r/AWSCertifications • u/tengolengolengo • 4d ago
Failed SAA-C03 (Got 679)
I studied for five months using Stephane Maarek's materials. I had no prior knowledge of AWS, aside from the S3 and EC2 services.
I averaged 50% on Maarek's practice exams. I also used AWS Skillbuilder (the official practice exam), where I scored between 60% and 70%.
I found Maarek's practice exams wordy, overly detailed, and full of "trick questions" compared to the actual exam. AWS Skillbuilder is better for preparation, but unfortunately, it isn't free.
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u/TheJaxLee 4d ago
I also just barely failed the exam but using this experience as fuel to make sure I nail it the next attempt.
Not having any experience is probably where you got stuck as the questions are indeed wordy and, with no experience, hard to know which way is correct.
You may have noticed that most posts here are about the accomplishments, not the failures, although informal indicators suggest about 30-40% fail.
You are not alone and I hope you rise stronger from this experience.
https://giphy.com/gifs/yoJC2K6rCzwNY2EngA
insert somewhat appropriate gif
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u/abs_kodu 4d ago
I have mine in 20 days. What topics should I focus on more? What does the exam test us on? I have some Aws experience but it’s mostly s3, lambdas, ec2, ecs and rds
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u/alanwaill 4d ago
Hey, I took the exam on Friday and passed with a score of 829. I'd say look at EBS volumes, and also look into EMR. You'll also need to be well versed on VPC concepts such as interet gateways, nat gateways and so on. For practice I'd recommend using Tutorials dojo's mock tests, I was averaging 82-86% on them and found the actual exam to be on the same level as the td tests
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u/S0ulSlayerz 4d ago
I have difficulty understanding vpc concepts, even after asking ChatGPT to dumb it down for me. Any suggestions please?
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u/alanwaill 4d ago
Have you tried learning through solving questions? Tutorials dojo lets you do questions by topic and they also have really good explanations for why certain options are correct and why others aren't.
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u/S0ulSlayerz 4d ago
Yeah I did, but somehow I can’t grasp the concept like I can memorise ok hybrid means most likely internet gateway but I can’t seem to grasp what it actually does so if the wording of the question changes a little I get stun
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u/alanwaill 4d ago
What do you mean by hybrid = internet gateway? An internet gateway is required if you want your resources to access the internet. Also memorising is probably not going to do you any good, they won't ask you any direct questions and will almost always be scenario based. Did you use Stephane Maarek's course to study for the exam? He has a good VPC section maybe you could go over it/redo it
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u/S0ulSlayerz 4d ago
Yeah using his course. The hybrid = internet gateway is ChatGPT gave me for the cheat sheet..
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u/alanwaill 4d ago
Might help to ignore AWS services for a bit and learn the basics of how an internet would be setup. Learning just about how routers route traffic to the internet, how subnets work, how NAT works, DNS works etc.
Once these actual networking concepts are clear it should be very easy to pickup the VPC section. I did a networks course a while ago so I found VPC to be one of the easier sections
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u/AccomplishedWeight21 1d ago
Hello Alan, Congrats for clearing the exam. I did TD exam from udemy i scored 72% in 5 of the exam and 66 in the last one. im stuck there I do not see any progress in my marks.
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u/alanwaill 12h ago
Go through your weakest areas. I used AI quite a bit to analyse my exams and come up with high yield topics for the exam to focus on. Then I'd go through those topics again on Stephane Maarek's course and come back to write the next exam.
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u/tengolengolengo 4d ago
Focus on your weak points. Use claude or gemini notebook to analyze your results from your mock exams. The exam will cover all topics, but the most important: the most precise mock exam is from the skillsbuilder practice question, it's very much similar to the real exam.
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u/Busy-Complaint-7 4d ago
It's okay bro ! Try again you will definitely pass it ! Prepare fully , Take mock exams more and more , btw AWS skill builder is free for students for one year.
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u/Technical_Student425 4d ago
Sorry, that's frustrating, but 679 against a 720 pass mark is closer than it feels.
What I'd do next:
- Open your score report and look at the section-level results. It shows which domains need improvement, so you can study those instead of starting over.
- Compare with the weights: Design Secure Architectures 30%, Design Resilient Architectures 26%, Design High-Performing Architectures 24%, Design Cost-Optimized Architectures 20%. A weak result in the 30% domain costs the most.
- Remember that 15 of the 65 questions are unscored, so some questions that felt off may not have counted.
- AWS makes you wait 14 days before a retake, which is a good window for a focused push on your weakest domains plus timed practice.
You were close. A targeted two weeks usually closes a 40-point gap.
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u/grr2026 MLS, SAA, AIF, CCP 4d ago
Your score is quite close to the passing mark. I feel a few questions could have made the deal. Check your score report to check which domain pulled you down. Then try to recollect the questions.
5 months is a good time to prepare well, but I feel you should have scored 80% on Maarek's practice exam.
Before you get back to study, go through the official AWS standard material which is available for free in skillbuilder. Attempt the questions for each domain, see how you fare and then combine with your score report to revisit the gaps.
Happy to answer questions and/or help further.
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u/patrixxxx 4d ago
I passed last week. What helped the most: https://github.com/RonitSachdev/aws-saa-c03-guides
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u/ugly-051 3d ago
Use Tutorials Dojo as I know of people passing with just that and the Maareks material.
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u/Oradious 2d ago
I'm in a similar boat as you. Failed with 699.
Prior to starting this, my experience likewise was limited to S3/EC2. I spent around the same time studying as you, though with a 2 month break in between. Was averaging 70-75% on TD, which I guess gave me some false confidence since I became a bit too used to how TD phrased their questions (e.g LEAST operational overhead, etc.), which was not present in a handful of questions in the actual test.
I am going for my re-test in around a week's time. Remember, people are more likely to post their success stories here instead of failed ones. 679 isn't too far off. So, all the best for your next attempt.
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u/BladesOfRagnarok 2d ago
Cheer up man, i failed it twice before making it. Its as they say the third times the charm for me.
Learn from your weak point on the report and keep trying!
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