AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02) — Exam Survival Guide

Window: Senior-level cloud architect exam; 75 scenario questions, 180 minutes, multiple-choice/multiple-response.

Must-do topics

AWS frames this around designing and operating complex architectures:

Multi-account, multi-VPC architectures

AWS Organizations, SCPs, Control Tower, Landing Zones.

Networking and hybrid

VPC design, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, VPN, Route 53, PrivateLink.

Resilience, DR, and cost-aware design

Multi-AZ vs multi-Region, RTO/RPO decisions, backup/restore vs pilot light vs active-active.

Data layer

RDS/Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, S3 performance classes, caching with ElastiCache.

Security & identity

IAM permissions boundaries, roles, KMS, CloudTrail, GuardDuty, security patterns.

Migration & modernisation

Rehost/Refactor/Replatform choices, blue/green, CI/CD, containers/serverless (ECS/EKS/Lambda).

Top traps (avoid)

Answering like an Associate-level exam (single-account, small designs) instead of enterprise patterns.

Over-optimising cost while breaking availability or compliance requirements.

Ignoring operational overhead (undermanaged fleets, DIY solutions when AWS service exists).

Time split

75 Q / 180 min ≈ 2.4 minutes per question.

Target: first pass in ~140–150 minutes, leaving ~30–40 minutes to revisit the monsters.

Last-48h checklist

One full-length mock (or two 40-Q blocks) under strict timing.

Re-skim:

Well-Architected Framework basics;

Key service limits and high-level patterns (multi-account, DR, data migration).

Make a one-pager: “if question mentions X constraint, prefer Y service/pattern”.

Speed tactics

Read the last line first (“most cost-effective”, “most resilient”, “simplest to operate”), then filter options by that.

Kill answers that:

Ignore stated compliance or RTO/RPO.

Add self-managed complexity where managed service exists.

If two answers look “right”, pick the one that uses fewer moving parts and leans into AWS-managed services.

Day-of mini-plan

Start with a calm pace; don’t burn your brain in the first 10 questions.

Flag 3–4 truly long scenario questions for the second half.

In the last 20 minutes, scan for “I missed the key requirement in the stem” mistakes.