Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) – Study Plan

Topics

• Google Cloud global infrastructure (regions, zones, edge locations)
• Resource hierarchy (org, folders, projects, billing accounts)
• IAM basics (roles, policies, service accounts)
• Exam domains and weighting

Activities

• Review the official PCA exam guide.
• Create a GCP project and enable billing.
• Take ExamOS Rookie mode quiz (30 questions, 30 minutes) on GCP fundamentals.

Topics

• Compute Engine (VM families, machine types, instance groups, sole-tenant)
• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) – standard vs. autopilot, cluster architecture, networking
• Cloud Run (fully managed, CPU/request scaling)
• App Engine (standard vs. flexible)

Activities

• Deploy a container to Cloud Run from a sample Docker image.
• Create a GKE cluster and deploy a simple nginx pod.
• Take ExamOS Challenger mode quiz on Compute & Containers.

Topics

• Cloud Storage (classes, lifecycle, retention, object versioning)
• Cloud SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server)
• Cloud Spanner (global distributed SQL)
• Firestore (NoSQL) vs. Bigtable (wide-column)
• Persistent Disk vs. Filestore

Activities

• Set up Cloud Storage lifecycle policies for cost optimisation.
• Create a Cloud SQL instance and migrate a small dataset.

Topics

• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) – subnets, firewall rules, routes
• Cloud Load Balancing (global HTTP/S, regional, internal)
• Cloud CDN, Cloud NAT, Cloud DNS
• VPC peering, Shared VPC, Cloud VPN, Interconnect

Activities

• Design a VPC with private and public subnets for a three-tier app.
• Configure an HTTP(S) load balancer with a backend bucket.
• Take ExamOS Challenger mode quiz on Networking.

Topics

• IAM advanced (custom roles, conditions, workload identity)
• Service Account best practices
• Cloud KMS, Cloud HSM
• Security Command Center, VPC Service Controls
• Cloud Audit Logs, Access Transparency

Activities

• Implement a least-privilege IAM policy for a production project.
• Enable audit logs and review a sample entry.

Topics

• BigQuery (partitioning, clustering, reservations)
• Dataflow (streaming vs. batch)
• Dataproc (managed Hadoop/Spark)
• Pub/Sub (push/pull subscriptions, ordering)

Activities

• Write a BigQuery query that uses partitioning and clustering.
• Create a Pub/Sub topic and publish a test message.
• Take ExamOS Challenger mode quiz on Data Analytics.

Topics

• Anthos (GKE Enterprise, Config Management)
• Cloud Run for Anthos
• Google Kubernetes Engine on-prem
• Migrate for Compute Engine

Activities

• Review Anthos use cases for hybrid environments.
• Explore Cloud Run for Anthos sample architectures.
• Take ExamOS Challenger mode quiz on Hybrid & Multi-Cloud.

Topics

• Committed use discounts, sustained use discounts
• Budgets, alerts, quotas
• Disaster recovery (backup, replication, failover)
• High availability design (multi-region, active-passive, active-active)

Activities

• Create a budget with an alert threshold in GCP Console.
• Design a multi-region disaster recovery plan for a stateful app.
• Take ExamOS Challenger mode quiz on Cost & Reliability.

Topics

• Full syllabus review (all domains)
• Time management for 50–60 questions (2 hours)

Activities

• Take ExamOS Challenger mode full quizzes (all domains) – at least 3.
• Review every incorrect answer; study the explanation.
• Identify weak domains and retake targeted quizzes (premium Focus mode).
• Repeat until you pass 3 Challenger quizzes in a row.

Topics

• Realistic exam simulation (case studies, architecture design)
• Case study analysis (e.g., healthcare, retail, financial services)

Activities

• Take ExamOS Legend mode full quizzes (80% hard questions) – at least 3.
• Practice with official Google case studies (EHR, Dress4Win, Mountkirk Games).
• Review every incorrect answer – focus on "why" you missed it.
• Once you pass Legend mode twice in a row, schedule your real exam.