Resource Review: A Cloud Guru Exam Simulator

Cloud certifications are a popular way to advance your career, but the tests are intimidating. The recommended literature is long and hard to follow and the prep courses are helpful, but they don’t always leave you feeling fully prepared. The tests are expensive and time-consuming, so you want to be sure that you are prepared. When preparing for an exam I often feel like I haven’t learned enough to sit the exam, so I find myself relearning basic things out of test anxiety. Rather than wallowing in my test anxiety I usually turn to practice tests to inform my test prep decisions. One of my favorite practice tests is the A Cloud Guru Exam Simulator. A Cloud Guru is among the leading names in the cloud education. They provide courses on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and cloud adjacent services. The Cloud Guru Exam Simulator is an amazing part of their learning platform. This simulator allows users to practice taking various certification exams. This simulator was a key tool for me as I prepared for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam.

Time

Timing is a crucial part of any exam. Most certification exams require you to finish the test in a certain amount of time. Taking practice tests on pencil and paper is helpful, but unless you time yourself you won’t feel the stress of the exam. The Exam Simulator is built with the time element in mind. Each test has a timer that is roughly equivalent to time limit on the test. By practicing on the exam simulator I became comfortable with the time restrictions of the exam. I realized that if I focused and read carefully I would have plenty of time for each question. In fact, I started to plan a strategy for the extra time at the end. I planned on marking questions for review and going back, knowing that I’d have the time to check. Using the exam simulator gave me a feel for the pace of the exam, so I was better prepared on test day.

Test Layout

A Cloud Guru has hired a team of writers to produce questions for their exams. Additionally, the course creators for the company carefully study each exam to learn the basic layout of an exam question. When you launch the exam simulator, you’re provided with a random set of questions. These questions match the layout of the exam. Meaning that if half of the questions are about security, then you’ll receive 50% security questions. You’ll also receive a good mix of scenario questions and fact-based questions. Getting used to answering scenario questions is crucial, and the fact-based questions ensure that you have a solid knowledge base. A Cloud Guru is consistently checking for changes to the tests, so you’re getting a close approximation of the exam.

Feedback

Getting the right feedback is critical for professional growth and proper test preparation. When you’re learning about cloud technology, you want to learn your weak spots and focus in on them. The exam simulator provides users with an incredible amount of feedback. When you finish your practice exam, you’ll be given a score and an estimate as to whether you would have passed on this attempt. The simulator then breaks down how you performed on each of the exam categories. Finally, you can go through each question for further review. Reviewing the questions can help fill knowledge gaps and improve your skills. The feedback gained from completing the exam simulator is invaluable for test preparation and knowledge growth.

Question Pool

The simulator is a great resource, but one small drawback is the question pool. A Cloud Guru has put a lot of effort into writing tons of questions for their exams, but there is a lot of overlap between the AWS associate level exams. If you try to take all of the associate exams, you will definitely see questions multiple times. In some cases you’ll see a question for a second time by just simulating an exam twice. Several of these questions are basic fact-based questions, which you’ll probably see on your certification exam as well. Memorizing the answers to fact-based questions is probably a good strategy. Occasionally, you will see scenario-based questions for a second or third time. At some point you will memorize the proper answer to these scenarios, and it will cease to be actual practice. To properly prepare yourself for the exam, I recommend taking practice exams from several other sources to ensure you get a wide diversity of exam questions.

Question Wording

The Cloud Guru team regularly takes certification exams, but these exams are constantly evolving. The exam simulator questions are worded a little differently from the questions you’ll see on the exam. AWS likes to switch around their wording, and thus on one question you might be asked about an S3 bucket, while on the next question you’ll see a reference to Simple Storage Service. A Cloud Guru is more consistent in their naming conventions. The consistency of A Cloud Guru’s wording can become a weakness if you let it lull you into a false sense of security. You should be prepared for all AWS naming conventions for the test. Like I mentioned earlier, looking at multiple sources for practice questions will make your more comfortable when exam time comes.

Final thoughts

The Exam Simulator is an incredible resource for aspiring cloud professionals. Having access to the timed simulation and getting feedback when you finish is amazing. I highly recommend adding the Exam Simulator to your library of study materials.