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How to Prepare for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam in 10 Days?

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How to Prepare for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam in 10 Days

The AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam is one of the most sought-after certifications for cloud professionals. It validates your ability to design distributed systems on AWS that are scalable, resilient, cost-effective, and secure. While the exam is not trivial, it’s absolutely possible to prepare for it in just 10 days if you have the right game plan and the discipline to follow through. This guide isn’t about shortcuts—it’s about smart preparation. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam (SAA-C03) is one of the most popular certifications for cloud professionals and for good reason. It validates your ability to design distributed systems on AWS, ensuring they’re cost-effective, scalable, secure, and highly available. It covers core AWS services like EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, VPC, IAM, and many more.

Who should take the exam?

This certification is ideal for:

  • Aspiring cloud architects who want to design robust AWS-based solutions.
  • Developers looking to transition into architecture or cloud infrastructure roles.
  • Sysadmins or IT pros who are moving from traditional infrastructure to cloud-based environments.
  • DevOps engineers who need to design automation and deployment pipelines with AWS services.

Whether you are aiming to land a cloud role or advance your current one, this certification can open doors to better-paying, more strategic IT positions.

But let’s be honest: preparing for this exam in just 10 days isn’t easy. The exam isn’t just a quiz on definitions—it tests how well you understand and can apply AWS concepts in real-world situations. You’ll face scenario-based questions that require logical reasoning and an in-depth understanding of how services interact. That said, it’s not impossible. If you’ve got some prior experience with AWS or general IT/cloud concepts, and you’re ready to commit focused time and energy, you can definitely prepare and pass within 10 days.

This guide isn’t for people looking to “cram and hope.” It’s for those who are ready to work hard, stay focused, and follow a structured path. Every day will count. You’ll be studying, practicing hands-on, reviewing concepts, and taking quizzes or mock exams. So if you’re ready to buckle down and treat this like a short-term boot camp, let’s get started.

AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam Overview

Before you dive into preparation, it’s important to understand the structure and scope of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam. Knowing the format, the kinds of questions you’ll encounter, and the domains you’ll be tested on will help you study smarter—not just harder.

Exam Format

  • Number of Questions: 65
  • Time Limit: 130 minutes
  • Question Types: Multiple Choice – Choose one correct answer from four options. and Multiple Response – Select two or more correct answers from five or more options.
  • Scenario-based questions test your ability to apply AWS concepts, not just recall them.

The questions aren’t just surface-level—they’re designed to test your understanding of how AWS services work together in practical scenarios. For example, you might be asked to choose the best solution for hosting a web app with high availability and security across multiple regions.

Core Domains Covered

The AWS exam blueprint divides the content into four domains, each representing a key area of architectural knowledge. Here’s how the weight is distributed:

Domain 1: Design Secure Architectures (30%)
Task Statement 1: Design secure access to AWS resources.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Task Statement 2: Design secure workloads and applications.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Task Statement 3: Determine appropriate data security controls.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Domain 2: Design Resilient Architectures (26%)
Task Statement 1: Design scalable and loosely coupled architectures.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

  • Designing event-driven, microservice, and/or multi-tier architectures based on requirements (AWS Documentation: Event-Driven Architecture)
  • Determining scaling strategies for components used in an architecture design
  • Determining the AWS services required to achieve loose coupling based on requirements (AWS Documentation: Loosely Coupled Scenarios)
  • Determining when to use containers (AWS Documentation: Determining task size)
  • Determining when to use serverless technologies and patterns
  • Recommending appropriate compute, storage, networking, and database technologies based on requirements
  • Using purpose-built AWS services for workloads (AWS Documentation: Database)
Task Statement 2: Design highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

  • Determining automation strategies to ensure infrastructure integrity (AWS Documentation: Protecting Compute)
  • Determining the AWS services required to provide a highly available and/or fault-tolerant architecture across AWS Regions or Availability Zones (AWS Documentation: Architecture guidelines and decisions)
  • Identifying metrics based on business requirements to deliver a highly available solution
  • Implementing designs to mitigate single points of failure (AWS Documentation: Withstand Component Failures)
  • Implementing strategies to ensure the durability and availability of data (for example, backups)
  • Selecting an appropriate DR strategy to meet business requirements (AWS Documentation: Plan for Disaster Recovery (DR))
  • Using AWS services that improve the reliability of legacy applications and applications not built for the cloud (for example, when application changes are not possible)
  • Using purpose-built AWS services for workloads (AWS Documentation: Database)
Domain 3: Design High-Performing Architectures (24%)
Task Statement 1: Determine high-performing and/or scalable storage solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • Hybrid storage solutions to meet business requirements (AWS Documentation: Hybrid Cloud Storage)
  • Storage services with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic File System [Amazon EFS], Amazon Elastic Block Store [Amazon EBS]) (AWS Documentation: Storage)
  • Storage types with associated characteristics (for example, object, file, block)

Skills in:

  • Determining storage services and configurations that meet performance demands (AWS Documentation: Storage Architecture Selection)
  • Determining storage services that can scale to accommodate future needs (AWS Documentation: Storage)
Task Statement 2: Design high-performing and elastic compute solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS compute services with appropriate use cases (for example, AWS Batch, Amazon EMR, Fargate) (AWS Documentation: AWS Batch on AWS Fargate, Compute Services)
  • Distributed computing concepts supported by AWS global infrastructure and edge services (AWS Documentation: Global infrastructure)
  • Queuing and messaging concepts (for example, publish/subscribe) (AWS Documentation: Pub/Sub Messaging)
  • Scalability capabilities with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling, AWS Auto Scaling) (AWS Documentation: Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling)
  • Serverless technologies and patterns (for example, Lambda, Fargate) (AWS Documentation: Serverless)
  • The orchestration of containers (for example, Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS) (AWS Documentation: Orchestrating the containers)

Skills in:

  • Decoupling workloads so that components can scale independently (AWS Documentation: Event-Driven Architecture)
  • Identifying metrics and conditions to perform scaling actions (AWS Documentation: Monitor CloudWatch metrics)
  • Selecting the appropriate compute options and features (for example, EC2 instance types) to meet business requirements (AWS Documentation: Amazon EC2 Instance Types)
  • Selecting the appropriate resource type and size (for example, the amount of Lambda memory) to meet business requirements
Task Statement 3: Determine high-performing database solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS global infrastructure (for example, Availability Zones, AWS Regions) (AWS Documentation: Global infrastructure)
  • Caching strategies and services (for example, Amazon ElastiCache) (AWS Documentation: Caching strategies)
  • Data access patterns (for example, read-intensive compared with write-intensive) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for Amazon RDS)
  • Database capacity planning (for example, capacity units, instance types, Provisioned IOPS)
  • Database connections and proxies (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon RDS Proxy)
  • Database engines with appropriate use cases (for example, heterogeneous migrations, homogeneous migrations) (AWS Documentation: Heterogeneous database migration)
  • Database replication (for example, read replicas) (AWS Documentation: Working with read replicas)
  • Database types and services (for example, serverless, relational compared with non-relational, in-memory) (AWS Documentation: Database)

Skills in:

  • Configuring read replicas to meet business requirements
  • Designing database architectures (AWS Documentation: Database Architecture Selection)
  • Determining an appropriate database engine (for example, MySQL compared with PostgreSQL) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for Amazon RDS)
  • Determining an appropriate database type (for example, Amazon Aurora, Amazon DynamoDB)
  • Integrating caching to meet business requirements
Task Statement 4: Determine high-performing and/or scalable network architectures.

Knowledge of:

  • Edge networking services with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon CloudFront, AWS Global Accelerator) (AWS Documentation: Edge networking with AWS)
  • How to design network architecture (for example, subnet tiers, routing, IP addressing) (AWS Documentation: VPC with public and private subnets (NAT))
  • Load balancing concepts (for example, Application Load Balancer) (AWS Documentation: Application Load Balancer)
  • Network connection options (for example, AWS VPN, Direct Connect, AWS PrivateLink) (AWS Documentation: AWS Direct Connect)

Skills in:

Task Statement 5: Determine high-performing data ingestion and transformation solutions.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%)
Task Statement 1: Design cost-optimized storage solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • Access options (for example, an S3 bucket with Requester Pays object storage) (AWS Documentation: Using Requester Pays buckets for storage transfers and usage)
  • AWS cost management service features (for example, cost allocation tags, multi-account billing) (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
  • AWS cost management tools with appropriate use cases (for example, AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report) (AWS Documentation: Analyzing your costs with AWS Cost Explorer)
  • AWS storage services with appropriate use cases (for example, Amazon FSx, Amazon EFS, Amazon S3, Amazon EBS) (AWS Documentation: Storage)
  • Backup strategies (AWS Documentation: AWS Backup)
  • Block storage options (for example, hard disk drive [HDD] volume types, solid state drive [SSD] volume types) (AWS Documentation: Amazon EBS volume types)
  • Data lifecycles (AWS Documentation: Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager)
  • Hybrid storage options (for example, DataSync, Transfer Family, Storage Gateway)
  • Storage access patterns
  • Storage tiering (for example, cold tiering for object storage) (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon S3 storage classes)
  • Storage types with associated characteristics (for example, object, file, block) (AWS Documentation: Storage)

Skills in:

Task Statement 2: Design cost-optimized compute solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS cost management service features (for example, cost allocation tags, multi-account billing) (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
  • AWS cost management tools with appropriate use cases (for example, Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report) (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Explorer)
  • AWS global infrastructure (for example, Availability Zones, AWS Regions) (AWS Documentation: Global infrastructure)
  • AWS purchasing options (for example, Spot Instances, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans) (AWS Documentation: Instance purchasing options)
  • Distributed compute strategies (for example, edge processing) (AWS Documentation: Amazon SageMaker Distributed Training Libraries)
  • Hybrid compute options (for example, AWS Outposts, AWS Snowball Edge) (AWS Documentation: Compute Services)
  • Instance types, families, and sizes (for example, memory optimized, compute optimized, virtualization) (AWS Documentation: Memory optimized instances)
  • Optimization of compute utilization (for example, containers, serverless computing, microservices)
  • Scaling strategies (for example, auto scaling, hibernation) (AWS Documentation: Warm pools for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling)

Skills in:

  • Determining an appropriate load balancing strategy (for example, Application Load Balancer [Layer 7] compared with Network Load Balancer [Layer 4] compared with Gateway Load Balancer) (AWS Documentation: Elastic Load Balancing FAQs)
  • Determining appropriate scaling methods and strategies for elastic workloads (for example, horizontal compared with vertical, EC2 hibernation) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for EC2 Spot)
  • Determining cost-effective AWS compute services with appropriate use cases (for example, Lambda, Amazon EC2, Fargate)
  • Determining the required availability for different classes of workloads (for example, production workloads, non-production workloads) (AWS Documentation: Workloads)
  • Selecting the appropriate instance family for a workload
  • Selecting the appropriate instance size for a workload (AWS Documentation: Tips for Right Sizing)
Task Statement 3: Design cost-optimized database solutions.

Knowledge of:

  • AWS cost management service features (for example, cost allocation tags, multi-account billing) (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
  • AWS cost management tools with appropriate use cases (for example, Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report) (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Explorer)
  • Caching strategies (AWS Documentation: Caching strategies)
  • Data retention policies
  • Database capacity planning (for example, capacity units) (AWS Documentation: Read/write capacity mode)
  • Database connections and proxies (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon RDS Proxy)
  • Database engines with appropriate use cases (for example, heterogeneous migrations, homogeneous migrations) (AWS Documentation: Heterogeneous database migration)
  • Database replication (for example, read replicas) (AWS Documentation: Working with read replicas)
  • Database types and services (for example, relational compared with non-relational, Aurora, DynamoDB) (AWS Documentation: Database)

Skills in:

  • Designing appropriate backup and retention policies (for example, snapshot frequency)
  • Determining an appropriate database engine (for example, MySQL compared with PostgreSQL) (AWS Documentation: Best practices for Amazon RDS)
  • Determining cost-effective AWS database services with appropriate use cases (for example, DynamoDB compared with Amazon RDS, serverless)
  • Determining cost-effective AWS database types (for example, time series format, columnar format) (AWS Documentation: AWS Cloud Databases)
  • Migrating database schemas and data to different locations and/or different database engines (AWS Documentation: Best practices for AWS Database Migration Service)
Task Statement 4: Design cost-optimized network architectures.

Knowledge of:

Skills in:

  • Configuring appropriate NAT gateway types for a network (for example, a single shared NAT gateway compared with NAT gateways for each Availability Zone) (AWS Documentation: NAT gateways)
  • Configuring appropriate network connections (for example, Direct Connect compared with VPN compared with internet) (AWS Documentation: AWS Direct Connect FAQs)
  • Configuring appropriate network routes to minimize network transfer costs (for example, Region to Region, Availability Zone to Availability Zone, private to public, Global Accelerator, VPC endpoints)
  • Determining strategic needs for content delivery networks (CDNs) and edge caching (AWS Documentation: Working with Content Delivery Networks (CDNs))
  • Reviewing existing workloads for network optimizations (AWS Documentation: Optimize over time)
  • Selecting an appropriate throttling strategy (AWS Documentation: Throttle API requests for better throughput)
  • Selecting the appropriate bandwidth allocation for a network device (for example, a single VPN compared with multiple VPNs, Direct Connect speed) (AWS Documentation: Site-to-Site VPN single and multiple connection)

Passing the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification will give you access to advanced-level certifications and enhance your skills. We suggest the preparation guide which will be helpful for you to crack certification exam.

AWS Solutions Architect Associate 10-Day Study Plan Overview

If you’re aiming to pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam in just 10 days, you’ll need a disciplined, high-impact strategy. This plan is designed for people who have some exposure to cloud concepts or tech infrastructure and are willing to dedicate focused hours each day.

High-Level Strategy

This isn’t a cram session—it’s an accelerated, structured learning path that emphasizes:

  • Daily learning goals focused on a specific domain or service.
  • Hands-on practice to reinforce theory with real-world experience.
  • Active recall and review, especially on days 8–10.
  • Frequent self-testing to measure progress and adjust focus.

Tools and Resources You’ll Need

To make the most of this study plan, have these tools ready:

  1. AWS Free Tier or Sandbox Account: Set up your own AWS account to experiment with EC2, VPCs, S3, Lambda, etc. The AWS Free Tier gives you enough access to run most of the practice tasks without cost.
  2. Practice Exams: Use platforms that offer 5 full length real-time practice test to evaluate your learning.
  3. Video Courses: Choose one or more trusted video series to guide you:
  • A Cloud Guru (Pluralsight) – Deep and polished
  • Stephane Maarek on Udemy – Popular, exam-focused
  • FreeCodeCamp or AWS on YouTube – Free, comprehensive
  1. AWS Whitepapers and FAQs: Some AWS whitepapers are pure gold for this exam. Especially:
  • AWS Well-Architected Framework
  • AWS Security Best Practices
  • Service FAQs (e.g., EC2 FAQ, S3 FAQ, etc.)
  1. Day-by-Day Breakdown: Let’s dive into what you’ll do each day:

Day 1: Understand the Exam Blueprint & Core AWS Services

  • Read the official AWS exam guide to understand the domains and weightage.
  • Get familiar with core AWS services: EC2, S3, IAM, VPC, Lambda, RDS
  • Watch an overview video or beginner tutorial on AWS services.
  • Set up your AWS Free Tier account and explore the console.

Day 2: EC2, Load Balancing & Auto Scaling

  • Learn EC2 instance families, pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot)
  • Hands-on: Launch an EC2 instance and connect via SSH
  • Set up an Application Load Balancer
  • Create an Auto Scaling Group with scaling policies
  • Understand when to use Elastic IPs, EBS volumes, and AMIs

Day 3: Storage Services – S3, EBS, EFS & Lifecycle Policies

  • Study S3 fundamentals: buckets, objects, encryption, permissions
  • Configure versioning, lifecycle policies, and bucket policies
  • Compare EBS vs EFS and understand use cases
  • Practice uploading, securing, and managing S3 objects

Day 4: VPC and Networking – Build a Secure Architecture

Deep dive into VPC components:

  • Subnets, Route Tables, Internet Gateways, NAT Gateways
  • Set up a VPC with public and private subnets
  • Learn and practice Security Groups vs NACLs
  • Understand CIDR blocks, IP addressing, and peering basics

Day 5: Databases and Serverless – RDS, DynamoDB, Lambda

  • Compare database types: RDS (MySQL, PostgreSQL), Aurora, DynamoDB
  • Create an RDS instance and explore backup, multi-AZ, and snapshots
  • Practice creating a Lambda function with basic triggers
  • Learn how Lambda fits into serverless architecture

Day 6: Identity & Security – IAM, KMS, Organizations

  • Explore IAM concepts: users, roles, policies, and best practices
  • Try IAM roles with EC2 and S3 access
  • Understand MFA, Access Analyzer, and KMS encryption
  • Review the Shared Responsibility Model (critical for exam)

Day 7: Cost Optimization & Well-Architected Framework

Study AWS pricing tools:

  • AWS Pricing Calculator, Cost Explorer, Budgets
  • Learn cost-saving methods: Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot Instances
  • Read and summarize the Well-Architected Framework pillars
  • Think about trade-offs in performance, security, and cost

Day 8: Practice Exam #1 + Review

  • Take a full-length practice exam
  • Carefully analyze every wrong answer—this reveals gaps
  • Use score reports to identify topics needing review
  • Create a checklist of weak spots

Day 9: Revisit Weak Areas + Hands-on Labs

  • Go back to your problem topics (e.g., VPC, IAM, S3 policies)
  • Reinforce knowledge with hands-on practice
  • Watch targeted videos or re-read FAQs to clarify doubts
  • Summarize learnings in a cheat sheet or flashcards

Day 10: Practice Exam #2 + Final Review

  • Take your full-length practice exam
  • Review any incorrect answers, but don’t panic
  • Go over your summary sheets, notes, or flashcards
  • Sleep well and relax—don’t study late into the night

AWS Solutions Architect Associate Preparation Guide

If you’re aiming to earn the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate credential but only have 10 days to prepare, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Many professionals find themselves juggling work, deadlines, and certification goals all at once. While the exam is challenging, it’s absolutely possible to pass with the right focus, resources, and a structured approach. This isn’t about cramming or shortcuts—it’s about strategic, hands-on learning that builds both knowledge and confidence. So, if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and commit to an intensive, high-impact plan, this 10-day AWS exam guide is for you. Let’s get started.

Step 1- Make a Blueprint

Before starting to study for the exam do some research on AWS concepts and its exams pattern with optics. Then make a topic wise chart mentioning the weakest and the strongest area.

Step 2 – Understands the concepts

  • This is the important part for passing the certification,
  • You need to visualize and understand the concepts instead of cramming it.
  • Try to get practical knowledge on the topics to get more information about it.

Step 3 – Reference Books

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Books are a great way to diversify your study guide. Some of these books you must refer to are:

  • Fisrtly, AWS Certified Solutions Architect – The Definitive Study Guide by Zeal Vora
  • Secondly, Serverless Architectures on AWS by Peter
  • Thirdly, AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Complete Study Guide: 100+ Exam Practice Questions by IP Specialist

Step 4 – AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Training

There are many free training that is provided by AWS for Solutions Architect Professional exam athttps://aws.amazon.com/training/. These trainings required registration and are available at zero cost. AWS also gives access to variousLearning librariesto get to know more about the AWS services. It also includes AWS APN partner which helps you to accelerate your business on AWS.

“Get updated AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional tutorial by experts with the latest information about AWS Service”

Step 5 – Evaluate your skills

  • Practicing on a daily basis will help you learn and understand the concepts more easily.
  • The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate practice test will help you know about you weak areas and then you can give time to make that part strong.
  • After completing one topic, give it a revision and try to assess yourself on that topic.
  • Boost your confidence with a Aws Certified Solutions Architect Associate free practice tests!
Start Preparing for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam Now!

Step 6 – Be punctual

Make a schedule for studying and practicing questions. This will help you cover the topics quickly with giving time for practice. 

Step 7 – Give the exam

After completion of the syllabus, take the mock test and try to practice as many times as possible. Practice, understand and give the exam. All the best for the final exam. Happy Learning!

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