It’s 9 a.m. on a sunny Saturday morning, a great day to enjoy it in the park, jogging, playing whatever sport you like or just staying in bed… yup, a great day… but instead of going out to enjoy this beautiful day, you are heading out to a Pearson Vue testing center to finally take your first Azure Certification exam...
Long study hours have passed, maybe you have missed a couple of episodes of your favorite season of [place your favorite series’ name here], but you had to prepare yourself to ace this moment in your career 😉…
It’s 9:30 am and you’ve finally arrived at the test center and, after an id validation process, you are assigned a PC in a comfy room where you will be answering questions, solving cases and showing your Azure knowledge for the next 90 – 180 minutes...
If everything goes accordingly to plan, you should be getting your first Azure credential! -did I mention you can show yours directly on LinkedIn?
If everything goes accordingly to plan...
For many, achieving a Microsoft certification represents a great deal of effort. Even if you have been working for years on the technology you want to get certified, passing a certification exam demands preparation: reviewing documentation material, testing it on the Azure Portal and, why not, practicing with an official test exam... and luckily (sort of) there are tons of preparation sources that you can take advantage of.
In my case, in 2019 I had the opportunity to pass 5 exams and achieve 4 Microsoft Cloud certifications (as some certifications require you to pass 2 exams!). To be honest with you, I found this journey very exciting, but, it took me a while to master the art of exam preparation. I would say ‘mastering’ exam prep may be as hard as passing the exam itself (and it makes total sense since you spend more hours preparing for the exam than the time it takes to complete the certification itself).
I was lucky enough –or let's say well prepared enough- to pass all these exams on my first attempt (if you didn’t pass your exam, you can retake it a couple of times -check it out here), and during this journey, I found many great resources for preparation. I would´ve liked to know these resources beforehand, I had saved a couple of days finding the right prep material.
As I mentioned before, mastering preparation is as much as important as passing the exam itself… so, I want to share with you what I´ve learned so far. I´m confident you will save time and more importantly, you will enjoy the prep ride!
Enjoy your journey… wisely
Skills Measured
This first resource is key. Consider it as your master guide. For each certification exam, Microsoft has specified the skills measured you need to focus on, so you properly frame the scope needed for your preparation. For instance, take a look at the contents of the AZ103 Exam here.
Make sure to review each (and I empathize -each) of the topics of the exam presented in this section. After all, this guide provides you with the navigation cart for the topics you should master.
In addition, revisit this link frequently, as updates for the certification content happen from time to time. Microsoft will specify such changes here.
With this master guide at hand, you are ready to start digging into your preparation resources!
Microsoft Learn (Free)
Microsoft has centralized through an interactive, hands-on and role-based portal, free courses and learning paths for many cloud technologies. What I like about Microsoft Learn is its format. In here you will find concise and easy to understand content to support your preparation efforts. It gives you a fast start on many of the cloud topics covered on an Azure exam, classified by role and certification type through ‘Learning Paths’.
If you haven't had the opportunity to visit the Microsoft Learn website, I strongly recommend it to do so here.
If you are looking to get hands-on practice, this portal is also great (many cloud certifications require you to complete labs!).
What I like the most about labs at Microsoft Learn, is that for many of them, Microsoft grants you access to Azure for free! So, no excuses to put your knowledge into practice right away!
In my experience, Microsoft Learn covers between 50 to 60% of the exam contents, so if you want to close some knowledge gaps, you should complement your preparation with other resources like the ones explained next.
Pluralsight (Free *)
Pluralsight is also a great source for your preparation. Content in Pluralsight is delivered through videos where topics are explained extensively –such that it could take you a couple of hours just to finish the intro chapters for some of them-.
This is great if you have enough time for your exam prep or if you are planning to take it in a couple of months. If your schedule is tight and your due date is coming soon, I suggest you focus on Microsoft Learn first, and then, complement your preparation with topic-specific Pluralsight material. Expect 2-3 hours to complete each topic, so plan your time wisely!
In my case, I took Pluralsight courses when the content in Microsoft Learn was too general or when I wanted to go deeper into a particular subject.
Another great aspect of Pluralsight is that you can download the courses and consume them on the go. These videos were my favorite companion on long trips around South America. The downside of Pluralsight is the lack of hands-on labs or Azure credits, but it has a really nice feature (RoleIQ) where you can measure your knowledge for free and keep improving it!
I would say Pluralsight material covers between 70-80% of the exam contents, and if you have enough time, it is worth to invest it on it.
*Microsoft in partnership with Pluralsight gives you access to content for various cloud certifications for free. For other topics, you need to get a paid Pluralsight subscription.
Practice Tests (Paid)
Finally, a great way to check your knowledge and get quite a good picture of how you will do during the real exam, it’s through Official Practice Tests.
Taking these tests costs you a couple of bucks, but you can take advantage of several offers that bundle all together practice tests and certification vouchers for taking your exam.
I’ve found Practice Tests very useful since you can take the test in ‘practice mode’ (sort of a 'practice of the practice' test 😊).
In 'practice mode', you can check the answers for each question you are presented.
Besides, it provides explanations about why or why not the answer you selected is correct. Finally, if you want to go deeper into a particular topic, it also provides you links to Microsoft’s documentation.
Many more options are available for you!
If you want to complement these prep sources or if your learning type is different than mine, there are many more options available for you that are also good. Take a look at -Official Cert Exam Books, Udemy Courses, Oreilly Courses, etc.
Final Thoughts
Getting a Cloud certification has become of utmost importance today more than ever. As I explained before, mastering exam prep is as much as complex as the exam itself. In my opinion, you can be better prepared if you combine these 3 sources: Microsoft Learn + Pluralsight + Practice Tests. In my experience, you will be covering 99% of the content you need to ace your Certification Exam!**
One final piece of advice... If you are truly committed to achieving your certification, -schedule your exam today!-. By doing so, it will frame your effort, prep time, resources, material and practice needed!
Trust me, by setting your exam's date, it will completely change the way how you see achieving a certification... it will become your clearly defined smart goal.
So, what are you waiting for! Get Azure Certified this year!
PD. I have edited this post based on my experience taking the Exams AZ-900, AZ-103, AZ-300, AZ-301 and AZ-500. You can check my certifications here-.
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