How to prepare well for AWS Data Analytics Speciality (DAS-C01) Certification?
Out of all 4 certifications, I have achieved so far Data Analytics — Speciality was the toughest AWS exam I have appeared for and my first Amazon Web Services (AWS) Speciality certification. It took me 4 months of nonstop preparation with consistent perseverance to learn Data Analytics but the result could not be more satisfying than passing this exam on my very first attempt.
Also, this was a blessing in disguise for me since I had received the exam voucher for being the AWS Community Builder in 2021. Once I achieved the certification, many people reached out to me asking for advice on passing the same exam. Well, in this blog post, I will share with you my experience plus a few techniques to prepare well. Having said that, let’s start!
Prior Requirement
AWS Certified Data Analytics — Specialty is intended for individuals with experience and expertise working with AWS services to design, build, secure, and maintain analytics solutions. Before you take this exam, we recommend you have:
- Five years of experience with common data analytics technologies
- Two years of hands-on experience and expertise working with AWS services to design, build, secure, and maintain analytics solutions
- Ability to define AWS data analytics services and understand how they integrate with each other
- Ability to explain how AWS data analytics services fit in the data lifecycle of collection, storage, processing, and visualization
Remember, this is a Speciality exam so you will be tested thoroughly in each and every aspect of Data Analytics. Having working experience would make you feel comfortable while preparing — to add on that, I had more than 5 years of working experience when I was preparing for this exam so it took 4 months.
Exam Format
- The AWS Certified Data Analytics — Specialty (DAS-C01) examination is a pass or fail the exam. You are given 180 minutes to complete the exam. It consists of around 65 questions.
- As always, there are two types of questions on the examination: multiple choice and multiple response questions.
- Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; there is no penalty for guessing
- Your examination may include unscored items that are placed on the test to gather statistical information. These items are not identified on the form and do not affect your score.
- Results for the examination are reported as a score from 100–1,000, with a minimum passing score of 750. The examination uses a compensatory scoring model, which means that you do not need to “pass” the individual sections, only the overall examination.
- Cost: 300 USD
Course Outline
This exam guide includes weightings, test domains, and objectives for the exam. It is not a comprehensive listing of the content on the exam. However, the additional context for each of the objectives is available to help guide your preparation for the exam. The following table lists the main content domains and their weightings. The table precedes the complete exam content outline, which includes the additional context. The percentage in each domain represents only scored content.
Tips & Tricks to prepare well:
1. Schedule the exam:
📆 Time Needed: 1 Day
- The first thing I always do while planning for any exam is to schedule it first. Hence, please schedule your exams first — Don’t worry you will always have an option to pre/postpone your exam.
- This works for me since I always get the agility to be focused on my goal in terms of learning every day.
- Keep the timeline as 4 months to prepare for the certification to start with — you can always reschedule but I would not recommend doing that.
https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-data-analytics-specialty/
2. Appear for the Associate Certification first:
📆 Time Needed: 4 Weeks
I highly recommend doing the Solutions Architect Associate first for these reasons:
- It is much simpler and more useful as a first approach to the AWS cloud world.
- Helps you familiarize yourself with the testing methodology and pace, as well as other services within the AWS stack, allowing you to really focus on the main Data Analytics technologies for this exam.
- You currently get 50% off on the next exam. So if you take the associate which is cheaper (150 USD) you get 50% of this one which is more expensive (300 USD).
3. Recommened Course:
📆 Time Needed: 6 Weeks
You need to have a high-level understanding of the topics and services that are part of this exam. In that way, you can evaluate if this challenge is interesting for you and, also, how far you are from getting certified. So, to warm up, I totally recommend you to check the following course which even I followed while preparing for the exam:
https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-data-analytics/
Also, you can enroll in the **free AWS Data Analytics training provided by AWS themselves:
4. Major AWS Services:
📆 Time Needed: 2 Weeks
Below are the major AWS services that require special attention while preparing for the certification:
Please follow the below document to understand what’s in scope and what our scope
5. AWS Documentation
📆 Time Needed: 2 Weeks
AWS Whitepapers:
A few free whitepapers are worth to read and develop knowledge:
- Amazon EMR Migration
- Big Data Options on AWS
- Streaming Data Solutions on AWS
- Big Data on Amazon EMR
- SQL Based Data Processing on Amazon ECS
AWS Sample Exam Questions:
Conclusion
Finally, I would like to tell you all nothing but the truth and that is this exam is tough. So again, having associate-level certification/knowledge will definitely help you to answer at least a few of the questions faster. Ensure you don't end up reading questions multiple times in that way you will run out of time and won't be able to answer all the questions. But if you follow the plan I shared above I am 95% sure that you will end up cracking this exam in your first attempt. Lastly, I can say, if I can do it or others can do it — then you can do it as well. You will just need focus and sheer determination.
Wish you all the best and would love to know your feedback about my write-up.
Thank you so much.
