AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate course
89 lessons in 4 modules, one per exam domain, about 41 hours of reading with a checkpoint at the end of every lesson, 6 timed practice tests with 401 questions. One purchase covers the lessons and the tests.
What does the SAA‑C03 course cover?
Every module is one of the 4 exam domains Amazon Web Services (AWS) publishes, in exam order, with the domain's share of the exam as its bar. Design Secure Architectures and Design Resilient Architectures carry the most at 30% and 26%. The exam runs 130 minutes for 65 questions (50 scored, 15 unscored). Open a module for its lessons; the practice tests close the course.
Learn to design secure access, workloads, and data protection strategies
30% of the exam
Secure Access to AWS Resources
IAM, federation, cross-account access, and identity management
- 1.1
IAM Fundamentals (Users, Groups, Roles, Policies)
IAM users represent individual identities · IAM groups simplify permissions management · IAM roles provide temporary credentials · IAM policies define permissions using JSON · Principal, Action, Resource, Effect, Condition
45 minHigh priority
- 1.2
IAM Best Practices & Least Privilege
Principle of least privilege · Use roles instead of long-term credentials · Enable MFA for privileged users · Rotate credentials regularly · Use IAM Access Analyzer
30 minHigh priority
- 1.3
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Virtual MFA devices (authenticator apps) · Hardware MFA devices · U2F security keys · MFA for root account is critical · MFA delete for S3
20 minCore topic
- 1.4
AWS Security Token Service (STS) & Temporary Credentials
AssumeRole for cross-account access · AssumeRoleWithSAML for federation · AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity for web apps · GetSessionToken for MFA-protected API calls · Temporary credentials expire automatically
30 minHigh priority
- 1.5
Cross-Account Access & Resource Sharing
Cross-account IAM roles · Resource-based policies · AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM) · Trust policies and trust relationships · External ID for third-party access
30 minHigh priority
- 1.6
AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO) & Control Tower
Centralized access management · Permission sets · Integration with external IdPs · Control Tower for multi-account governance · Landing zones and guardrails
30 minCore topic
- 1.7
Service Control Policies (SCPs) & Organizations
SCPs set permission boundaries · SCPs don't grant permissions · Organizational units (OUs) · Policy inheritance · Deny lists vs allow lists
30 minHigh priority
- 1.8
Directory Services & Federation (SAML, OIDC)
AWS Directory Service options · AD Connector vs Managed AD · SAML 2.0 federation · OIDC federation · Cognito for web/mobile apps
30 minCore topic
Secure Workloads and Applications
VPC security, network protection, and application security
- 1.9
VPC Security Architecture (Subnets, Public/Private)
Public subnets have route to IGW · Private subnets use NAT for outbound · Subnet CIDR planning · Multi-AZ subnet design · Default vs custom VPCs
45 minHigh priority
- 1.10
Security Groups & Network ACLs
Security groups are stateful · NACLs are stateless · Security groups at instance level · NACLs at subnet level · Rule evaluation order
30 minHigh priority
- 1.11
NAT Gateways & Bastion Hosts
NAT Gateway for outbound internet · NAT Gateway is highly available per AZ · Bastion hosts for SSH/RDP access · Session Manager as bastion alternative · NAT instance vs NAT Gateway
25 minCore topic
- 1.12
Network Segmentation Strategies
Tier-based segmentation · Environment isolation · Micro-segmentation · Transit Gateway for hub-and-spoke · PrivateLink for service access
20 minCore topic
- 1.13
AWS WAF & AWS Shield
WAF protects against web exploits · WAF rules and web ACLs · Shield Standard is free DDoS protection · Shield Advanced for enhanced protection · WAF integrates with CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway
30 minCore topic
- 1.14
AWS Secrets Manager & Parameter Store
Secrets Manager for rotating secrets · Automatic rotation for RDS credentials · Parameter Store for configuration · SecureString parameters use KMS · Cost differences between services
25 minHigh priority
- 1.15
VPC Endpoints (Gateway & Interface)
Gateway endpoints for S3 and DynamoDB · Interface endpoints use PrivateLink · Gateway endpoints are free · Interface endpoints have hourly cost · Endpoint policies for access control
30 minHigh priority
- 1.16
AWS Direct Connect & VPN Security
Direct Connect is private, dedicated connection · Site-to-Site VPN over internet · Direct Connect + VPN for encryption · Virtual private gateway · Transit Gateway for multiple VPCs
30 minCore topic
Data Security Controls
Encryption, key management, and data protection
- 1.17
Encryption at Rest (EBS, S3, RDS)
EBS encryption uses KMS · S3 SSE-S3, SSE-KMS, SSE-C options · RDS encryption at creation time · Snapshot encryption · Default encryption settings
30 minHigh priority
- 1.18
Encryption in Transit (TLS/SSL)
TLS for data in motion · HTTPS listeners on load balancers · SSL/TLS certificates from ACM · End-to-end encryption · Perfect Forward Secrecy
20 minCore topic
- 1.19
AWS KMS (Key Management Service)
Customer managed keys (CMKs) · AWS managed keys · Key policies and grants · Envelope encryption · Multi-region keys
35 minHigh priority
- 1.20
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
Free public certificates · Automatic renewal · Integration with ELB, CloudFront · Private CA for internal certs · Certificate validation methods
20 minCore topic
- 1.21
Key Rotation & Management
Automatic key rotation for KMS · Manual rotation strategies · Key deletion and recovery · Key aliases for abstraction · Cross-account key sharing
20 minCore topic
- 1.22
Data Classification & Compliance
Amazon Macie for sensitive data · AWS Config for compliance · Data residency requirements · Tagging for classification · Compliance programs (HIPAA, PCI)
20 minSupporting
- 1.23
Backup & Replication Security
AWS Backup for centralized backups · Cross-region backup copies · Backup vault lock (WORM) · S3 Object Lock · Snapshot sharing security
25 minCore topic
Learn to design scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems
26% of the exam
Scalable and Loosely Coupled Architectures
Decoupling, microservices, and event-driven patterns
- 2.1
Multi-Tier Architecture Patterns
Web tier, application tier, data tier · Stateless application design · Session management strategies · Load balancer placement · Database tier isolation
35 minHigh priority
- 2.2
Microservices Architecture
Service decomposition · API-first design · Service discovery · Container orchestration · Independent deployability
30 minCore topic
- 2.3
Event-Driven Architecture
Event producers and consumers · Event bus patterns · Eventual consistency · Event sourcing · CQRS pattern
30 minCore topic
- 2.4
Amazon SQS (Queues & Decoupling)
Standard vs FIFO queues · Visibility timeout · Dead letter queues · Long polling vs short polling · Message retention period
35 minHigh priority
- 2.5
Amazon SNS (Notifications & Fan-out)
Topics and subscriptions · Fan-out pattern with SQS · Message filtering · FIFO topics · Mobile push notifications
25 minHigh priority
- 2.6
Amazon EventBridge
Event buses · Event rules and patterns · Schema registry · Cross-account events · Archive and replay
25 minCore topic
- 2.7
AWS Step Functions (Orchestration)
State machines · Standard vs Express workflows · Task, Choice, Parallel states · Error handling and retries · Service integrations
25 minCore topic
- 2.8
API Gateway & Lambda Integration
REST vs HTTP APIs · Lambda proxy integration · API throttling and quotas · Caching responses · Custom authorizers
30 minHigh priority
- 2.9
Container Services (ECS, EKS, Fargate)
ECS vs EKS decision criteria · Fargate serverless containers · Task definitions · Service auto scaling · ECR for container images
40 minHigh priority
High Availability & Fault Tolerance
Multi-AZ, disaster recovery, and resilience patterns
- 2.10
Multi-AZ Deployments
AZ failure isolation · RDS Multi-AZ failover · ELB cross-zone load balancing · Auto Scaling across AZs · Synchronous vs asynchronous replication
30 minHigh priority
- 2.11
Multi-Region Architectures
Active-active vs active-passive · Global databases · Cross-region replication · Latency-based routing · Data sovereignty considerations
35 minHigh priority
- 2.12
Auto Scaling Groups & Policies
Launch templates · Target tracking scaling · Step scaling policies · Scheduled scaling · Predictive scaling
35 minHigh priority
- 2.13
Elastic Load Balancing (ALB, NLB, GWLB)
ALB for HTTP/HTTPS (Layer 7) · NLB for TCP/UDP (Layer 4) · GWLB for third-party appliances · Target groups and health checks · Sticky sessions
40 minHigh priority
- 2.14
Route 53 Health Checks & Failover
Health check types · Calculated health checks · Failover routing policy · Private hosted zones · Health check thresholds
30 minHigh priority
- 2.15
Route 53 Routing Policies
Simple, weighted, latency routing · Geolocation vs geoproximity · Multivalue answer routing · Alias records vs CNAME · Traffic flow
30 minHigh priority
- 2.16
S3 Cross-Region Replication
CRR vs SRR · Replication requirements · Replication time control (RTC) · Delete marker replication · Bi-directional replication
25 minCore topic
- 2.17
Disaster Recovery Strategies (RPO/RTO)
Backup and restore · Pilot light · Warm standby · Multi-site active-active · RPO and RTO definitions
35 minHigh priority
- 2.18
AWS Backup & Recovery
Centralized backup management · Backup plans and rules · Cross-region backup · Point-in-time recovery · Backup vault lock
25 minCore topic
Learn to optimize performance across storage, compute, database, and networking
24% of the exam
High-Performing Storage Solutions
S3, EBS, EFS, and FSx performance optimization
- 3.1
Amazon S3 Storage Classes & Performance
S3 Standard, IA, One Zone-IA · S3 Glacier classes · S3 Intelligent-Tiering · Performance optimization (prefixes) · Request rate limits
35 minHigh priority
- 3.2
S3 Transfer Acceleration & Multipart Upload
Transfer Acceleration uses CloudFront · Multipart upload for large files · Byte-range fetches · S3 Select for query optimization · Presigned URLs
25 minCore topic
- 3.3
Amazon EBS Volume Types & IOPS
gp3 vs gp2 · io2 Block Express · st1 and sc1 for throughput · IOPS vs throughput · EBS-optimized instances
35 minHigh priority
- 3.4
Amazon EFS Performance Modes
General Purpose vs Max I/O · Bursting vs Provisioned throughput · EFS Infrequent Access · Regional vs One Zone · Lifecycle management
25 minCore topic
- 3.5
Amazon FSx (Windows, Lustre, NetApp)
FSx for Windows (SMB) · FSx for Lustre (HPC) · FSx for NetApp ONTAP · FSx for OpenZFS · Integration with S3
30 minCore topic
- 3.6
AWS Storage Gateway
File Gateway · Volume Gateway (cached/stored) · Tape Gateway · Hybrid cloud storage · Use cases for each type
25 minCore topic
High-Performing Compute Solutions
EC2 optimization, Lambda, and Auto Scaling
- 3.7
EC2 Instance Types & Selection
Instance families (M, C, R, T, etc.) · Graviton processors · Instance store vs EBS · Network performance · Instance metadata
35 minHigh priority
- 3.8
EC2 Placement Groups
Cluster placement group · Spread placement group · Partition placement group · Use cases for each type · Limitations
20 minCore topic
- 3.9
AWS Lambda Performance Optimization
Memory and timeout settings · Cold starts and warm starts · Provisioned concurrency · Lambda layers · VPC configuration impact
30 minHigh priority
- 3.10
Auto Scaling Strategies & Triggers
Target tracking scaling · Step scaling · Scheduled scaling · Predictive scaling · Cooldown periods
30 minHigh priority
- 3.11
Elastic Beanstalk
Platform as a Service · Deployment policies · Environment types (web/worker) · Configuration files (.ebextensions) · Blue/green deployments
25 minSupporting
High-Performing Database Solutions
RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, and caching strategies
- 3.12
Amazon RDS & Multi-AZ
Supported database engines · Multi-AZ synchronous replication · Read replicas for read scaling · Storage auto scaling · Parameter groups
35 minHigh priority
- 3.13
Amazon Aurora & Read Replicas
Aurora storage architecture · Up to 15 read replicas · Aurora Serverless v2 · Aurora Global Database · Aurora cloning
35 minHigh priority
- 3.14
Amazon DynamoDB Performance
Partition key design · Sort key strategies · RCU and WCU calculations · On-demand vs provisioned · Hot partition mitigation
35 minHigh priority
- 3.15
DynamoDB DAX & Global Tables
DAX for microsecond latency · DAX cluster architecture · Global Tables for multi-region · Eventually consistent reads · Streams for replication
25 minHigh priority
- 3.16
Amazon ElastiCache (Redis, Memcached)
Redis vs Memcached · Caching strategies · Cluster mode enabled · Replication groups · Cache-aside pattern
30 minHigh priority
- 3.17
Database Indexing & Optimization
Global secondary indexes · Local secondary indexes · Query vs Scan operations · Connection pooling · Performance Insights
20 minCore topic
High-Performing Network Architectures
VPC connectivity, CDN, and global networking
- 3.18
VPC Peering & Transit Gateway
VPC peering limitations · Transit Gateway for hub-and-spoke · Transit Gateway route tables · Peering vs Transit Gateway decision · Inter-region peering
30 minHigh priority
- 3.19
Amazon CloudFront CDN
Edge locations and caching · Origin types (S3, ALB, custom) · Cache behaviors · Lambda@Edge · Signed URLs and cookies
35 minHigh priority
- 3.20
AWS Global Accelerator
Anycast IP addresses · AWS global network · Endpoint groups · Health checks and failover · CloudFront vs Global Accelerator
25 minCore topic
- 3.21
Load Balancer Selection & Configuration
ALB for HTTP/HTTPS · NLB for TCP/UDP performance · GWLB for appliances · Target group types · Cross-zone load balancing
30 minHigh priority
- 3.22
AWS Direct Connect
Dedicated vs hosted connections · Virtual interfaces (public/private) · Direct Connect Gateway · LAG for redundancy · MACsec encryption
25 minCore topic
Data Ingestion & Transformation
Streaming, ETL, and analytics services
- 3.23
Amazon Kinesis (Streams, Firehose)
Kinesis Data Streams · Kinesis Data Firehose · Kinesis Data Analytics · Shard management · Enhanced fan-out
30 minHigh priority
- 3.24
AWS DataSync & Transfer Family
DataSync for migration · Transfer Family protocols · Bandwidth throttling · Task scheduling · Data validation
25 minCore topic
- 3.25
AWS Snow Family
Snowcone for edge · Snowball Edge Storage/Compute · Snowmobile for exabytes · Data migration use cases · Edge computing capabilities
20 minSupporting
- 3.26
AWS Glue (ETL)
Glue Data Catalog · Glue crawlers · ETL jobs · Glue Studio · Schema discovery
25 minCore topic
- 3.27
Amazon Athena & Redshift
Athena serverless queries · Redshift data warehouse · Redshift Spectrum · Query optimization · Data formats (Parquet, ORC)
30 minCore topic
- 3.28
Data Lakes & Analytics
Lake Formation · S3 as data lake storage · Data catalog · QuickSight for visualization · Analytics architecture
25 minSupporting
Learn to optimize costs across storage, compute, database, and networking
20% of the exam
Cost-Optimized Storage
Storage tiering, lifecycle policies, and cost management
- 4.1
S3 Storage Class Selection
Cost comparison across classes · Access patterns analysis · Minimum storage duration · Retrieval costs · Storage class decision tree
25 minHigh priority
- 4.2
S3 Lifecycle Policies
Transition actions · Expiration actions · Filter by prefix/tags · Multipart upload cleanup · Versioning considerations
25 minHigh priority
- 4.3
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Automatic tier transitions · Access tier types · Monitoring fee · Archive access tiers · When to use vs lifecycle
20 minCore topic
- 4.4
Glacier & Archive Solutions
Glacier Instant Retrieval · Glacier Flexible Retrieval · Glacier Deep Archive · Retrieval options and costs · Vault lock for compliance
25 minCore topic
- 4.5
Data Transfer Cost Optimization
Data transfer pricing · Same-region vs cross-region · VPC endpoints savings · CloudFront for egress · PrivateLink costs
20 minCore topic
Cost-Optimized Compute
Pricing models, right-sizing, and serverless optimization
- 4.6
EC2 Pricing Models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot)
On-Demand for unpredictable · Reserved Instances commitment · Standard vs Convertible RI · Spot for fault-tolerant · Capacity Reservations
35 minHigh priority
- 4.7
Savings Plans
Compute Savings Plans · EC2 Instance Savings Plans · SageMaker Savings Plans · Flexibility vs discount · Savings Plans vs Reserved
25 minHigh priority
- 4.8
Right-Sizing Instances
CloudWatch metrics analysis · Compute Optimizer recommendations · Cost Explorer right-sizing · Instance type changes · Continuous optimization
25 minHigh priority
- 4.9
Spot Instances & Interruption Handling
Spot pricing model · Spot Fleet strategies · Interruption handling · Spot blocks (deprecated) · Capacity-optimized allocation
30 minHigh priority
- 4.10
Serverless Cost Optimization
Lambda pricing model · Memory vs duration tradeoff · Provisioned concurrency costs · Fargate vs EC2 comparison · API Gateway pricing
25 minCore topic
Cost-Optimized Databases
Database engine selection and serverless options
- 4.11
Database Engine Selection
RDS vs Aurora costs · Open source vs commercial · License included vs BYOL · Multi-AZ cost impact · Read replica costs
20 minCore topic
- 4.12
Aurora Serverless
Aurora Serverless v2 · ACU scaling · Cost comparison scenarios · Pause compute capability · When to use serverless
25 minCore topic
- 4.13
DynamoDB On-Demand vs Provisioned
On-demand pricing · Provisioned capacity · Auto scaling · Reserved capacity · Workload pattern analysis
25 minHigh priority
- 4.14
Reserved Capacity for Databases
RDS Reserved Instances · ElastiCache Reserved Nodes · DynamoDB Reserved Capacity · Term commitments · Payment options
20 minCore topic
- 4.15
Caching to Reduce Database Load
ElastiCache cost vs RDS savings · DAX for DynamoDB · Cache hit ratio optimization · TTL strategies · Read-through vs cache-aside
25 minCore topic
Cost-Optimized Networking
Network architecture and cost management tools
- 4.16
VPC Endpoint Cost Savings
Gateway endpoints are free · Interface endpoint pricing · Data transfer savings · When to use endpoints · Cost-benefit analysis
20 minCore topic
- 4.17
NAT Gateway Optimization
NAT Gateway pricing · Per-AZ vs shared NAT · NAT instance alternative · Reducing data processing · S3/DynamoDB endpoint savings
20 minCore topic
- 4.18
CloudFront for Data Transfer
CloudFront vs direct S3 · Regional edge caches · Price classes · Origin Shield · Compression benefits
25 minCore topic
- 4.19
AWS Cost Explorer & Budgets
Cost Explorer reports · Rightsizing recommendations · Reserved Instance coverage · AWS Budgets alerts · Cost allocation tags
25 minHigh priority
- 4.20
Trusted Advisor Recommendations
Cost optimization checks · Underutilized resources · Idle load balancers · Unassociated Elastic IPs · Business/Enterprise support
20 minCore topic
Each test mirrors the real exam: 130 minutes, 65 questions, all domains in proportion. Learning mode shows the explanation after each answer; exam mode runs the clock and scores at the end. The study plan below schedules them across the weeks.
- 1
Practice test 1
Advanced practice exam #1 with in-depth, challenging questions covering real-world AWS scenarios including serverless optimization, cost management, high availability patterns, and 2025 AWS feature updates.
65 questions · 130 min
- 2
Practice test 2
Comprehensive practice exam #2 covering advanced SAA-C03 topics including serverless architectures, database migration, global infrastructure, and security best practices.
65 questions · 130 min
- 3
Practice test 3
Focusing on security, compliance, and operational excellence scenarios.
76 questions · 130 min
- 4
Practice test 4
Practice exam covering all SAA-C03 exam domains including design resilient architectures, high-performing architectures, secure applications, and cost-optimized architectures.
65 questions · 130 min
- 5
Practice test 5
Comprehensive practice exam #5 with advanced scenarios covering 2025 AWS services including Neptune graph databases, Instance Scheduler, Kinesis Data Firehose, CloudFormation StackSets, and Amazon Macie for sensitive data discovery.
65 questions · 130 min
- 6
Practice test 6
Advanced practice exam #6 featuring 2025 AWS innovations including X-Ray adaptive sampling, DocumentDB Elastic Clusters, Lambda SnapStart, Cost Anomaly Detection ML enhancements, ECS Service Connect, CloudFormation StackSets deployment ordering, Route 53 ARC readiness checks, and EBS Snapshots Archive tier.
65 questions · 130 min
Try 15 free questions on the certificate page before you buy.
How long does it take to prepare with this course?
About 41 hours of lessons, 89 of them at roughly 28 minutes each. The modules run in exam order, so the heaviest domains come first. Pick a pace and the plan lays itself out.
- Week 1Design Secure Architectures10h 50m
- Week 2Review the domains you missedPractice test 1
- Week 3Design Resilient ArchitecturesPractice test 29h 20m
- Week 4Review the domains you missedPractice test 3
- Week 5Design High-Performing ArchitecturesPractice test 413h 15m
- Week 6Review the domains you missedPractice test 5
- Week 7Design Cost-Optimized ArchitecturesPractice test 6 · Schedule the exam once you clear 75% on a fresh test8h
Is it enough to pass?
The SAA-C03 isn't hard because of obscure AWS services - it's hard because questions present scenarios where 2-3 answers could work, and you must choose the BEST one based on subtle requirements.
Understanding WHY an answer is correct matters more than knowing THAT it's correct. This is what separates passing from failing. Those domains have their own modules here, with the same weight the exam gives them.
- 519
- 49
- 31
- 21
- 10
BRO WHERE YOU GO THESE QUESTIONS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
ILL BET EVERYTHING EVERY ECONOMIC I HAVE THAT IF YOU PASS THESE TESTS YOU WILL PASS THE EXAM
Verified purchase · May 2026
Strong technical coverage with good depth
Coverage of core services (EC2, S3, RDS, VPC, IAM, CloudFront) is excellent and these dominate the actual exam. The architectural reasoning skills developed here are what really helped me succeed. Scored 772. Timed mode is essential for building stamina. Would give 5 stars if there were more practice with multi-region failover scenarios since those tripped me up a bit on the real exam. Overall very solid resource.
Verified purchase · Nov 2025
Good
Question coverage is really good. Explanations help a lot too
Verified purchase · Jan 2026
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SAA-C03 course + practice tests
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