My first cert from AWS is the Certified Solutions Architect Associate which I passed in May of 2020. ACloudGuru had recommended if you pass the CSAA, you should immediately try and pass the SysOps Admin cert due to overlapping knowledge. So…why not? While the CSAA is all about how to build secure, resilient, and cost effective environments, SysOps is all about maintaining and monitoring of those environments.
The Exam
The Exam itself consists of 65 questions and you will need to pass with a score of 720 out of 1000. I read that there are 5 unscorable which are used for stats reason. The exam is 130 minutes long and depending where you take it at, (remote or at testing center) you won’t get a break. So think twice before attempting to chug some coffee before the exam.
Study Material
A Cloud Guru / Linux Academy / Udemy
You have three good options to establish a foundation of knowledge, A Cloud Guru (ACG), Udemy, and Linux Academy. Many have a preference for Udemy, but I stuck with ACG as they were who I used to study for my CSAA. The content collectively is about 24 hours. What I did was go through the content at normal speed, making sure to do the labs, and read any white papers recommended in the process. The quizes were a bit tricky, but not impossible. After I finished the first time, I went through the video’s a SECOND time but at x 1.2 speed.
White Papers
There are the bread and butter of AWS for structures, data resiliency, best practices, security, etc. Some are ungodly long, but they are absolutely worth it. Many of the white papers will have scenarios for data resiliency with overlapping resources and why you should use them. While that is repetitive, it’ll absolutely an amazing resource for you to read so concepts and resources are beat into your head.
FAQ
I really shouldn’t have to say it, but FAQ’s go hand in hand with White Papers. There is so much information on the FAQ section of AWS. For this exam, I focused on:
Config
Trusted Advisor
Inspector
Cloudformation
Cloudwatch
Cloudtrail
KMS
Service Catalog
Practice Tests
You NEED to purchase a practice test. I recommend this from Udemy written by Jon Bonso.
Let me explain why. The practice tests written are designed to get you into the mindset of how Amazon writes their exams. They are timed, and stick to 65 questions like what you would expect from a normal AWS exam. Jon writes his practice exams to show you not just why an answer is right, but what answers are wrong. I wasted money on one exam (I won’t point fingers) where all the writer did was explain why an answer was right. When you learn why answers are wrong, you get beat into your head design concepts over and over again.
Cheat Sheets
In comes Tutorial Dojo for the win! So if you’re not a fan of re-reading those massive FAQ’s (looking at you EC2), then look no further! I loved going here when I had a few minutes between customer calls to review important info. The content is structure as basic as possible, no fluff. Just bullet points of the different resources.
My Thoughts
I passed my CSAA first time go, no issue! So for me to take this a couple times was a bit of a gut punch. Between the two exams, this one is the hardest by far. ACloudGuru was a bit disappointing because I felt there was a lot of content not covered in detail with their SysOps Course. For the most part, their content was more geared for high level overview. In prepping for this post, I’ve read a lot of negative feedback from the community on ACG content as of recently. You can still use their platform to learn, I’m not saying ditch it, however, you will need to do more studying on the side from different sources. The exam asked A LOT about monitoring instances, databases, networking (especially with end points), and cost effective options.
Good luck!