AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate training and courses
AWS does not require any training before the Solutions Architect – Associate exam, but it publishes a good deal of its own, from a 24-hour digital architecture course to free practice question sets. This page sets out the official AWS options, what is free and what needs a subscription, and what to check before you pay for any other course.
See the AWS SAA practice questions →
Do you need AWS Solutions Architect training to sit the exam?
No. AWS’s certification FAQ states that training is recommended as part of your preparation but is not mandatory. You can book the exam without completing any course.
What AWS does recommend is experience: at least one year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions that use AWS services. Its certification page adds that candidates with one to three years of IT experience have been able to prepare for and earn the certification, and that people with no IT work experience would benefit from earning AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner first. How much AWS Solutions Architect training you need therefore depends mostly on how much of that design experience you already have.
Source: AWS — AWS Certification FAQs. Checked 9 October 2026.
AWS’s own AWS Solutions Architect courses
AWS’s Solutions Architect training page lists these offerings. They are role-based rather than tied to one exam, so treat them as the content layer and add exam-style practice on top:
- Solutions Architect Learning Plan — a suggested set of digital courses that AWS describes as a clear path for beginners
- Architecting on AWS — digital on-demand, 24 hours
- AWS Well-Architected Foundations — digital on-demand, 3 hours
- AWS SimuLearn: Solutions Architect Learning Plan — digital on-demand, 27 hours
- AWS Classroom Training — classes led by AWS instructors, in person or virtually
Source: AWS — Solutions Architect digital and classroom training. Checked 9 October 2026.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate training for the exam itself
For exam preparation, AWS separates free from subscription material on AWS Skill Builder. Free: the Official Practice Question Sets, 20 questions each, which AWS says demonstrate the style of its exams, and 2-hour Exam Prep courses that explore the exam’s topic areas and review sample questions for each domain.
With a subscription: longer Exam Prep courses with 6 to 8 hours of videos, hands-on labs and additional practice questions, and the Official Practice Exam, which AWS describes as having the same question style and rigour as the certification exam. AWS states that the Individual subscription starts at 29 USD per month.
The certification page frames this as a four-step exam prep plan: start with exam-style questions, fill gaps with digital courses and labs, review each exam domain, then take the Official Practice Exam. AWS also runs free live exam-preparation webinars led by accredited AWS instructors.
Source: AWS — Prepare for your AWS Certification exam. Checked 9 October 2026.
What an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate course should cover
The current exam is SAA-C03, and its exam guide is the yardstick for any AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate course. It splits the scored content into four domains:
A course that spends most of its time on one service family — say, compute — while skimming security leaves the largest domain under-prepared. The exam guide also lists in-scope and out-of-scope services, which is the quickest way to check whether a course is padding its hours.
- Design Secure Architectures — 30% of scored content
- Design Resilient Architectures — 26%
- Design High-Performing Architectures — 24%
- Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — 20%
Source: AWS — AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam guide. Checked 9 October 2026.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C03 training: check the version
Any AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C03 training should say so explicitly. AWS states that it regularly rotates exam questions that follow the exam guide in and out of its exams, so a course written against an older guide can still look right while missing current material.
The exam is offered in several languages. AWS notes that the Italian version will be retired after 31 December 2026 and that the exam uses short names for some AWS services, with a list of full names available through the Help button during the exam. If a course teaches only the full service names, learn the short forms too.
Source: AWS — AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. Checked 9 October 2026.
How to pick the best AWS Solutions Architect course
There is no official ranking, so the best AWS Solutions Architect course is the one that fits your gaps and passes a few checkable tests. Whether you are looking at an AWS Certified Solutions Architect course from AWS, an AWS Solutions Architect certification course elsewhere, or a short AWS Solutions Architect associate course as a refresher, check that it:
- names SAA-C03 and follows the four domains at roughly the exam guide’s weighting
- includes hands-on work in a real AWS account, not only slides — the exam asks you to choose between architectures that all work
- ends with timed practice that uses both question types: multiple choice with one correct answer, and multiple response with two or more correct answers out of five or more options
- explains why the wrong options are wrong, because on this exam the distractors are usually valid designs that cost more or fail under load
Source: AWS — AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam guide. Checked 9 October 2026.
Is an AWS Solutions Architect bootcamp worth it?
A bootcamp — an intensive, instructor-led course over a few days — suits people who learn best with a teacher and a fixed schedule, and who already have some AWS exposure. Squeezing a year of recommended design experience into a few days is not realistic, so a bootcamp works best as consolidation rather than a first contact.
Before paying, check that it targets SAA-C03, whether the 150 USD exam fee is included, and whether it covers every domain in the exam guide. AWS’s own instructor-led option is AWS Classroom Training, in person or virtual.
Source: AWS — Solutions Architect digital and classroom training. Checked 9 October 2026.
AWS Solutions Architect associate training with Certsqill
Certsqill covers the step that a course leaves open: finding out whether you are ready. The practice questions are expert-developed against the SAA-C03 exam guide, every question explains every answer option, and you get a readiness score per exam domain, so you can see whether security or cost optimisation is the part still costing you points. Access comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee.
AWS SAA training & courses: questions people ask
Is AWS Certified Solutions Architect training required?
No. AWS states that training is recommended but not mandatory. It recommends at least one year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions on AWS. Source: AWS, checked 9 October 2026.
Is there free AWS Solutions Architect certification training?
Yes, from AWS itself: on AWS Skill Builder, the 20-question Official Practice Question Sets and the 2-hour Exam Prep courses are free, and AWS runs free exam-preparation webinars. The full Official Practice Exam needs a subscription. Checked 9 October 2026.
How long is the Architecting on AWS course?
AWS lists the digital on-demand version at 24 hours. Source: AWS Solutions Architect training page, checked 9 October 2026.
Does an AWS certified solutions architect training course include the exam?
AWS’s own courses do not include an exam attempt; the exam costs 150 USD and is booked separately through your AWS Certification account. For other courses, check what is included before you buy.
Which AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate training should I start with?
If you have no IT work experience, AWS suggests earning AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner first. Otherwise start with exam-style questions to find your weak domain, then fill it with a course — the order AWS’s own exam prep plan follows.
Are AWS certified solutions architect courses the same for Associate and Professional?
No. The Professional exam is a separate certification — 75 questions in 180 minutes for 300 USD, with two or more years of experience recommended — and needs its own preparation. Source: AWS, checked 9 October 2026.
