AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification (AWS CCP)

Having recently undertaken the exam (and passed) I would like to let others know what I think about the exam.

The first and foremost question on everyones mind

1. Is the exam hard?

YES! — I shall expand on this later.

I spent just under 2 weeks, investing alot of time daily learning the cloud practitioner course, my revision included using the online Amazon platform, a study guide, a cheatsheets guide and a general Q and A book (all purchased from Amazon)

The material is really good and you do learn so much. It is worth every moment invested in learning, believe it or not the learning from here can be carried over to Azure and Google Cloud platform. The basics are the same, just the names changes of the technologies / tools used.

This is where it gets abit confusing, every book you read ( and I had the 2023 versions) and even from Amazon own learning platform, the information given differs, for example: the book may have additional advanced stuff in there not covered on other learning platforms and vice versa.

So i made notes from each section and collated the notes to make it into “super notes” to cover as much ground as possible. The benefit of doing this you learn so much more and get much more confident, obviously the downside is it takes a little while longer.

2. The exam itself

Obviously cannot go into great detail. But I opted for the online exam via Pearson Vue, the price is around £95 ($120).

You do a system test couple of days before the exam ( or even before booking) in the day of the exam ensure you follow all the rules.

One of the biggest is the WHOLE desk must be clear of pens, papers, folders etc and out of reach, yes you read that right — the WHOLE desk not just the worktop.

Remainder is just the basic checks as per taking any exam online. ID checks, room checks, ensure phone out of the way etc.

There is a total of 65 questions — it is NOT easy. I went in thinking it will be a breeze ( and I studied alot for it too) but you quickly realise for something foundational, it is far from simple. So be prepared as best you can be with your knowledge for the cloud practitioner.

3. Do i recommend it

Oh yes I do. It helps you stand out in the crowd, and I believe it is especially important for cyber security students to undertake this exam to understand cloud in detail. It will pay dividends in the future, I guarantee it.

4. Where do you go from here

the CCP is just the start of the journey, if you visit Amazons site it will show you the paths you can take. See the image below.

image from Amazon website

5. Next steps for me

Given the time and opportunity I hope to create my own notes / tutorial videos on the cloud practitioner course.