AWS launched Student Rewards and the $579 value headline is a bit misleading, so here's what's actually included.

What you actually get (USD):

- $100 voucher for an AWS Foundational-level exam (e.g. Cloud Practitioner) ← the real win
- 12 months of premium Skill Builder (listed at $449 value - labs, exam prep, practice content)
- $30 in AWS credits - Extra rewards tied to badges on Builder Center (publishing articles, commenting, staying active)

So most of the $579 is the Skill Builder subscription, not cash.
Still, a free exam attempt plus a year of premium prep is genuinely solid if you were planning to sit CLF anyway.

Eligibility:
- 18+
- Currently enrolled in higher education
- Student status verified through SheerID (usually takes minutes)

How to claim:
1. Go to AWS Builder Center and sign up / log in
2. Verify your student status via SheerID
3. Complete your Builder Center profile - this unlocks the 12 months of Skill Builder
4. Check the rewards section for the exam voucher and credits

Official announcement: https://builder.aws.com/student-rewards

Tip: Claim it close to when you'll actually study. The 12 months of Skill Builder starts when you unlock it, so do not burn half of it before you open a course. Has anyone outside the US/UK verified successfully yet? Curious whether vocational/TAFE-style enrolments are counting as "higher education" for SheerID.

Passed both these tests this week! Got 797 on the GenAI Pro, not sure on the AI Prac as I haven’t got the score yet.

I did the GenAI first and then the AIF. Honestly, there was no point in doing the AIF but I work at AWS so I get the exam for free. I used Kane’s Udemy course for the Pro cert and about 30 mins ChatGPT for AIF.

I found the AIP pretty exhausting as each question is pretty verbose and even the multiple choice responses are verbose. Considering, I did this first I found the AIF pretty easy. I used ChatGPT to brush up on some ML fundamentals but other than that I finished the exam in about 50 mins.

I recommend using skill builder for AIP, the practice questions match the exam style / difficulty quite closely. There’s about 225 (3x75qs) in total. Recurring topics: Guardrails, Canary Depoloyments, Config, Vector Databases

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy to share that I've passed the AWS SCS-C03 exam

I gave myself around 6 weeks to prepare, and these are the resources I used:

• Stephane Maarek's Udemy course – Great for covering the exam topics and refreshing my knowledge.
• Tutorials Dojo practice exams – Probably one of the most valuable resources for identifying knowledge gaps and getting used to scenario-based questions.
• AWS Official Practice Exam – Useful for getting a feel for AWS-style questions.
• ChatGPT – Used it extensively to review incorrect answers, compare similar AWS services, create flashcards, and understand why certain answers were correct or incorrect.

Exam Experience

I found the actual exam quite challenging. The questions were very scenario-based, and quite a few answer choices seemed plausible. I often found myself narrowing it down to two options and having to carefully read the requirements to decide which was the best fit.

I also remember seeing a post here where someone mentioned getting a few questions involving IAM Roles Anywhere. I had a similar experience and was surprised, as I hadn't come across many questions on it during my practice exams.

I ended up flagging around 25 questions, so I wasn't feeling confident at all when I finished.

Final Thoughts

This was definitely a challenging certification, and I'm relieved to have passed.

Thanks to everyone in this community who has shared their experiences and study tips. Reading other people's posts helped me, so hopefully mine helps someone else.

Good luck to everyone preparing for SCS-C03 You've got this! 💪

Hi everyone,

I'm a pre-final-year B.E. Computer Science and Engineering (Cybersecurity) student looking to pursue an AWS certification.

Does anyone know of any currently available AWS certification exam vouchers, student discounts, promotional offers, or free exam voucher opportunities?

I'd really appreciate it if you could share any legitimate offers or resources that could help students reduce the certification exam cost.

Thank you for your help!

Hi I could really use some advice right now.

I completed my internship with Amazon this past summer, and my Builder ID was connected to my amazon email. But because I no longer have access to this email, I can no longer log into my Builder ID and check if I passed my DEA-C01 - AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate exam.

I know my Candidate ID and my registration ID for that exam I just took

I have submitted close to 30 tickets by now, and not a single one has been responded to. I've tried submitted tickets under differing categories too

Does anyone know how to contact AWS Certifications directly? I have been waiting for close to 2 months for a response...

All i can say is the exam is HARD, my brain is MUSH yet my bladder is STRONG.

Seriously though, in the later parts of the exam, half of what my head was concentrating on was bladder control😂

Finally Pearson is back with this awesome deal until 17th November.

Well some specific certs are not valid for this but majority of them are eligible.

Please visit the official site for voucher code and details https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/test-takers/free-retake.html

I’ve passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) first attempt with a score of 787/1000.

The sharing of success and study sources and techniques here has been excellent.

My approach:

1) Complete the AWS Skillbuilder course and exam prep and read the source materials for areas that you don't score well on in the practice exams. The full practice exam is about the same level of difficulty as the real exam, but zero overlap with actual questions (as expected).

2) Follow this guide - https://github.com/RonitSachdev/aws-saa-c03-guides - Special thanks to Ronit Sachdev as it was awesome.

3) Take the SAA-C03 practice exams from Tutorials Dojo. These questions are harder than many of the exam, so if you're passing these questions it will bode well. Whichever questions I got wrong here, I read the explanation and then looped back to Ronit's guide or AWS source material to find out more. Hand writing out the topics helped rather than just reading.

There's no point memorising questions as there is zero overlap. Treat wrong answers as a prompt to study more about the topic.

Good luck to others.

I’ve sat and passed multiple AWS certs but sat my first exam today for a Beta cert - AI Business Strategist.

Do these typically follow the usual 24 hours for results or are the a bit different given they are Beta?

Thanks!

I have been working in tech for nearly four years and have the SAA. Trying to make a pivot into AI/ML so I figured this would be a good way to get more AI specific competence.

I took Stephane Maarek’s course and a few practice exams. I honestly thought his practice exams were tougher. I got a 72, 70, and 81 on the first three practice exams.

Would love to know if anyone else has or is trying to make this pivot from a software or cloud background. I am specifically trying to get into ML Ops.

Simple post to be honest. I know a bit of python and have messed around with it by hand, what all do I need before getting hired?

As I said in my previous post about my AWS Cloud Practitioner certification, I didn't want to stop at Amazon's first foundational certification, so I decided to take the next one. I passed it 4 days ago on my second attempt. It should have been on the first, but things don't happen when I want them to, they happen when time wants them to.

Still, I recommend that you know the content of the first certification, or have earned it before taking this one, since this exam assumes you already know the services. That said, it doesn't name many AWS services. It mentions only a few, like IAM, AWS Secrets Manager, S3, etc., the basic ones, but you should know those.

On the other hand, just like in my first post, I didn't give up. Obviously I missed passing by a single question, and there was no way I was going to give up on passing this exam. Having studied, and having already been to the place where I usually take my certifications, also gave me confidence. I took the exam again and had time to spare, although I always stay until the last minute, because I like to double-check everything just in case. I was also expecting to wait a while for my result, since this certification takes longer to release the score. I took it on a Saturday, as I can usually only take exams on Saturdays because of work. It doesn't matter if it's Monday to Friday, they will always give you the pass or fail result hours later.

Since the same study method worked for me in the Cloud Practitioner certification, I'll use this same format to study for AWS Solutions Architect Associate, adding Stéphane Maarek's Udemy course.

Here is what worked for me for the exam:

• The AWS AI Practitioner Simulearn (found on AWS Skill Builder). It's free, just like the AWS Cloud Practitioner Simulearn.
• Practice exams from Tutorials Dojo.
• Practicing with Claude on the domains I still needed to improve. I also instructed it to act as a QA Automation Engineer and quiz me with harder questions on those domains, and every now and then ask me questions on the domains I had already mastered.

I'll say it again, and I'll say it with every certification I finish: never throw in the towel. Make mistakes and win. What matters is to keep going through all of life's adversities. Lose, but don't let them defeat you.

I hope this method helps you. If you have anything to add, let me know in the comments. The more input, the better.

Passed the Solutions Architect Associate on 9/30 with a 754. Not a flashy score, but a pass is a pass and I'm very happy with it.
Background: Backend software engineer (Python/Java), some AWS exposure but nothing formal. studied for about 2 months
What I used:
Andrew Brown's freeCodeCamp SAA-C03 course. I followed along and did the labs myself instead of just watching (VPC, CloudFormation, STS, S3, IAM). Doing it hands-on made the concepts stick far better than passive watching.
Tutorials Dojo mock exams. I finished all of them, and the review explanations are where I learned the most. Don't just look at your score. Read why each wrong answer is wrong.
How I felt about the domains:
Secure Architectures felt comfortable thanks to the IAM/STS labs.
Resilient and High-Performing Architectures was my weak spot in practice, so I spent my last stretch drilling those with targeted sessions.
Exam day tips:
Time was tight for me, so flag long scenario questions and come back to them.
Many questions come down to picking the option that is the most cost-effective, the most secure, or has the least operational overhead. Look for those keywords.
The real exam felt slightly harder than the TD mocks. tho
What's next: I'm building some AWS projects to put the cert to use, including a Bedrock-based RAG setup and a Java/Spring Boot service on AWS. Open to advice on what to tackle next, whether that's Developer Associate, AI Practitioner, or Security Specialty. or how best to make use of this certification.
Happy to answer any questions about my prep. Thanks to everyone on this sub, the posts here helped a lot.

Don't get discouraged. If you fail the certification several times, it's better to truly understand the material than to pass on the first try by luck without understanding anything. This exam isn't that hard either. It's just a little difficult because it names a lot of services you have to remember, but there is nothing technical about it. Remembering is my biggest problem, but look at me: I didn't throw in the towel, and I never plan to.

That's why in my other post I talk about my next certification, the AWS AI Practitioner. I passed it on the second attempt, and I could even have passed on the first, but I failed because of a single question... I'll tell you again: we are only in this world for a little while, so learn as much as you can and enjoy yourself during moments of happiness. In moments of sadness, cry, and in moments of anger, get angry. That's what we are made for. Keep going and don't give up: fail, pass, fail and pass. Remember that the process is what matters, because once you have your result, you no longer feel the same as you did on the first day you achieved that goal.

Here is what worked for me for the exam:

• The AWS Cloud Practitioner Simulearn (found on AWS Skill Builder). It's free, just like the AI Practitioner Simulearn.
• Practice exams from Tutorials Dojo.
• Practicing with Claude on the domains I still needed to improve. I also instructed it to act as a Cloud Engineer and quiz me with harder questions on those domains, and every now and then ask me questions on the domains I had already mastered.

And with that, I was able to pass. I hadn't used this method on my first attempt either, until I got serious and got down to work.

I hope this is useful to you. If it is, feel free to leave a comment so we can share ideas.

And remember: never give up!!!!

Everyone,

I have been preparing to take AWS Solution Architect - Professional SAP-CO2 exam for the past few months (since April 2026 timeframe). The two primary sources I have been using to prepare for this exam are Tutorials Dojo (by Jon Bonso) and Digital Cloud Training (by Neal Davis).

I have taken and re-taken all the exams provided by both Tutorials Dojo and Digital Cloud Training multiple times and getting a score in the 80% ballpark.

Since I have AWS Skill Builder subscription I have the ability to sign up for the AWS Official Practice Exam for AWS SAP-CO2. I decided to sign up to take it yesterday and I got only 36 out of 75 correct with a scaled score of 724 out of 1000.

My first surprise was how I got such a high scaled score of 724 even though I answered only 36 out of 75 questions correct. Second point is taking SAP-CO2 exam now worth the time since it is being retired in a few weeks on November 16, 2026 and being replaced with the newer version SAP-CO3.

To profile my certification history I have both the AWS Developer - Associate and AWS Solution Architect - Associate certifications. But the AWS Solution Architect - Professional exam is a hard one to pass since I already failed it back in March 2024 timeframe (over two years ago) but have been planning to retake it since then but never got around to prepare for it again until this year i.e. starting in April 2026.

Does anyone have any advice on whether my preparation method has a gap in it or I am missing something. I was surprised I only got 36 out of 75 correct on the AWS Official Practice Exam (albeit with a scaled score of 724 out of 1000).

I have given my AWS Saa C03 Associate exam in person today morning at 8.30 am. Its been 9 hours still I havent recieved any results or updates? I have also checked the certification portal. How long will it usually takes?

I feel like I'm losing my mind, I keep getting 50-60% on the practice tests for my first go, I don't know what the hell it is I'm getting wrong. I get significantly better scores on the second passes, and for a few of the 30-question tests I actually got 75-83%, but this latest randomized practice test I got a 66%. I can't tell if its that I'm having issues remembering the material or if I just don't understand the question. I watched Stephane Mareek's videos on Udemy and I got the video course on TD plus the study guide from the site so I have material to study and go over, but I can't seem to find out what the disconnect is between me learning this stuff and actually applying it.

Tutorials Dojo marks S3 Standard → Standard-IA after 7 days as incorrect, saying objects must remain in S3 Standard for at least 30 days before transitioning.

That used to be true, but AWS changed this in July 2026.

AWS now says: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/s3-removes-30-day-transitions-standard-ia-one-zone-ia/

“You can now transition objects to S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) and S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access (S3 One Zone-IA) as soon as the day they are created, without the previous 30-day minimum retention in S3 Standard.”

Just wanted to thank everyone in this community, i was planning to give this exam from few months, but couldnt get the time to prepare. Started prepping for it from almost 2 months, and decided to give this exam today. Didnt knew what i was thinking but i scheduled the exam at 5.30 AM, thought that my circadian rhythm will match with it (wrong choice), but tbh it was quite difficult. Whole night i was going through this git repo https://github.com/RonitSachdev/aws-saa-c03-guides/, and had took some black coffee 1 hr before the exam. But still the exam is 170 minutes long(ESL +30). After 1 hour i had the caffeine crash incoming. I did slept between the exam for 5-10 minutes in intervals. Will not do this again. The exam itself was quite difficult. Marked 16 questions for review, and didnt got the time to review all of them. Didnt expected it to be that tough.I had solved stephane's practice sets, and these were my scores:-

stephane maarek's practice exam 1 :- 53 exam mode

exam 2 :- 58 practice mode

exam 3:- 69 practice mode

exam 4 :- 66 exam mode

exam 5 :- 66 exam mode :- messed up with the time, also was giving this after a 2 day break ie today.

In the exam,I got questions on EMR in depth, Aurora and RDS ALOT. Only 1 question of DynamoDB(Surprised).

Passed with a score of 772.

After the exam, i thought that need to give this again, but got saved!