The Amazon online assessment test for AWS roles is given after the initial application stage. It includes a work simulation test, a technical test, and a personality test. The assessment takes about 2 hours to complete and passing it is crucial to advance in the hiring process.
On Amazon's AWS assessment, you'll need to complete several sections that are actually standalone tests with unique characteristics (click to jump to their sections on this page):
As you’ll see, these five sections let Amazon paint a complete picture of who you are as a candidate, professionally and personally.
Knowing what these sections are all about before taking the real assessment can help you prepare. Thus, increasing the chances of advancing to the next steps in Amazon's hiring process.
Let's take a more detailed look at the different sections:
Amazon Work Simulation
In short, this section is a complex work scenario test.
To elaborate – this is a unique Amazon test that essentially lets candidates catch a glimpse of an employee's workday and the dilemmas he or she faces.
The test is conducted by presenting you with 4 real-life work scenarios that involve "ongoing projects" you're taking part in.
For example, you’ll get a message from a co-worker that a customer’s server failed, and you’ll need to either rank or rate the possible solutions.
Moreover, you'll need to do the same with the possible responses of communicating the solution with your team and the client.
Remember, this position requires you to have both great technical AND interpersonal skills. So, the way you'll prioritize the given options is crucial to the way you'll be perceived by Amazon.
Essentially, this section lets Amazon catch two birds with one stone:
Amazon Work-Style Assessment
This is an assessment that many Amazon employees, or "Amazonians," are familiar with.
Amazon has a distinctive work culture, which is summed up nicely by its famous Amazon 16 leadership principles.
The test functions to check your compatibility with these core values.
Take this question, for example:
This test’s format doesn't let you stay ambivalent, and you shouldn't be. Amazon wants you to be decisive on this test. Knowing the 16 LPs in advance can help you take this aspect to your advantage.
Amazon takes its LPs very seriously, and so should you. These LPs are an integral part of their work culture and comprise the basis for their personality assessments.
Taking the time and going through the 16 principles is a sure way to boost your performance on the AWS assessment in general and on the work-style assessment.
Working With Customers Simulation
This section takes 15 minutes to complete and it includes scenario-based questions that come in the form of emails from your Team Lead, AWS customers, and Co-Workers. For each scenario, you'll be asked to rate the effectiveness of several responses using the following rating scale:
*Note that you're not required to have any Amazon or AWS-specific knowledge to complete this test section.
The differences between the responses might be quite subtle and it's not always clear what response you should choose. That's why it's better to get an early acquaintance with this unique format and learn how to answer it correctly.
Work Preferences & Skills
This section is divided into two question types:
#1 Interests & proficiency questionnaire - includes rating statements that evaluate your proficiency and preferences to work in different areas within AWS.
Example for a statement:
Please rate your proficiency in each of the following technical skills areas
Storage, Caching & Content Delivery (for example S3, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, CloudFront)
A. 0 - None
B. 1 - Fundamental Awareness
C. 2 - Novice
D. 3 - Intermediate
E. 4 - Advanced
F. 5 - Expert
In this section, it is better to be truthful about where you stand and what your skills are. Remember – Amazon doesn't expect you, and other candidates, to be experts in all subjects.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare in advance. You can only gain from brushing up on technical concepts and studying them before taking this assessment.
#2 Technical questions that assess your knowledge in topics that are important for working at AWS.
See these sample questions from the prep package that highly resemble questions from the test:
What do you understand by a LAMP stack?
To support seven virtual machines, which subnet provides minimum number of usable IP addresses?
Technical Knowledge Test
This section of the Amazon Web Services assessment requires the most professional experience of the five mentioned.
On this test, you'll be presented with a series of 24 multiple-choice questions. These questions will test your technical knowledge of servers and connectivity.
Some of the subjects you'll face in these sections will include:
Here's a sample question from the practice pack that resembles a question from the test:
Which important information is maintained by a traditional stateful firewall? Choose All that are applicable.
Obviously, in this section, experience matters. But - going through helpful materials before taking the test is more than worthwhile.
Even if you have lots of experience in architecting cloud and server solutions, there might be old concepts you haven't touched on in a while.
It is much better to identify your weak areas before taking the test and work on them than to find out during the assessment. It can easily be the difference between making the cut and failing this assessment.
JobTestPrep provides accurate practice material for each of the sections covered above. This includes practice simulations, detailed explanations for each question (both behavioral and technical), and solving tips.
That depends on your performance on the assessment. All candidates with a good passing score will proceed to a round of interviews and will then take an additional role-specific technical test. If you only pass with an average score, you'll need to pass an additional phone interview with an AWS employee. He or she will determine if you should advance to the round of interviews.
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