I just renewed my AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam over the weekend, and the exam was a lot more difficult than I remember. The AWS CCP exam is classified as one of the “Apprentice” level tests, and is seen as one of the easier exams in the ecosystem of AWS Cloud exams. It’s true the difficulty level of the Cloud Practitioner pales in comparison to the Solutions Architect Associate, but I felt like they really raised the bar between the time I took it in 2020 and retaking it in 2023.

This could just be me misremembering the exam in 2020, but it seemed like you had to know more about how to apply the technologies than before. The core domains of the exam really come down to knowing the different AWS support plans (Basic, Developer, Business, Enterprise), understanding billing and cost saving strategies, architectural best practices, and AWS technologies/ services. In general, I think the first three domains were mostly the same, but I was surprised by the questions in the technology section. When I took the exam in 2020 I remember the majority of the technology section as just being able to pick the right technology to fit the use case at a high level. This time the questions were tricky, and more in depth about how to apply the technology to the scenario. I felt like the studying I’m doing for the Solutions Architect Associate actually came in handy, because it goes into a greater level of detail on the services and their applications. When I reviewed my notes from the last time I took the exam, it looks like the technologies were all touched on pretty lightly.

Not only that, but I forgot how uncomfortable testing centers are, and how much stress they add to the whole experience. I completely forgot about this, and I felt kind of unprepared for it. Cameras are everywhere, they take all your things, the room is hot and quiet, the computers are ancient, the desk partitions are really short, so you’re trying not to look at your neighbor. There is an option to take the exams online, but that comes with its own security procedures, and you run the risk of failing the exam if your internet glitches in the middle of the exam. Anyway, this is something I want to keep at the front of my mind when taking the next exam.