, but do you know that in addition to their excellent practice questions they also do an excellent Security Specialty Study Guide?
I hope you choose 2) or 3) and that you pass soon.
Good luck and let me know on here when you’ve passed 🙂