Prerequisites
- Basic AWS knowledge (equivalent to Cloud Practitioner level)
- Hands-on experience with core AWS services
- 4–6 hours of study time per day
Study Schedule
Day 1IAM, Organizations & Security Fundamentals
- Review IAM users, groups, roles, and policies
- Study AWS Organizations, SCPs, and multi-account strategies
- Learn KMS encryption, key rotation, and envelope encryption
- Take a 20-question Domain 1 quiz
Day 2Networking — VPC, Route 53, CloudFront
- Master VPC subnets, route tables, IGW, NAT Gateway
- Study Security Groups vs NACLs in depth
- Learn VPC peering, Transit Gateway, VPC Endpoints
- Review Route 53 routing policies and CloudFront caching
- Take a 20-question networking quiz
Day 3Compute — EC2, Lambda, ECS, Auto Scaling
- Review EC2 instance types, pricing, placement groups
- Study Lambda concurrency, triggers, and layers
- Learn ECS/EKS basics, Fargate vs EC2 launch type
- Master Auto Scaling policies and ELB types
- Take a 20-question compute quiz
Day 4Storage — S3, EBS, EFS, FSx
- Deep-dive S3 storage classes, lifecycle, replication
- Compare EBS volume types (gp3, io2, st1, sc1)
- Study EFS performance/throughput modes
- Learn Storage Gateway types and FSx options
- Take a 20-question storage quiz
Day 5Databases — RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache
- Study RDS Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas
- Master Aurora features (Serverless, Global, Auto Scaling)
- Learn DynamoDB partition keys, GSIs, DAX
- Compare ElastiCache Redis vs Memcached
- Take a 20-question database quiz
Day 6Application Integration & Cost Optimization
- Review SQS, SNS, EventBridge, Step Functions
- Study Kinesis Data Streams vs Firehose
- Master cost optimization: Savings Plans, Spot, lifecycle policies
- Take a full 65-question practice exam (timed)
Day 7Review & Final Practice Exam
- Review all weak areas from practice exam results
- Re-read cheat sheets for all major services
- Take a second full 65-question practice exam
- Review explanations for all incorrect answers
- Get a good night's sleep before exam day!
Study Tips
Focus on understanding WHY an answer is correct, not just memorizing.
Pay special attention to questions about S3, VPC, IAM, and RDS — they appear frequently.
Know the difference between High Availability and Fault Tolerance.
Time management on exam day: ~2 min per question, flag and return.
Ready to Practice?
Put your study plan into action with SAA-C03 practice questions.