Amazon Web Services
168 stages of AWS you can watch fail
6 domains of scenarios and 10 certification paths. Every stage is an exam-style brief you build or tune, then run; the simulator stops at the exact hop or limit that fails, says why, and gives the exam tip.
Domains
A domain is a campaign of worlds. Buying one ($25) gives you every world in it, including the ones still to come.
Networking
VPCs, hybrid connectivity, enterprise routing, inspection and troubleshooting.
~11.5 h · $252 of 24 free5 worlds · 30 stagesAI and machine learning
Build, train, secure and run AI on Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker AI.
~12 h · $251 of 30 free6 worlds · 36 stagesData engineering
Lakes, pipelines, streams, data movement, governance, warehouses, data quality and troubleshooting.
~14.5 h · $251 of 36 free6 worlds · 36 stagesSecurity
Identity, organizations, keys and secrets, the edge, and detection.
~18.5 h · $251 of 36 free6 worlds · 36 stagesCore architecture
Storage, databases, scaling out, containers, decoupling, and server migration: the 7 Rs, Application Migration Service, Application Discovery Service and Migration Hub.
~16 h · $251 of 36 free1 world · 6 stagesOperations and delivery
Observability, automation, stacks, delivery pipelines and recovery.
~2.5 h · $251 of 6 freeCertification paths
A path is every stage its exam guide covers, in study order, across domains. Its price follows the exam's fee: $10 for an exam fee of $100, $15 for $150, $30 for $300.
| Exam | Certification | Stages | Hours (est.) | Exam fee | Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAA-C03 | Solutions Architect - Associate | 60 | ~25.5 h | $150 | $15 |
| SOA-C03 | CloudOps Engineer - Associate | 32 | ~14.5 h | $150 | $15 |
| DEA-C01 | Data Engineer - Associate | 56 | ~23 h | $150 | $15 |
| DVA-C02 | Developer - Associate | 16 | ~6.5 h | $150 | $15 |
| SAP-C02 | Solutions Architect - Professional | 70 | ~32 h | $300 | $30 |
| DOP-C02 | DevOps Engineer - Professional | 27 | ~12.5 h | $300 | $30 |
| SCS-C03 | Security - Specialty | 63 | ~31 h | $300 | $30 |
| AIF-C01 | AI Practitioner | 18 | ~7 h | $100 | $10 |
| MLA-C02 | Machine Learning Engineer - Associate | 40 | ~16 h | $150 | $15 |
| AIP-C01 | Generative AI Developer - Professional | 35 | ~14.5 h | $300 | $30 |
Hours are the game's estimate of a first attempt, 15 to 40 minutes a stage by difficulty, until it has measured them. Exam fees are the vendor's published prices in US dollars.
Free to play, no account
The first stage of every domain, and the networking campaign's first two.
- Networking · World 1
Open for Business
Internet gateways, route tables, and what really makes a subnet public.
- Networking · World 1
Private but Connected
Outbound-only internet access for private subnets, from one fixed address.
- AI and machine learning · AI World 1
Right Tool
Pick the AWS AI service each requirement needs, and know why not the others.
- Data engineering · Data World 1
Shape the Files
Same charges, a hundredth of the bytes: pick the files that let Athena read only what a query needs.
- Security · Security World 1
Deny Wins
The adjusters hold an Allow and are refused on every claim file. Find the statement that decides.
- Core architecture · Architecture World 1
Volumes That Fit
Four volumes for the rehosted booking database, one instance to carry them. Make the meter meet every workload at the lowest bill.
- Operations and delivery · Ops World 1
Measure It
Kestrel's sorting fleet runs out of memory at the cutoff and nobody sees it. Give every requirement a source at the lowest monthly bill.
What comes next
New worlds join their domain as they are written, and a domain bought today includes them. Other clouds are coming; the changelog says when each one's first world opens.