The idea of taking a Microsoft exam can be quite daunting. Self doubt creeps in, and it’s easy to talk yourself out of putting yourself through a stressful situation that you could just avoid. But, taking a Microsoft exam and passing is a great feeling, and qualifies your understanding of the topic.
I’m hoping I can convince you – the ones out there who have wondered if they should try working towards a Microsoft Certification – to give it a shot.
Let’s work through the fundamentals. There’s Microsoft Exams, and Microsoft Certifications. Often there’s a 1 to 1 relationship – pass an exam, get a certification. Some certifications have prerequisites that you’re already holding other Microsoft Certifications. Exams normally have a code such as AZ-104 where the certification doesn’t. For a nice 1 pager of all the Credentials and exams, have a look at the Certifications Poster.
For your first exam and certification, focus on choosing one that’s at the fundamentals level. These exams all end in 9xx, such as MS-900 for Microsoft 365 Fundamentals. A full list of these fundamentals I have listed on MSPortals.io with a few handy links on each.
Which exam should you take first? Pick the one you’ve got the most experience or knowledge on. If you aren’t sure, start by checking the study guide. For MS-900 here’s the link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/ms-900 and you’ll see a list of the aimed audience, skills measured etc.
You’ll also see a section called ‘Study resources‘. This will contain links such as the ‘Get trained‘ area, which jumps to the certification itself and lists ways to prepare and practise for the exam.
Preparing for the exam is usually an online self-paced course, and this is worth going through to understand the topics and areas that will be covered in the exam. Practice for the exam will take you to a set of multiple choice questions, which is a good test of your knowledge to see if you’re ready to book.
Microsoft exams need a 700/1000 score to pass – which is the equivalent of 70%. For 50 questions, you should be getting at least 35 right, but that’s still cutting it a bit close. You have the luxury of time, being able to look things up and check your answer as you go so I’d be aiming more for getting >45 out of the 50 right.
You can also run an Exam Sandbox, which is just running the actual exam software with unrelated questions just to get a feel of how it’ll be when you actually sit your exam.
Fundamental exams are shorter than the more in-depth exams, and last for roughly 65 minutes with 35-50 questions. Of that hour and a bit, there’s still 15-20 minutes expected of set up and wind down.
There is a cost associated with taking a Microsoft Exam, and on the 1st November 2024 these prices have just changed. The cost is region dependant, but ranges from $44USD to $99USD for the fundamentals.
The certification page will have an area to let you ‘Take the exam‘ which is where you schedule it. Sometimes you might be able to book it for the same day, other times you may need to look a few days or weeks forward to book in an available slot. You’ll have the option of testing the software and making sure everything works as a part of this. Exams used to be in-person only, but now you can do them remote.
On the day of the exam, log in ~15 minutes early and follow the instructions you were emailed – go through the tests again, and there’s a bit of an onboarding and verification process to go through. You may need to take photos of your identity and your work area to show you’re the right person taking the exam and don’t have access to any items that would be considered cheating. You’ll be on camera and open microphone the entire exam, and have a host in the background monitoring you.
Fundamental exams are NOT open book, but other exams are (for those, you can access content on learn.microsoft.com during the exam).
Once you’re in the exam, take your time. You’ll see how long you have to go, and mostly can go back to previous questions or skip questions to answer later (when this isn’t possible, you’ll be prompted – read all screens carefully!).
If you happen to fail, don’t be disheartened. You’ll see your score, how well you did in each area, and you can take the exam again. The first time you can take it again after waiting 24 hours. Further retake policies are available here. Plenty of people fail (including me!) and just treat it as more practise – taking the exam a second time is less stressful than the first as you’ve got a much better idea on what you’re in for. The questions the second time and beyond may not be exactly the same, normally you get a random subset from a larger pool of questions – but you’ll probably see a few that aren’t new.
If you pass well done! The panic of taking the exam should be over, you’ll get a congratulations email and can take the satisfaction of posting about your achievement on LinkedIn.
If you want to check your exam/certification status, log into your Learn Profile https://aka.ms/LearnProfile but don’t expect this to fully update immediately after the exam, some of the information can take a day or two to update.
Here’s a detailed video from Microsoft covering the entire exam experience:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/exam-readiness-zone/what-to-expect-on-your-microsoft-fundamentals-exam
and here’s Microsoft’s documentation on the Exam duration and exam experience:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/support/exam-duration-exam-experience
I’ve also collected a lot of Microsoft exam and certification related links and created a ‘Training’ section on MSPortals.io:
https://msportals.io/training?search=
If you have any questions or want any advice, drop a comment below. If you pass an exam, post it on LinkedIn and tell me about it so I can congratulate you! https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamfowlerit/