Recently, I took the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam ,Unfortunately  as I had a very Limited knowledge/experience about the cloud, I failed the exam and yet still am motivated to learn my way around the cloud and pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

In this article, I would like to share  my experience and how failing the exam is not the end of the world and to come back  with being more prepared and motivated.

The Journey to the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam…

As a recent graduate , I joined Alpha Genesis Labs as an Intern Trainee and with limited cloud knowledge and experience began my journey of learning about the cloud and Finishing up the First task of of completing the AWS Partner Accreditation (Technical). As weeks went by I took the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials Digital Training Course and after 6hrs of training I was able finished the Course.

The next step was to take the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam and to apply my knowledge which I gained From the Digital Training Course.

What’s the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner ?The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification is the introductory tier of AWS’s numerous certs. It offers a nice introduction to a wide range of AWS services, including many of its most integral services such as EC2 and S3.

Therefore the exam provides solid foundation about AWS and further studies of AWS for the people who are new to the cloud.

The Preparation and Days Leading up to the Exam 

It had been a few weeks since I started as an Intern Trainee at Alpha Genesis Labs and had gather  some basic knowledge about what the cloud is and how it works. The AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials Digital Training Course gave me quite a foundational knowledge of AWS and therefore made me confident about taking the Exam.

As I prepared for the exam , I looked at the training course back and forth everyday , looked up videos regarding on the exam and looked at the AWS Overview White paper . As the day got nearer for the a sense of nervousness got me But a senior Cloud Engineer at Alpha Genesis Labs guided me through the exam format and topics  and told me his experience of taking the exam, which helped me remain calm and confidently take the Exam. The Duration of the preparation could be said as almost to 2 weeks.

The Day of the Exam

I took the exam remotely at home and it was the first time giving an online exam while having a proctor invigilating me. The Process of showing my room to the proctor so that he can clear me of not using any unfair means to cheat in the exam was a long one which brought the nervousness out of me. As the test began I had 90 min to complete it, at first the questions were easy and direct but halfway through the exam I got caught a little off guard as some topics which weren’t mentioned in the Digital Training Course came but were mentioned on the whitepaper, as I mainly relied on the digital training it backfired and caught me off guard.

while being confused and nervous I was able to finish the exam .

The Result

As the result was shown my confidence went low as it stated that I failed the exam which I was confident about a week ago.

While analyzing my result , I noticed that I had a score of 680 out of the 700 required for passing. As a recent graduate with limited AWS Cloud knowledge and only a few weeks for preparation failing only by 20 marks was seen as a success to me and made me want to take the exam with full confidence.

The Lessons I Learnt

Even though I failed the exam, it made me realize my potential to take on new challenges and that if a person like me with no cloud knowledge was off by just a few score then I could perform more better at the next exam and in the Journey of being introduced to the Cloud. I also learn my mistake of not going through the white paper thoroughly. As the saying goes “you learn from your mistakes” is truly applicable in this scenario.

Failing the Exam is not the end of the world and to all those who are aspiring of taking their step into the Cloud Industry, I say that anything is possible if you put your mind to it  and don’t get intimidated by the Cloud Industry. 

What is next?

I will be giving the exam again with proper preparation and confidence and will not repeat the same mistakes I made…