Track your coverage of all relevant topics for the SAA exam.
✅ = Complete 🔲 = To do
Topics include short descriptions for quick review.
Linked entries point to your knowledge base .md files.
Application Integration
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Amazon SQS | Simple queueing service for decoupled workloads |
| ✅ | Amazon SNS | Pub/sub messaging with email, SMS, Lambda triggers |
| ✅ | Amazon EventBridge | Event bus for application and service events |
| ✅ | AWS Step Functions | Orchestrates workflows using AWS services |
Compute
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Amazon EC2 | Virtual servers in the cloud |
| ✅ | Auto Scaling | Automatically adjusts capacity based on demand |
| ✅ | Elastic Load Balancer (ALB/NLB) | Distributes traffic across targets |
| ✅ | AWS Lambda | Serverless functions that scale automatically |
| ✅ | Elastic Beanstalk | Platform-as-a-service for quick app deployment |
Cost Optimization
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Trusted Advisor | Recommends optimizations for cost, security, and more |
| ✅ | Compute Optimizer | Recommends better EC2 instance types based on usage |
Databases
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Amazon RDS | Managed relational databases with backups and HA |
| ✅ | Amazon Aurora | High-performance version of RDS (MySQL/Postgres compatible) |
| ✅ | Amazon DynamoDB | Fully managed NoSQL database |
| ✅ | Amazon ElastiCache | In-memory caching for speed (Redis/Memcached) |
Deployment & Automation
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | AWS CloudFormation | IaC for automating AWS resource provisioning |
| ✅ | AWS CLI / SDK | Programmatic access to AWS APIs |
| ✅ | AWS Systems Manager | Manage EC2, patching, parameters, and remote commands |
Design Principles
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Well-Architected Framework | AWS’s pillars for reliable and efficient cloud design |
| ✅ | Shared Responsibility Model | Clarifies security roles between AWS and you |
| ✅ | High Availability vs Fault Tolerance | Design patterns for resilient applications |
| ✅ | Storage & DB Tradeoffs | Choosing the right data store for each use case |
Monitoring & Logging
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Amazon CloudWatch | Logs, metrics, alarms, dashboards |
| ✅ | AWS CloudTrail | Records API calls across the account for auditing |
Networking
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | VPC Basics | Isolated virtual network where AWS resources live |
| ✅ | Route 53 | Scalable DNS and traffic routing service |
| ✅ | Elastic IPs | Static public IP addresses for EC2 and other services |
Security & Identity
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | AWS IAM | Core service for controlling access to AWS resources |
| ✅ | AWS KMS | Manages encryption keys used to protect data |
| ✅ | Amazon Macie | Scans S3 for sensitive data (e.g., PII, PHI) |
| ✅ | Amazon GuardDuty | Detects threats using CloudTrail, VPC logs, and DNS activity |
| ✅ | AWS Security Hub | Centralized view of security findings across AWS |
| ✅ | AWS WAF | Protects web apps from common attacks (e.g., XSS, SQLi) |
Storage
| Status | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | Amazon S3 | Scalable, durable object storage for nearly any workload |
| ✅ | S3 Glacier / Deep Archive | Long-term cold storage with low retrieval frequency |
| ✅ | Amazon EBS | Block storage volumes for EC2 instances |
| ✅ | Amazon EFS | Fully managed NFS-based file system |
See Study Strategy to learn how this checklist fits into your exam prep process.