Yes, I took the exam and passed it - I was thinking of blogging about the questions first. Why? I thought it could bring some traffic to the site, but also help people to pass. However, I will tell you the process of my preparation.

For everybody who is TLDR;

“Learn Terraform in terms of using it with all features for pass the exam”

I thought I know the stuff because I used it for two years now. I was wrong - I passed with 93 percent, but I prepared the certification with starting from the ground, and I learned a lot on the way.

• Rule number 1 - don´t get overwhelmed by the stuff you think you know. It doesn´t matter.
• Rule number 2 - type honestly everything you should know for the exam with your fingers on the keyboard in your terminal.
• Rule number 3 - honest timetable schedule. Schedule your preparation slots for 3-4 weeks roughly - do it continuously even with small-time batches between 45 to 90 minutes. But do it like your workouts 3 to 4 times a week.

I will not tell you any exam questions, but I will point you to some preparation material:

Link Collection

Link 1 - The official study guide here you will find a solid starting point of the stuff you should know. You should take it and work it out.

Link 2 - The HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate Practice Exam 2020 on udemy. Bryan created two good practice exams. I started with them as my first stop and after it, I felt like I´m knowing nothing about the product. Be aware it´s not a brain dump but it will trigger many areas of the exam. So it´s worth the money I spend.

Link 3 - The terraform book from James Turnbull It was my first book about Terraform two years ago and I still like to read it - even in terms of preparation for the exam.

Link 4 - The HashiCorp Terraform Certified Associate Preparation Guide from Ned Bellavance and Adin Ermie This was a good way to sharpen the different areas of knowledge - I really like the “this x is y it works” and the key takeaways.

Summary

To sum it up - in the end, nothing competes against the practice. I had several experiences in projects about Terraform but the exam preparation extended my knowledge in terms of ideas and “now I know why it is like this”. I had the opportunity to held 3 Terraform training for an enterprise company in advance for the exam. That helped my preperation. If you read things it´s ok - if you do things it´s better - if you try to describe it to someone else it´s perfect. Try to find a colleague and tell him or her what you are doing and why. This really fosters your knowledge.

For anyone how is thinking - What is this Terraform? I will have a separate post about it.