AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam is a certification exam intended for individuals who would like to perform the role of Cloud Solutions Architect.

The exam validates the candidate’s ability to use architectural design principles based on customer requirements to define a solution, and provide implementation guidance based on best practices throughout the lifecycle of the project.

To prepare for this exam, you should be familiar with the Services outlined in the Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam, and also those more specific to the Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam.

Solutions Architect – Associate Exam

There are 5 Domains in the Solutions Architect – Associate Exam.

D1: Design Resilient Architectures (34%)

  • Choose reliable/resilient storage
  • Determine how to design decoupling mechanisms using AWS services
  • Determine how to design a multi-tier architecture solution
  • Determine how to design high availability and/or fault tolerant architectures

D2: Define Performant Architectures (24%)

  • Choose performant storage and databases
  • Apply caching to improve performance
  • Design solutions for elasticity and scalability

D3: Specify Secure Applications & Architectures (26%)

  • Determine how to secure application tiers
  • Determine how to secure data
  • Define the networking infrastructure for a single VPC application

D4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (10%)

  • Determine how to design cost-optimized storage
  • Determine how to design cost-optimized compute

D5: Define Operationally Excellent Architectures (6%)

  • Choose design features in solutions that enable operational excellence

Exam Resources

AWS

Online Courses

Practice Exams

Exam Overview

  • Cost: $150 (USD)
  • Length: 130 minutes
  • Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese

Candidate Overview

  • 1 year of hands-on experience designing available, cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems on AWS
  • Hands-on experience using compute, networking, storage, and database AWS services
  • Hands-on experience with AWS deployment and management services
  • Ability to identify and define technical requirements for an AWS-based application
  • Ability to identify which AWS services meet a given technical requirement
  • Knowledge of recommended best practices for building secure and reliable applications on the AWS platform
  • An understanding of the basic architectural principles of building on the AWS Cloud
  • An understanding of the AWS global infrastructure
  • An understanding of network technologies as they relate to AWS
  • An understanding of security features and tools that AWS provides and how they relate to traditional services

(Source: Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam)