Book Review: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) Exam Guide by Packt

When I was prepping for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam, I spent a good chunk of time looking for resources that didn’t just parrot documentation. I wanted something that would not only explain the services but help me understand how they fit together in real-world scenarios.

That’s where the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) Exam Guide by Packt comes in. Although I’ve already passed the exam, I decided to go back and read this book to see if it’s something I’d recommend to beginners and spoiler: it is.

This blog post breaks down my experience with the book and how it measures up in terms of clarity, content, labs, and overall exam readiness. First I will detail my overall impressions from the book so if anyone is wanting to get a quick review they can, but the chapter breakdown will be below

Overall Impressions

Rating: 4.8 / 5

If you’re starting your AWS journey or prepping for the SAA-C03 exam, this book is a solid investment for passing the exam.

Pros:
- Clear, structured writing
- Short chapters with practical labs
- CLI usage early on
- Focus on exam relevant material
Could Be Better:
- Some diagrams need higher contrast
- Would love to see more CLI focused labs

This book doesn’t pretend to be an exhaustive AWS encyclopedia, and that’s actually its strength being at about 300 pages. It gives you just enough to build a strong foundation, with the right balance of theory and hands-on work.

Final verdict: Great for beginners, helpful for exam prep, and practical enough to actually teach you how to use AWS in the real world.

Chapter 1 – Getting Started with AWS and the Exam

Chapter 1 and the preface does a good job of framing what AWS is all about and how the certification exam is structured. It covers AWS’s global infrastructure, billing models, and the shared responsibility model topics that tend to sneak up on you in the exam if you overlook them.

There’s a brief but helpful summary of how to approach studying and using hands-on labs, which sets the tone for what’s ahead. The Figure 1.4 image is a bit hard to look at since everything is grey, in my opinion if someone were to use a different set of colors to show the shared responsibility model it would be amazing.

Chapter 2 – VPC and Networking Basics (with a CLI Twist)

Networking is often one of the harder concepts for newcomers, but Chapter 2 does a solid job breaking it down. You’ll walk through subnets, routing, internet gateways, NATs, and security groups.

The highlight for me? The CLI-based VPC lab.

Too many books fall into the trap of only using the AWS web console. This chapter has you spin up a VPC using the AWS CLI, which is a real world skill that will pay off well beyond the exam. It forces you to think about what’s actually happening under the hood rather than just clicking through wizard-based setups.

Chapter 3 – Identity and Access Management (IAM)

IAM is foundational in AWS, and while it’s conceptually straightforward (users, groups, roles, policies), it’s easy to get tripped up on details.

This chapter takes an approach that’s perfect for beginners. You get practical examples of permission boundaries, policy inheritance, and how IAM ties into services like S3 and EC2.

Chapter 4 – Compute Services

EC2, Elastic Load Balancing, Auto Scaling Groups, and container services like ECS and EKS are all discussed here. Each section is bite-sized but focused.

The EC2 lab is console based, which I wasn’t as excited about after the strong CLI showing in Chapter 2. Still, it’s a decent first touchpoint for launching, connecting to, and terminating EC2 instances.

One thing I liked here was the breakdown of use cases. It’s not just “this service exists,” like some resources tend to do.

Chapter 5 – Storage Services

This chapter focuses on S3, EBS, EFS, and Glacier. It gives just enough depth to cover exam-level questions without overwhelming you with implementation details.

You’ll learn the differences between storage types, pricing models, and when to use lifecycle policies.

A short chapter, but a strong one. If you’re unfamiliar with how AWS handles file vs. block storage, this clears that up nicely.

Chapter 6 – DNS and Load Balancing

This chapter starts with a quick primer on DNS before diving into Route 53 and load balancing

Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) is also covered in enough detail to help you distinguish between ALBs, NLBs, and CLBs, which is something many struggle with.

Chapter 7 – Databases

RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, and Redshift all get their moment here. You’re not building out massive clusters, but you’ll understand how to choose between relational and non-relational options, what read replicas do, and how backups work.

DynamoDB is given slightly more love here (as it should be—it’s a common exam topic), and there’s a good summary table that helps cement key differences.

Chapter 8 – Data Migration and Transfer

DataSync, Snowball, Transfer Family, Storage Gateway are all here. If you’re new to cloud, these services might sound odd, but this chapter makes sense of them quickly.

There’s an especially useful chart here comparing data transfer services based on volume, speed, and use case. Definitely worth bookmarking if you’re building cheat sheets.

Chapter 9 – Serverless Basics

Lambda, Step Functions, EventBridge, SQS, and SNS are all introduced with clear examples. I really liked the explanation of how these services integrate to build event driven architectures. Even if you’ve never touched serverless before, this gives you a practical entry point.

For many, serverless feels like AWS magic where things just happen and scale and runs “without servers”. This chapter demystifies it.

Chapter 10 – Security Services

GuardDuty, KMS, Shield, WAF, and Inspector are the focus here. These aren’t always the most fun services to study, but the chapter does well to explain what they are and when to use them.

It ends with a hybrid CLI/console lab that helps reinforce key concepts, which I found helpful.

Chapter 11 – Management and Monitoring Tools

This chapter introduces services like CloudWatch, CloudTrail, AWS Config, and Systems Manager.

The lab at the end is great for beginners who want to see how observability fits into the bigger AWS picture.

Chapters 12–15 – Design Scenarios and Exam Strategy

The final chapters shift from services explained quickly to guiding you on how to pick certain services based on your needs. You’ll get to practice identifying solutions that are cost-effective, fault-tolerant, highly available, and secure.

This is where everything starts to come together. If you’ve read the rest of the book carefully, these chapters will help you connect the dots for putting services together to meet these solutions.