Azure AZ-900 Certification Exam: My Experience

On Saturday, August 6, 2022 I sat for and approved my Microsoft Azure AZ-900 certification exam.

What does AZ-900 certification consist of?

The AZ-900 Fundamentals certification ensures that a person knows all the basic services that Microsoft’s cloud, Azure, and its enterprise applications have.

For practical purposes, it prepares you to serve as an intermediary who recommends Microsoft Azure services to a company or third party, according to their needs. Or, as a software professional, you can take advantage of all the services that Azure has to offer. It often reads like a no-brainer, but Azure has a wealth of services.

To achieve the above you need to know the basic architecture of Azure, its different services: compute, storage, artificial intelligence, etc., their special features, differences, and their respective use cases.

My examination process

The exam was conducted through the Evaluaasi platform , through which you download a program that connects to a remote desktop to take the exam. This program will monitor your computer and connected devices, probably to prevent a user from cheating in some way; I have heard that some evaluation processes are so strict that they ask to see the room in which you will take the exam before starting. That wasn’t my case though.

When it is time for the exam, and once connected to the remote desktop, an evaluator will enter his or her username and password to give you access to the exam.

According to what I was told in one of their emails, the application of the exam can be postponed and they are quite flexible.

AZ-900 Examination format

The duration of the exam is approximately 60 minutes and has 45 questions, there are multiple choice questions, true or false, matching columns and even some where you have to choose an option from the Microsoft marketplace directly, just as if you were in the browser.

You can skip questions and mark them to come back to them later, which I highly recommend because time is tight, I had 10 minutes left over, but there were some questions I couldn’t answer in the first round.

The test is divided into different sections, each with a different value, generally fluctuating around 20%.

At the end of the exam, the system automatically calculates your score and informs you if you approved. You need a minimum of 700 points out of a maximum of 1000 points to pass.

Contents of the AZ-900 exam

The exam is strongly oriented towards practical applications of cloud services. With questions focused on practical cases, where a fictitious company needs to decide which cloud service can best meet their needs, so it is not enough to know definitions, but to have a clear understanding of concepts, to be able to apply them in an environment a little more similar to the real one.

What language is the test in?

At the time of taking the exam it is possible to select from several languages, including English and Spanish, so don’t worry if you think that language will be another barrier in this exam.

Where to study for the AZ-900 certification exam?

To study I used the following resources, here is a brief description of each one.

Microsoft Learn

The microsoft Learn platform is the default resource, as there is no one better than microsoft to start reading the basic features of the Azure cloud. However, being a text-only solution it can become somewhat tedious. In addition, the large amount of information can make people who have their first approach to new technologies feel lost.

The e-learning platform is also available in Spanish, just select the language.

See below for details on the content of this platform.

Learnbigdata

Aprenderbigdata has a exam guide in 5 PDF files quite complete with questions in Spanish, which you can use as a review quiz, it is almost at the bottom of the page.

Adam Marczac’s website

The Marczac website has a complete review of the AZ-900 certification content, organized into sections, along with an interactive form where you can test your knowledge on the spot, plus links to their youtube videos. I highly recommend it.

Technical preparation from John Savill

Among the resources I used to study I would like to highlight the following video by John Savill, as I found it to be the most complete and best explained:

It is a 3-hour review in English, in which they explain the basics of the Azure cloud, in a more structured and visual way. Like a giant blueprint of the cloud, in which they explain each part and how it relates to the others.

How much does AZ-900 certification cost? Is it free?

The certification costs about $90 USD directly with microsoft, but I got it for free as part of a Platzi learning platform certification challenge .

I understand that if you sign up for the Microsoft Learn e-learning platform, they usually give away coupons from time to time.

With so many coupons and other free options, I don’t recommend that you shell out the money out of pocket but wait for an opportunity to get it for free or much cheaper.

Free Platzi AZ-900 certification process

A couple of months ago Platzi offered a challenge in which they give you the opportunity to certify yourself completely free of charge, through their platform, with two requirements: pass a series of courses on their platform, with their respective exams, and complete a Microsoft Learn practice lab.

Required Platzi Courses

The process consists of completing the following 4 courses:

• Fundamentals of Software Engineering
• Introduction to the Terminal and Command Line Course
• Linux Server Administration Course
• Introduction to the Cloud with Azure Course

In general the first two are fairly easy, especially if you already have experience working with the usual linux commands from the terminal , the last two do require some experience or a lot of practice on your part to pass them.

Microsoft Learn Practices

The practical laboratory is a series of 20 courses in which each course is subdivided into theory and practice. In the theoretical part you are shown the basics of the subject in written form, while the practical part consists of a short form of 3-4 questions in which the previous content is evaluated, but as a practical application.

For example, “A company wants to implement a voting box where security is at its highest, which Microsoft Azure service would you recommend using.”

Azure Fundamentals Badge

If you pass the exam, you will have access to the Microsoft AZ-900 Fundamentals badge, which you can register on Credly, or directly place your badge on a website, your LinkedIn profile or other medium.

This is mine, hosted on credly.