My AWS Solutions Architect exam is tomorrow

I've been studying for my SAA-C03 certification exam for over a year now, on and off. A few months ago, I booked a date that seemed sufficiently far in the future (I wanted December, but there weren't any available slots at my local test centre and I wasn't going to go through the rigamarole of sitting it at home) and stepped up the pace a bit. Now, suddenly, it's here!

I've been using A Cloud Guru's materials as well as Stephane Maarek's course to revise all the topics I need in order to (hopefully) pass the exam, as well as writing copious notes and revision cards to try and cram all of this information into my brain. I feel like there isn't much capacity left for anything else at the moment to be quite honest.

In a way, I am looking forward to having it over and done with so that I can stop thinking about it, even if it's just temporarily (should I fail). Part of me really doesn't want to go and sit the exam tomorrow though. I'm worried I'll fail and I know that if I do, I will not be kind to myself about it. I will survive, obviously, but I will feel miserable about it.

I was feeling pretty confident before yesterday because I was doing well on all the A Cloud Guru practice papers, but then I tried the official AWS question set - which isn't quite a full exam, just 20 questions - and I only got 55%. Disheartening to say the least and it's put The Fear into me to be quite honest.

Mind you, they were all topics that I'd picked up on not knowing enough about already - EBS volume types, RDS volume types (every mention of IOPS puts me in cold sweats as I panic and struggle to remember why I'm even here), disaster recovery scenarios, that kind of stuff.

I found that as I started the questions and realised I didn't know the answers, I panicked and chose answers that I should have really known were wrong. One big thing to take away for me is not to panic. To read the questions slowly and carefully and deliberate for more than 10 seconds. I am very inclined to go with my gut feel and treat the exam like a speed quiz, which is not at all helpful.

This brings me to something I really hate about these exams. The questions use something called "distractors" to try and get you to pick the wrong answer. How is that helpful in determining whether you have the skills needed to become a Solutions Architect? It just makes the whole experience very stressful in my opinion and who needs that? Personally, I think the whole format of the exam makes it a much worse experience than it needs to be.

Anyway, I'd better go do some more revision - keep your fingers crossed for me?