Cantrill tips

Some tips for using Adrian Cantrill's courses on https://learn.cantrill.io/. Submit a PR to add or improve upon this repository.

Introduction

There are many questions on the TechStudySlack community asking how to study efficiently for an AWS exams. This site gathers the most effective ways you can use Adrian's courses to succeed in your studies. These tips will be improved upon over time.

Process

Focus only on quality. Concise quality and full understanding
Everything is about maximising the effectiveness not the quantity
Study smarter and not harder. Sleep. Take breaks. Short notes, very few screenshots.
Do lots of lab exercises - practise what you’ve just watched, in different ways.
Get hands on. Do the labs/demos Adrian designed for his course. If there are any areas that confuse you, do them again. Dive in and play around. That will help you in your career far more than simply memorizing the concepts.
Use the quiz at the end of each section to anchor knowledge learned.
Do not move on until you fully understand the content in the videos
Confused? Have a question? Ask on the slack community. Use #exam-question-corner to dicuss answers with others in the community.

Taking Notes

There are typically 2 types of note takers:

Short and punchy, with a focus on linking concepts together, and contrasting similar services - all summarised in your own words
Really verbose, almost transcripts of the course / documents, in the original author's words

Short and punchy is the important part. Make sure you take notes in your own words and keep them brief. Verbose notes are not very effective in getting anything to stick in your mind. Therefore, watch a video and do a lab. Take short notes. Key points only. Your words only. No transcribing what the speaker says. Must be your words.

⚠️ The purpose of notes is to 'set up your brain', to create a mental structure which helps you remember. This is less effective if you are too verbose.

Practice Exams (Use tutorialsdojo.com)

Finish all of a course's material BEFORE you start on the https://tutorialsdojo.com/ tests. The best value comes from the first time you do them.
Start doing questions in review mode one question at a time
First summarise on paper what it is asking you. In your words.
Then WHY each answer is right or wrong. Not just “I remember this, it’s C”
See the answer / explanations.
Assess whether you correctly wrote down the same key points and adjust your summary.
Repeat next question

This can take a long time, but is way more effective than just sitting the paper and looking which you got right/wrong. You should keep doing this until you achieve above >90% score for a practice exam.

Useful Links