4.2. Key Concepts Review

This module serves as a high-level consolidation of the critical knowledge domains covered in the guide. It's designed for final-stage revision, helping you quickly reinforce the most important concepts and catch common pitfalls before the exam.

What happens when you study everything with equal intensity? You waste time on topics you already know and under-prepare topics that confuse you. Consider this: if you can explain Blue/Green deployments in your sleep but struggle with IAM policy evaluation order, spending equal time on both is inefficient.

Think of this module like a pre-flight checklist. A pilot doesn't re-learn aerodynamics before every flight — they verify critical systems are go. Similarly, this review doesn't re-teach every concept. It surfaces the distinctions that trip people up: Config versus CloudTrail (what changed versus who changed it), SCPs versus IAM policies (organization boundary versus identity permissions), Step Functions Standard versus Express (duration and execution guarantees).

The tricky distinctions section is particularly valuable. Many exam questions are designed to test whether you understand subtle differences between similar services. Without clear mental models for these distinctions, you'll waste time second-guessing yourself on exam day.