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Passing Microsoft Azure AZ-900 Exam with free Azure Account and Tutorials

This article explains how to pass the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification AZ-900 Exam using free resources.

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Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

What is Microsoft Azure Fundamental AZ-900 Exam?

Azure is a platform from Microsoft that provides cloud services to help individuals and organizations meet their current and future business challenges. Azure helps with building, managing, deploying applications on a massive global network. There are other cloud service providers like Amazon Web Service(AWS), Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud and the list goes on. Cloud Services reduce cost, increase scalability, availability, reliability, and security. AZ-900 Exam certifies your knowledge of Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. It is meant for beginners in cloud computing, people interested in demonstrating foundational knowledge of cloud services and how those services are provided with Microsoft Azure. There is no need for a technical background to pass the exams but a technical background will make acing the examination easier. Other Microsoft Azure certification exams include DP-100 for Azure Data Scientist Associate, AI-100 for azure AI Engineer Associate and the list gets updated regularly.

azure certifications path Source : https://www.whizlabs.com/blog/azure-certifications-path/

What I did to pass the AZ-900 Exam

It was the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany and I was in the penultimate semester of my masters program in Data Analytics(Machine Learning and Big Data) with almost no knowledge on how to use Azure. Taking safety precautions to stay at home and practice social distancing, I thought it wise to use the opportunity of having ample time to develop myself and add new skills. I leveraged the free time to learn Azure Fundamentals by spending about 6 -8 hours for 4 days to prepare for the exams, also noteworthy is that I prepared using only free resources, though some paid tutorials could make it easier. There are four ways to take the exams.

Following these options you have a choice of your desired date and time to take the exam. My preference was to take it at home and I took the test on March 24th, 2020.

What resources did I use?

  1. Microsoft Azure free account - This is a free azure account that comes with a 12 months validity. $200 free credit is offered for the first 30 days and more than 25 products are accessible for free afterwards. I was able to pass my AZ-900 exams without the need for a Microsoft Azure subscription.

  2. Microsoft Learn Platform for Azure Fundamentals – This is a free online tutorial provided by Microsoft, mostly text based with a few short video clips, that explain all the important Azure concepts. It consists of 12 modules as of the time I wrote the exam. It is estimated to take 9hrs 48 mins of study time but expect to spend much more time studying the material. It took me 2 full days to complete it.

  3. Cloud Academy – This is an online video tutorial with free 7 days of trial. The course has a duration of 10 hours 32 minutes. This will help you solidify your knowledge. It contains 13 videos and is taught by Guy Hummel an Azure and Google Cloud Content lead. It took me one full day and a half more to complete it.

There are a lot of very good paid courses that can be of help too, although I didn’t use any of them, examples are Microsoft Instructor-led course, Udemy AZ-900 Azure Exam Prep: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals in 2020, AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Prep-2020 edition, Microsoft Azure – Beginner’s Guide + AZ-900 preparation and Whizlabs AZ-900 Exam Practices Tests

Structure of the AZ-900 exam

The exam will test your knowledge in 4 models

Price – The exam costs 99 euros (as at the time I wrote mine) since I am in Germany, but the price varies by country because it costs $99 in the USA (despite euro having more value than the dollar, I don’t understand the economics behind that). Note, after adding VAT, the total sum was about 120 euros. You can get a discount if you are a Microsoft Imagine Academy program member, Microsoft Partner Network program member or a Microsoft Certified Trainer. You can cancel the appointment 6 business days before the exam day to get a full refund.

Questions –I had 41 questions although I learnt it can vary between 40 – 60 questions. The questions come in different formats: short answer, repeated answer choices, build a list, multiple-choice, mark review, review screen, active screen, best answer, drag and drop, etc. Note that you are not required to type (input) any answer during the exam.

Duration – The exam lasted for 60 minutes but the scheduled time varies between 85 -90 minutes, taking the time required for reading the exam guidelines, taking a survey and providing a review into account.

Exam structure and Score - You have the opportunity to select some questions for review, which will give you the opportunity to review and correct them before the final submission. After the final submission, you have another 10 minutes to see all the answers you supplied but this time you cannot make any correction. To pass the exams you need to a total of at least 700. Your exam report will be available immediately after you finish. This report contains your total score, pass or fail status and a bar chart showing performance in key areas of the exam. The certificate will be out about 2 days after the exam. You have the opportunity to retake the exam after 24 hours if you fail. You can read more about microsoft certification exam policy and frequently asked questions here

az-900-certificate My Microsoft Azure Fundamental Certificate I also taught Microsoft Azure Fundamentals at the 5-days AI everyday Virtual Bootcamp, this video can be of help. After you have passed the AZ-900 exam, you can decide to move forward by taking one of the associate certifications. I wrote an article on Becoming an Azure Data Scientist Associate: How to pass DP-100 exam. I wish you the best as you start the journey in Cloud computing and in your exam. Happy Learning!!!