How to Prepare for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam (DVA-CO2)

With the AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) certification, you demonstrate you have the necessary skills to build, deploy, and maintain AWS applications. That can help you gain access to better job opportunities and advance your career, but even if you are perfectly happy where you are, the DVA-CO2, helps to ensure you are up-to-date on the evolving AWS platform. 

This article will share the best ways to prepare for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) exam. We will cover all preparation aspects, including understanding the exam structure and format, utilizing the AWS study materials, and more.

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam: Structure and Format

Over 130 minutes, you will complete 65 questions that provide multiple-response or multiple-choice answers. The exam can be taken online in an online proctored context or at an accredited Pearson VUE testing center. 

The AWS Associate Developer Certification is typically offered in several languages to accommodate a wide variety of test takers. You can take the DVA-C02 in English, French (from France), Japanese, Italian, Portuguese (from Brazil), Simplified Chinese, German, Korean, and Spanish (from Latin America).

Test takers are not required to have any specific training before taking the exam, but it never hurts to prepare to ensure the best possible outcome. 

Who Should Take the AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam?

The AWS Certified Developer-Associate Exam is the best way for individuals to start out on the path to attaining full AWS Certification. Individuals who have experience with AWS technology or who have worked with other similar cloud services are good candidates for this exam. 

Individuals who understand how to map on-premises to cloud platforms and have extensive experience with on-premises IT, including resolving transmission control protocol issues and bolstering cybersecurity protocols, should also consider taking the exam.  And finally, any individual who has a history of working in the role of developer, and who has a deep knowledge of one or more sophisticated, advanced-level programming languages, such as Javascript, Python, or C, is a good candidate, 

How to Use AWS Study Materials

AWS prep study courses can offer video lectures and guides, practical demonstrations, and interactive lesson plans to help you get ready for the exam, along with quiz questions to check your knowledge and progress as you go along. 

To make the best use of these materials, set aside a sufficient amount of time to follow your entire prep course from beginning to end. Complete all assignments and knowledge check questions to ensure you thoroughly understand the material before you move on to the next section. 

What Should You Learn in Your AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam Training Course?

You should come away from your AWS training course having attained basic knowledge and understanding of multiple specific learning objectives. You will learn and be able to implement and work with AWS computing, AWS networking, AWS storage, and AWS databases. 

You should have a sufficient general understanding of AWS and how it works. And by the end of your training course, you should be able to monitor, scale, and load balance AWS services for solution optimization. 

Ideal Learning Outcomes of an AWS Course Preparation Training

You should come away with a strong foundation in several specific AWS topics, including the ability to:

• Articulate the terms and ideas that relate to AWS services

• Navigate the AWS Management Console 

• Describe essential concepts of AWS security concerns, as well as AWS Identity and Access Management 

• Discuss AWS storage offerings and AWS database options, including Amazon RDS (Amazon Relational Database Service), Amazon S3 (Amazon Simple Storage Service), and Amazon DynamoDB

• Explore AWS networking services

• Access and configure the monitoring functions of Amazon CloudWatch

• Distinguish between distinct AWS container services, such as Amazon EKS (or: Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services), and Amazon ECS (or: Amazon Elastic Container Service)

• Distinguish between different AWS compute services, such as AWS Lambda and Amazon EC2 (or: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud) 

Planning for Your AWS Developer Certification  

Ensure that you understand basic AWS concepts, preferably through hands-on experience. Leverage preparation materials that will help you succeed in the exam and afterward. For example, sign up for a training course, take practice exams, and review sample questions to get comfortable with the multiple-choice and multiple-response formats of the actual exam. And practice working with AWS platforms every day so that you can develop and hone your AWS skills.

Finally, practice on a daily basis. Chart your progress by taking sample sections of the final exam. The more frequently you practice, the more your skills will deepen and the easier and more natural your abilities will become.

Final Thoughts

The best way to prepare for the AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam is to give yourself abundant time and commit to studying and practicing consistently. The more you read, practice, try, and learn from your mistakes, the more thorough your working knowledge and understanding of AWS services will be. 

CBT Nuggets trainer Knox Hutchinson's AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) online training course has just been released, which covers developing, testing, deploying, and debugging AWS cloud-based applications. Take it now to prepare for this must-get certification.

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