ExamPro is a study platform to help people pass cloud certification exams.
Cloud certification exams are challenging, and involve retaining large quantities of technical information. They also open up significant new doors for career advancement and learning potential.
What if there was a platform that reduced your study time and increased your chances of passing? ExamPro helps participants pass by using a smart learning methodology powered by an AI instructor that reviews your study habits.
ExamPro’s founders talk about what they’ve built, and the pain points the product addresses for developers.
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The Cloud Has Changed the Way We Build Applications
Before Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) like Amazon Web Services, you would have to build and maintain your digital infrastructure yourself.
Previously, if you wanted to add a full-text search engine to your web application, you would have to:
- install open-source software such as ElasticSearch
- maintain that server via upgrade and security patches
- configure the open-source software to be highly optimized
- scale by adding load balancing and orchestrating multiple servers
- and create a schedule for data backups.
Now with AWS, you can use the AWS ElasticSearch Service. It will launch a server that scales and is secure by default, and is already configured to be highly optimized. AWS employs world-class engineers to maintain that service.
Widespread cloud adoption has driven the cost down through cost-sharing of the underlying servers so far that it’s hard to justify paying for an in-house engineer when you can just pay to use the service for a fraction of a penny per hour.
Using the Cloud Has Introduced a New Demand from Tech Companies
AWS is the most popular CSP among startups and technology companies. A CSP is a company with a collection of cloud services that you can use to build applications hosted on the cloud.
AWS is a special kind of CSP because it has hundreds of cloud services for any conceivable use case, and they all seamlessly work together.
- Do you need to host a database? Then use AWS RDS.
- Do you need a server? Then use AWS EC2.
- Do you need a chatbot? Then use AWS Lex.
- Do need to generate reports for terabytes of data? Then use AWS Redshift.
- Do you need long-term storage for 7 years? Then use AWS Glacier.
- Do you need to rent a satellite? Then use AWS Ground Station.
And then the list goes on and on.
AWS allows companies to compete globally and have access to a wide range of cloud services to build complex applications.
For a company to take advantage of the cloud, they need someone who knows how to use AWS. Since there are 200+ services, they will need knowledgeable people in different combinations of cloud services based on their use case and business goals.
What Are AWS Certifications?
AWS has officially created AWS Certifications to help companies identify qualified hiring candidates for cloud roles, and as of writing this article, they have 12 possible AWS certifications:
- Certified Cloud Practitioner (CCP)
- Solutions Architect Associate (SAA)
- Developer Associate
- SysOps Administrator Associate
- DevOps Professional
- Solutions Architect Professional
- Machine Learning Specialty
- Data Analytics Specialty
- Databases Specialty
- Security Specialty
- Advanced Networking Specialty
- Alexa Skill Builder Specialty
The two most popular AWS certifications are the CCP and the SAA, because they cover the broadest number of AWS services.
The CCP is the introduction to AWS. The certification costs $100 USD to sit the exam at a test center or online, which can be passed with one to two weeks of study and is valid for three years.
The SAA covers more in-depth services included in the CCP. The certification costs $150 USD to sit the exam at a test center or online, which can be passed with three to five weeks of study and is valid for three years.
When you pass an AWS Certification, you get the next half off, so it’s common for people to take the CCP for $100 USD and then take the SAA at $75 USD.
What is ExamPro?
ExamPro is a “smart” study platform for cloud certifications. What makes the platform “smart” and sets it apart from other study platforms? We embed a variety of learning systems that are then continuously tweaked based on a collection of previous student study habits. So fundamentally, our study platform is driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Lecture comprehension with quizlets
Our courses can comprise many hours of lecture video content. To ensure the information is easily digestible, we break videos down into shorter videos, and we have short quizzes (quizlets) on every lecture video. This keeps students engaged and accountable for understanding the content, and wards off poor study habits of just watching without understanding.
Step-by-step lab instructions
Learning by doing is essential to understand cloud services from a practical perspective. We have follow-along videos that will have you creating cloud projects in your own cloud accounts. We also provide every step-by-step instruction that you can check off. It allows us to identify where people commonly get stuck and will enable us to help or tweak the lessons to better complete cloud projects.
Flashcard spaced repetition learning
Studying for cloud certifications requires remembering many technical facts that you need to store in your long-term memory. To help students remember the information, we have a flashcard system powered using spaced repetition learning.
Spaced repetition learning is a learning methodology where you space the interval between study sessions based on an algorithm that determines when you are on the cusp of forgetting study material. Each study interval per flashcard is further apart and increases memory retention.
Practice Exam mastery and question variation
Practice Exams are exams that simulate the real paid exam. Without practice exams, students have a high chance of failure. Practice exams generally have a single lifetime use — meaning that once you take a practice exam, if you retake the same questions, your brain may unconsciously remember the position or keywords of the previous answer without attempting to comprehend the question and choices. This study behavior will lead the student to falsely believe they are doing well since they have a higher score.
ExamPro combats this with the mastery system. We treat the first practice exam like the real exam giving it a pass or fail score. We encourage you to master the incorrect questions before moving on to the practice exam. To avoid users remembering the previous questions, we substitute the previously wrong question with a variant, so your brain can’t cheat and recall based on keyword and position.
Readiness meter
Most students can’t tell when they’re ready to sit an exam, and they may begin to over study. Over studying can increase the chances of failure because students increase their study time, and falsely believe they remember the information at the start of the journey when they have forgotten. Our readiness meter improves the chance of passing and helps you quickly progress to your new certification to advance your career and cloud knowledge as efficiently as possible.
Wrapping It Up
If you’re interested in cloud certification, we’d love it if you used ExamPro and its smart learning features to pass your exam. Right now, many prep courses are available for US$21 (65% off), and we’re building out new ones all the time.