How to pass the AWS Machine Learning Specialty Certification Exam
I passed the AWS Machine Learning Specialty Exam in November 2021 (in the first try!) and I would like to share some tips that might help you with your journey. This is definitely the hardest certification exam I have ever taken (and I took a lot of them!) and the best learning experience as well.
My previous experience
I have ~4 years of hands-on experience with AWS, 3 other AWS certifications (AWS Solutions Architect Associate, AWS Big Data Specialty, AWS Cloud Practitioner). I have also passed certification exams that test Data Science concepts (GCP Data Engineer Professional, SnowPro Advanced Data Scientist) so I am pretty familiar with AI/ML concepts, algorithms and various cloud services and offerings around AI/ML. I also have some professional experience in Data Science implementing some projects, mainly prototypes.
How long did I study before I took the AWS Machine Learning Certification Exam
I studied for a total of 3 weeks even though my goal was to take the exam in 2 weeks. I would not extend the studying time beyond 3 weeks if you are serious about taking the exam and passing it.
What resources I used for preparation
- I took this Udemy class by Dr. Ryan Ahmed as a starting point. https://www.udemy.com/course/amazon-web-services-machine-learning/
I’d say, this class took me ~60% there. I knew that there was a lot more to do.
2. I studied the AWS Documentation and FAQs for the most important services for the exam (Sagemaker, AWS AI Services like Recognition, Comprehend, Lex etc.) I also went over all the Free resources in AWS Skill Builder portal.
3. I took the following Udemy Practice tests.
- https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-machine-learning-specialty-full-practice-exams/
- https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-machine-learning-practice-exam/
Don’t worry if you get a non-passing score at first with these. Remember that these are part of your learning materials. Try to take them multiple times until you get the score you want.
I also took the AWS Machine Learning Specialty Practice exam on the AWS Certification site (if you passed other AWS certification exams in the past, you can use the benefit code to purchase this for free). I passed this one as I took it 2 days before I was taking the actual exam; however, I did not think this was a very useful resource as you don’t see which questions you got incorrectly. It is helpful though to give you an idea whether you are ready for the actual exam or not. (Although the actual exam questions are way more difficult than the questions you get in this test.)
4. Finally, I have read a good number of blog posts on AWS Machine Learning Blog. This was the best part of my studying experience.
…and my impressions about the actual Exam
This is a 180 minute exam and I tend to complete many exams earlier. With the AWS Machine Learning Specialty exam, I felt like used every minute of the 180 minutes to its fullest.:)
The exam questions were extremely well designed (Kudos! to the AWS Certification Team) that required a very thorough thinking process in addition to theoretical knowledge of AI/ML concepts. Most questions in the actual exam were much harder than any practice test questions I encountered while studying. Every question was designed around a real world scenario with a fairly long paragraph of use case requirements and pretty detailed answer choices. Every question felt like a real world use case I would encounter with my customers as an Architect rather than a test question.
When I submitted the exam, I was pretty nervous. Taking this exam was a HARD work indeed, but seeing the PASS as the result was the best award! I highly recommend this exam to any Data professional.
Good luck!!
