Introduction
After a long process of self-motivating, I finally appeared for AZ-900 – Azure Fundamentals certification exam, and guess what, I cleared the exam in the first take π.
Many of my peers and community members I am associated with asked me to share the certification exam details like resources, preparation time, its complexity, etc. This made me pen down about Azure role-based examination after a quite long break of writing.
For professionals with Azure exposure, aspiring Cloud professionals, those interested in upgrading their skills set with Cloud, and all other IT professionals associated with the Cloud computing, especially the ones who are planning to appear for AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals certification exam, this article will explain must do’s & don’ts along with detailing the simplest way to clear the certification.
Prerequisite
Before we jump into more details, let's understand what it requires to go with AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals certification.
The answer is ‘Nothing’ except for your zeal to learn Azure, along with a few things as detailed in the later part of this article.
Why AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals
To keep it simple, Microsoft has kept this exam a starting point for all other Azure role-based examinations. Though optional, it finds its place in all the certification exam paths as a prerequisite to start with. It doesn’t matter if you are aiming for Azure Solution Architect or Azure Administrator or even AzureAI engineer or Azure Data Engineer, or Azure DevOps Engineer, all this comes with to start from Azure Fundamentals.
Image src : Created by me using public badges icon
So, clearing this exam will open your gates to jump in for other azure certification according to your roles, responsibilities, & interest. Albeit, not having this exam will not stop you either, but consider this a most recommended approach or path for having any Azure Role-based certification exams.
About AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals
This exam act as a pillar for all other azure role-based examinations. As the name depicts, it’s all about polishing your Cloud services concepts and how they are provided with Microsoft Azure. The best part of this exam is being a foundational exam for Cloud geeks, it also intends professionals from the non-IT background, mostly involved with Cloud-based solutions & services.
Passing this exam qualifies you with Microsoft Certified Azure Fundamentals badge.
Image Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/azure-fundamentals.aspx
Also, certification price for Azure Fundamentals is comparatively the lowest of all other azure certifications. Compare to other certification exams, its price comes to approx. $99 USD (varies for different countries)
At the time of writing this article, the latest exam updates came was in May 2019. It measures your below skills as,
- Your understanding of Cloud Concepts
- Your understanding of core Azure services.
- Your understanding of Security, privacy, compliance, and trust.
- And your understanding of Azure pricing and support.
For more details, read
here.
How to prepare for AZ-900
Now, the most important part of this article and probably, one of the main reasons why you are here is how to prepare for passing AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals easily.
First and foremost, take this exam seriously. It doesn’t matter you have 2 or 4+ years of experience, working with Azure, mark my words you will still struggle, if not prepared.
The best way to start preparing for AZ -900 Azure Fundamentals is from
Microsoft Learn.
Microsoft Learn was introduced at Ignite 2018 as a free learning platform for not just Azure but a lot of different Microsoft technologies. Depending on your job role or the skills, it provides you with various learning paths.
Most of the learning paths give you hands-on learning and helps you develop practical skills through an interactive way of training.
The best part is it’s free! With no requirement of credit card, you get instant in-browser access to different Microsoft tools & modules.
Image source: Official Website of Microsoft Learn
After selecting the appropriate course modules, click on the
Azure Fundamentals course to proceed with our exam learning. It comes with less than 9 hours of learning comprising 11 modules. This will give you immense command on skills being measured during exams.
Image source: Official Website of Microsoft Learn
Again, don’t just byheart the content, but dive into the subject unless the concepts are not cleared. Remember, hands-on will always help you.
Until here it was all free, alternately you can also refer few paid courses from Udemy, Pluralsight specifically targeting this exam, but only after going through above said modules.
Exam Flavor
Now, this exam will let you have 60 mins of total time to attend approx. 44 objective type questions (could vary, it was my count). Here extra 30 mins do come for reading the exam guidelines and terms.
Now, I had a myth, that as I know the exam guidelines, would proceed directly with question set, adding 30 mins to my basket, making it 90 mins for the exam. But as I said it was my myth, had only 60 mins to attempt.
To make you more familiar with exam question pattern, will list down a few sample questions so that you get a high-level gist of expected questions as per the skills mentioned above.
For Cloud Concepts,
Image1: Created by me – Sample question for understanding on Cloud concepts
Now, this question comes with no review or retry option available; so once clicked on Next, there is no chance to reattempt the same question.
So, read the question carefully and then answer. Don’t rush to proceed.
Again, next could be like -
Image2: Created by me – Sample question for understanding on Cloud concepts
If you notice there is not much difference in the above two questions, except for the type of Azure resources being listed as a part of solutions. This validates your understanding of the difference between IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.
For Core Azure services,
Image3: Created by me – Sample question for understanding on Core Azur services
So, another pattern comes with matching appropriate service offerings from the list of dropdown available.
For security, privacy, compliance, and trust,
Image4: Created by me – Sample question for understanding on Security, privacy, compliance, and trust
An objective type pattern with real-time scenarios and the answer expected is its outcome. Here, I would say that only reading is not sufficient, a Hands-on experience would definitely work.
For Azure pricing and support,
Image5: Created by me – Sample question for understanding on Azure pricing and support.
Interesting, isn’t it.
Avoid...
- Relying only on Dumps (I personally feel this is the most unethical way of aiming any certification exam).
- Relying on mugging-up Online courses
- Running from gaining hands-on experience.
- Considering the exam as ‘not so important’
- Appearing without prior studying.
Must…
- Strictly follow, ‘Don't be a know-it-all; be a learn-it-all’
- Go through each section in detail with thorough understanding.
- Have an Azure Free trial account created, and make your hands dirty with managing Azure resources.
Try to…
Summary
AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals is one of the trickiest certifications, which will measure your actual skills on cloud concepts, and basic understanding with Microsoft Azure. From the above sample questions, you must now have a very clear idea on what Microsoft expects from you when it says Azure Fundamentals.
Well, relax! From the above article, my only intention is to make you feel more comfortable and confident before appearing for this exam, with clear expectations and no assumptions.
Do let me know if this article helps you in any way to clear your Azure Fundamentals certifications. Don’t forget to share your experience in the comments below.
Very Best Luck, Happy Azure learning!