Microsoft Azure:- Exam Preparation Tips

As of writing this blog, I have passed the following Microsoft Azure Exams:-

• Microsoft 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Solutions
• Microsoft 70-535: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions
• Microsoft AZ-102: Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Transition
  

I thought my next blog I will go into some detail exam preparation tips aimed at Microsoft Azure exams. The exam set I have taken are aimed at Azure administrator/Architect, the four main roles within Azure exams are:

• Azure Administrator
• Architect
• Developer
• Azure Stack Operator

Passing of the Azure exams acknowledges that you are able to identify cloud and hybrid solutions correctly with Azure Resources, technologies and various techniques, whether it be cost saving or the customer requirement – knowing the differences is key! 

Are you new to Azure?

If you have answered yes to the above, I do not recommend attempting any Microsoft Azure exams just yet, they are tough! Don’t pressure yourself and enjoy what Azure has to offer before you are thinking about passing a formal exam! Lets get you started:-

• Start your free trial
• What is Azure?
• Get started with Azure Portal

How to prepare for an Azure exam?

• View the exam curriculum, understand each topic fully! A great start is to visit https://azure.microsoft.com and research each topic, understand the resource(s)

A good start of a study plan I found to be very useful:

Read through each topic and highlight or color-code each one based on your comfort level with it. It might look something like this: 

– Red – “I’ve never touched that before”

– Yellow – “I know what it is”

– Green – “I could teach the class”

A test I use is to identify the key words and feature names and then try to describe them. What is it, how is it used, when is it used, any limitations on use, etc. Then, I’ll compare my definition with the Features page on Azure.com and see if I was right. If I was accurate with this, I was at least yellow.

Nick Johnson – blogs.technet.microsoft.com

• Understanding the resources is one thing – knowing when to deploy them is another! I recommend deploying each resource into Azure, view the settings and look at why they may be deployed over a similar resource.
• Online training is highly recommended, Using Microsoft Learn you can go through pre-created scenarios and use Azure sandbox created within the tutorials to deploy a test instance, its awesome!
• Understand the potential automation behind deploying resources specifically using Powershell/CLi or Azure CLI
• Build test environments with multiple resources, understand how the deployment could assist your everyday scenario
• Read blog resources, start off with https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/blog/
• Azure Reddit, look at issues people are having – great experience!
• Practice tests, I have used Mindhub practice exams – sitting a practice exam will give you a good indication into how your studying is going!

Only reading and learning is not required, try gain more and more knowledge and try to understand the concepts from a fundamental level!

Exam day

Microsoft azure exams are not easy, they are tough! 

• Dont panic, stay calm your hard preparation will pay off!
• Time management I have found is seriously important, remember to check the remaining time regularly
• There may be a number of scenarios, read these fully and understand them, don’t be afraid go back and double-check the scenario before you answer your question(s)!
• Read each question fully 🙂 

Thanks for reading, I hope this blog post prepares you for your Azure journey, whether it be the start or time to gain certification – enjoy!