Master the SAA-C03 exam strategy: how to read questions, eliminate wrong answers, identify requirement keywords, and which topics to prioritise.
SAA-C03 Exam Strategy — How to Pass
The AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam (SAA-C03) is not a memorisation test. It tests your ability to APPLY knowledge to realistic scenarios. Here is how to approach it.
Exam Facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|
| Questions | 65 (multiple-choice and multiple-response) |
| Duration | 130 minutes |
| Passing score | 720 out of 1000 (approximately 72%) |
| Format | Multiple choice (1 answer) and Multiple response (2-3 answers) |
| Cost | ~$300 USD | Pearson Vue or PSI centres |
| Validity | 3 years |
How to Read Exam Questions
Step 1: Identify the REQUIREMENT keywords
'highly available' --> Multi-AZ, Auto Scaling, Route 53 failover
'cost-effective' --> Spot, Reserved, serverless, right-size
'scalable' --> Auto Scaling, Lambda, DynamoDB
'most SECURE' --> Least privilege IAM, encryption, VPC endpoints
'without downtime' --> Blue/green, rolling deployment
'minimum operational overhead' --> Managed services over EC2
Step 2: Eliminate WRONG answers
Contains 'store access keys in code' --> WRONG (security violation)
'Create a new IAM user for EC2' --> WRONG (use IAM Role)
'Make S3 bucket public' --> WRONG (use CloudFront + OAC)
'Single AZ deployment' --> WRONG (not highly available)
Step 3: Choose SIMPLEST correct answer
AWS exams love managed services over self-managed
Fewer moving parts = better answer in most cases
Top 10 Exam Topics by Frequency
- 1. EC2 pricing models (Spot, Reserved, On-Demand, Savings Plans)
- 2. S3 storage classes and security (Versioning, Object Lock, OAC)
- 3. VPC — Security Groups vs NACLs, NAT Gateway, VPC Peering
- 4. RDS Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas
- 5. IAM — Roles vs Users, least privilege
- 6. ALB vs NLB (path routing vs static IP)
- 7. SNS + SQS fan-out pattern
- 8. Lambda cold starts and Provisioned Concurrency
- 9. CloudFront + S3 + Origin Access Control
- 10. Well-Architected Framework and Shared Responsibility Model
Recommended Study Resources
| Resource | Best For |
|---|
| Adrian Cantrill course | Deepest, most thorough content — diagrams and hands-on |
| Stephane Maarek course | Quick, exam-focused — great slides and videos |
| Tutorials Dojo practice exams | Closest to real exam difficulty — must do before exam |
| AWS official documentation | Reference — read FAQs for your weak areas |
| AWS skill builder (free) | Official AWS practice questions |
Exam Tip: Book your exam DATE before you start studying. Having a deadline makes you study consistently. Most people need 6-10 weeks studying 1-2 hours per day. Do at least 3 full practice exams and score 80%+ before booking the real exam.