AWS Cloud Practitioner in 30 Days: How I Did It

I passed AWS Cloud Practitioner in 30 days while working full-time. Here's exactly how I structured my preparation.

Schedule the Exam First

I booked my exam date before I started studying. Having $150 on the line and a fixed deadline forced me to actually study instead of endlessly "preparing to prepare."

30 days felt aggressive but achievable. Too much time leads to procrastination. Too little leads to cramming.

My Study Schedule

Weekdays: 1-2 hours in the evening Weekends: 3-4 hours split across the day

I blocked study time on my calendar like meetings. If it's not scheduled, it doesn't happen.

What I Used

The official exam guide. AWS tells you exactly what they'll test. I downloaded this first and used it as my checklist. No point studying services that aren't on the exam.

Video course. I used Stephane Maarek's course on Udemy. Any well-reviewed course works - the key is following a structured path rather than jumping around random YouTube videos.

Practice exams. Tutorial Dojo practice tests closely match the real exam format. I took at least 5 full practice exams in the final week.

Hands-on time. I created a free tier AWS account and actually built things. Reading about S3 is different from creating a bucket and configuring permissions.

Weekly Breakdown

Week 1: Core concepts - what is cloud, AWS global infrastructure, shared responsibility model, pricing basics

Week 2: Compute and storage - EC2, Lambda, S3, EBS. These come up constantly.

Week 3: Networking and databases - VPC basics, RDS, DynamoDB. Security services - IAM, CloudTrail, CloudWatch.

Week 4: Review weak areas, practice exams daily, light studying day before

What Actually Helped

Practice exams with explanations. Wrong answers teach more than right ones. I reviewed every explanation, not just the ones I got wrong.

Hands-on labs. Even simple things - launch an EC2 instance, create an S3 bucket, set up an IAM user. The exam asks scenario questions that make more sense if you've actually used the services.

Understanding the "why." The exam tests whether you understand when to use which service, not just what each service does.

What Didn't Help

Memorizing service names. AWS has hundreds of services. The exam covers maybe 50. Focus on the exam guide list.

Marathon study sessions. 4-hour sessions led to burnout. 90 minutes was my sweet spot.

Watching videos at 1x speed. 1.5x or 1.75x for review material. Slow down for complex topics.

Exam Day

I scored 820/1000. The exam felt easier than the practice tests, which was a relief.

Tips:

• Read questions carefully. They often include hints.
• Flag uncertain questions and come back.
• I finished with 20 minutes to spare.

Verify my certification on Credly

Key Takeaways

• Book the exam date first - deadlines create accountability
• Use the official exam guide as your study checklist
• Practice exams are essential - take at least 5 full-length tests
• Hands-on time in AWS Free Tier makes scenario questions easier
• 1-2 hours daily beats weekend cramming
• Review wrong answers carefully - they're where learning happens