Yay! I passed the AWS AI Practitioner exam.

Every year I set a few personal goals and try my best to hit them. For 2025, one of my goals was to get 2–3 certifications. That didn’t quite happen (hello, procrastination 👀), so before 2025 ends I was determined to at least get one done.

With all the AI buzz around me, the AWS GenAI Practitioner felt like the perfect place to start.

Preparing for the Exam

I started with the official website of AWS certification to understand exam’s outline, areas of topics with percentage to focus on.

Once I knew what to expect, I used the following study materials:

1. Freecodecamp YouTube Video by Andrew Brown watched 2 times
2. Udemy mock exam from Stéphane Maarek
3. ChatGPT (my beloved teacher)
4. Hands-on (optional)
5. Internal office videos

How I Studied With a Full-Time Job (Without Losing Sleep)

I already had some background in AI, LLMs, and transformer architecture, which definitely worked in my favour.

The most important thing I did was — I booked the exam date. (In Amazon we have the leadership principle of “working backwards”); this approach has always worked great for me. Once the date was locked in, I had a clear deadline, a stronger reason to focus, and a deadline to finish my content.

My Daily Study Routine

I dedicated 30 mins to 1 hour daily to watch the YouTube Video. Spent 1–2 weeks to digest the concepts (I was not able to digest the content 100% ). So, I moved to taking mock exams.

First Mock Test (Reality Check)

I took my first Udemy mock test and scored 60% which meant I failed. Instead of getting discouraged, I reviewd all the wrong questions, I used chatGPT, or youtube to get my concepts clear. I started passing the mock exam (good sign). This was my routine.

A few weeks ago before exam date, I got access to internal videos on GenAI. These videos helped me in revising the all concepts and I made lot of notes.

The day before the exam, I took the 4th Udemy mock test (which I had intentionally saved for the end), just to see where I stood and I passed that too. For extra confidence, I even did one more random mock after that.

Timelines

1. Sep : started but was not consistent
2. Oct and Nov :I try to be consistent with my study. I went on 2 weeks travel and then fall sick for a week. So I basically lost around 3 weeks in between
3. Exam Scheduled for 7th Dec
4. Study 30 mins to 1 hr daily

Exam Day

Initially, I booked my exam for 7th December, but due to travel I brought it forward by a week and took it from home 29th Nov.

There were 65 questions and mix of mult-choice, and match the right options. For me time management is not any issue. So, I was not concerned about the time.

tip: please login 30 mins before. They put you in the queue to scan your docs, and rooms.

Exam was straight forward. Questions were aligned to Udemy mock exams. No surprise there at all.

Now what?

Celebration and relaxation for now. Will start preparing for a new certificate soon.

Have questions? or just want to say? You can connect with me at X or Linkedln