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Advanced Networking Speciality Exam

By Malcolm van Staden on 3rd February 2020

I passed the AWS Advanced Networking Specilaity exam today, here's how I did it. In this blog post I'm going to share with you the resources I used to prepare for this exam, I won't be going into the types of questions or the questions I saw as this is against the exam NDA.

Exam Blueprint / Guide

The first port of call is the Exam guide. Read this first and understand what domain knowledge you will need to posses. The exam covers a % of each domain and I use this guide to determine which areas of knowledge need the most work. It's fair to say the higher the % the more questions one can expect.

AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty - AWS official resources page for this exam
AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty (ANS-C00) Exam Guide - the exam guide

Real World Experience

First and foremost you can't fake or make up for real world experience. I've been working in the cloud space for some 7 years and been involved with networking technologies for 20-odd years (I'm showing my age I know). You don't need anywhere near this level of experience to prepare for the exam but a few years of AWS hands-on knowledge and a good understaning of netowrking concepts is sufficient.

A Cloud Guru Course

Hands down this is the best resource out there as far as cloud training is concerned. Start here to build up a foundation of knowledge, watching only these videos will not equip you to pass the exam, however it will get you about 70% of the way there. Fill in the gaps with the subsequent resources.

AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty 2019

Whitepapers

AWS has published a wealth of whitepapers that's worth the read, you will definately score a few points in the exam if you take the time to read these:

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Connectivity Options (Jan 2018)
AWS Operational Resilience (March 2019)
AWS Well-Architected Framework - Operational Excellence Pillar (July 2018)
AWS Well-Architected Framework - Performance Efficiency Pillar (July 2018)
AWS Well-Architected Framework - Reliability Pillar (April 2019)
AWS Well-Architected Framework (July 2019)
Integrating AWS with Multiprotocol Label Switching (Dec 2016)
Load Balance a Hybrid Horizon Environment on VMware Cloud on AWS
Migrating AWS Resources to a New AWS Region (July 2017)
Real-Time Communication on AWS (Oct 2018)
Securely Access Services Over AWS PrivateLink (Jan 2019)

YouTube Videos

AWS Certified Advanced Networking Official Study Guide: Specialty (Optional)

Suggesting a study guide feels a bit old school, I for one prefer video material which I find easier to consume. I would also say this resource is optional, it helped me in my preparation however I had to cram through this book the week before the exam (lack of time haha), but I think if you are new to AWS and/or networking this is worth the read. It's dry and technical but contains lower-level informaton I didn't find in some resources.

AWS Certified Advanced Networking Official Study Guide: Specialty (Kindle Edition)

Whizlabs Practice Exams (Optional)

AWS lacks an offical practice exam for the Advanced Networking Speciality. I decided to purchase the Whizlabs practice tests to build up my confidence for the exam. I went through these a few days before the exam. The questions were ... err ... ok at best. I would say if you have the £ to spend it wouldn't hurt - but I would definately put this down as an optional resource.

Whizlabs Practice Tests - AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty

Good Luck!