From Zero to Certified in 30 Days

The exact 4-week strategy to stay focused, stay on track, and land your certification

Author

Jordan Blake
June 24, 2025

In partnership with

Hey Cloud Learners,

Feel like you’ve been “thinking about” taking that certification exam forever? We get it.

What if you had a focused, step-by-step 30-day plan to finally knock it out?

This week’s newsletter is your Cloud Certification Sprint Plan — a four-week roadmap to go from “someday” to “certified.” Whether you’re studying for the AZ-900, AWS Solutions Architect Associate, or another beginner-to-intermediate exam, this plan will help you structure your time, focus on the right material, and actually finish.

Let’s jump in 👇

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🗓️ Your 30-Day Sprint Framework

Each week is designed with a purpose:

✅ Learn → 🔬 Practice → 🧠 Review → 🏁 Simulate.

Instead of passively absorbing content for a month and hoping it sticks, this sprint uses a feedback loop approach. You’ll move through core concepts, apply them hands-on, test your knowledge, and simulate real exam conditions—so by Day 30, you’re not just ready… you’re confident.

Here’s how the flow works:

  • ✅ Learn: Start with structured content—video courses, reading guides, or our app’s microlearning docs. Focus on the foundational “what” and “why” of cloud services.

  • 🔬 Practice: Use hands-on labs and cloud consoles to reinforce learning. Don’t just read about S3 or Azure Functions—deploy them. This is where understanding turns into retention.

  • 🧠 Review: Test yourself regularly. Use quizzes, flashcards, and spaced repetition to highlight weak spots early. Reviewing while the knowledge is still fresh is key.

  • 🏁 Simulate: In the final stretch, mimic real exam pressure. Take full-length, timed practice exams to refine pacing and improve endurance. Learn how to manage nerves and decision fatigue before test day.

This framework ensures you’re not guessing what to study next—it’s all mapped out. You’ll retain more, burn out less, and walk into your exam with a system, not just a hope.

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📅 Week 1 – Orientation + Foundation

Goal: Understand the exam blueprint and core services.

  • ✅ Read the official exam guide (AZ-900 | CLF-C02).

  • ✅ Watch a high-level video course (1–2 hours/day).

  • ✅ Install the Learn Azure or Learn AWS app.

  • ✅ Create a free Azure or AWS account and explore the console.

  • ✅ Take a diagnostic quiz to identify strengths/weaknesses.

Focus Areas:

  • Cloud concepts & terminology

  • Global infrastructure (regions, availability zones, etc.)

  • Pricing models and free tiers

Tools:

📅 Week 2 – Core Services Deep Dive

Goal: Focus on the services you’ll actually be tested on.

  • ✅ Study one major domain per day (e.g., Compute, Storage, Networking).

  • ✅ Use flashcards to reinforce key terms and service comparisons.

  • ✅ Build hands-on labs (e.g., EC2 vs Lambda, Azure Functions vs Logic Apps).

  • ✅ Read FAQs and pricing docs for each service.

Focus Areas:

  • Compute (VMs, Lambda, Azure Functions)

  • Storage (Blob, S3, EBS, File)

  • Networking (VNet, VPC, Load Balancers)

Tools:

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📅 Week 3 – Identity, Security & Cost

Goal: Master the tough topics that trip up most test-takers.

  • ✅ Spend extra time on IAM/RBAC/Policies

  • ✅ Review shared responsibility models

  • ✅ Learn monitoring/logging services (CloudWatch, Log Analytics)

  • ✅ Understand pricing calculators and SLA guarantees

Focus Areas:

  • IAM, RBAC, Trust Relationships

  • Billing & SLAs

  • Monitoring & alerting

Tools:

📅 Week 4 – Practice Exam + Final Review

Goal: Simulate test day. Fill in knowledge gaps.

  • ✅ Take 2 full-length timed practice exams (one mid-week, one 1–2 days before your exam).

  • ✅ Review every wrong answer.

  • ✅ Revisit weak topics from your diagnostic quiz.

  • ✅ Use your flashcards daily.

  • ✅ Schedule your real exam by Day 25–28 (if not already).

Tools:

✅ Daily Commitment: Just 60–90 minutes

Don’t aim for perfection—aim for consistency. One hour a day of focused, purposeful studying will outperform 5 hours of random YouTube videos.

Keep learning and building!

Please hit ‘reply’ and tell us your most effective study hack that helps you pass.

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