Resources to pass Microsoft Azure CERTIFICATIONS

Since I receive regular requests to share my set of Study Resources for passing Microsoft Certifications, and I believe, I can say... I have a few... here's what I have done. Collated them all to put them all in one place. So based on the exam you're looking for, feel free to explore and study, and leave comments if worked for you, or otherwise.

INDEX: Following Exams are covered >

1. AZ-120
2. AI-900
3. DP-900
4. MS-700
5. MB-600
6. MB-901
7. PL-900
8. MS-900
9. 98-364
10. AZ-220
11. AZ-400
12. AZ-900
13. AZ-500
14. AZ-103
15. AI-100 & DP-100
16. DP-300
17. DA-100
18. AZ-600

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Approach:

I have a very clinical approach in approaching Certification exams. Whether I have taken AWS, Red Hat, VMware, Oracle certifications in the past, or currently doing my Microsoft Azure certification. I do *not* just "go with the flow". Yes, natural ability is God's gift, but unfortunately it never takes one far... what takes you far is clinical discipline, positive attitude, and most importantly, an approach that you can continually assess, research, and improve your *odds* of success.

So here's top 5 things I do:

• Step 1: I have a 'Training & Certification Calendar'. Which I maintain religiously. I enter dates therein, I fill in the dates when I want to take an exam - if I am not prepared - I move the dates around - I fill in my feedback post my exam - in case I have failed it, record it, analyze it when I have time. I am honest with myself.
• Step 2: I bucket exams in 2 categories: a) I can easily pass these because I have a command over them and work with them daily, b) I need a very thorough study cause I know the subjects at a macroscopic level, but need to spend some weekends studying the nitty-gritty of the details.
• Step 3: Once I have put the dates in my excel Calendar, I work backwards. Preparing a schedule of study after dinner, OR on weekends, and then eventually take a mixed approach of - online documentation, resources from blogs, LinkedIn Learning (which is free for me), Udemy (which is NOT free for me), and Pluralsight (again, NOT free for me). I assess my current understanding and check which path to take - either I pay for courses etc. cause I need to pass the exam, versus, I can just skim from free materials, and sit and pass the exam cause I know the fundamentals strong enough.
• Step 4: Comes the preparation. I do Labs as I go along to ensure what I'm studying makes sense, and is relevant. Also usually go through sample questions, and if any.
• Step 5: I always schedule exams either on a Saturday, or, if weekend not possible, then late night, 23:00 or 23:45 timings cause then I can sit for it post dinner, and entire day work. Work at Microsoft as a CSA is quite tiring, from 10am - 8pm, we have incessant calls, issues, Teams calls, and escalations to handle... post which I ensure, I keep a few hours to relax, have dinner, and then sit for an Exam.

Now, here's the resources...

1) AZ-120: Planning and Administering Microsoft Azure for SAP Workloads; 2 hours, 43 questions

1. Certification course outline > https://bit.ly/3g5F59R
2. Many thanks to Chin Lai T. for putting up this amazing collection of links, resources, Labs, courses and more > https://bit.ly/2FoLcJB
3. Thanks to Sachin Ghorpade for putting this up > https://bit.ly/2Yb4ybF
4. Microsoft Learn paths > https://bit.ly/3aCk4SX, https://bit.ly/3iNzTcs, https://bit.ly/3276Cmu
5. Hands-on Labs > Linux Clustering on Azure > https://bit.ly/2DUQL2i, Windows Clustering on Azure > https://bit.ly/2Q1QAok, SAP NetWeaver on SLES12 > https://bit.ly/2EeMzKd, SAP NetWeaver on Windows Server2016 > https://bit.ly/34a8ZHE

2) AI-900: Azure AI Fundamentals; 60 mins, 53 questions

1. Firstly, a big thanks once again to Stanislas Quastana at Microsoft for the AI-900 Study Guide > https://bit.ly/2XY8tZu
2. ML courses on YouTube > https://bit.ly/2DH9D4M, https://bit.ly/2PPYvVt, https://bit.ly/30TpFRv
3. Microsoft Learn path > https://bit.ly/30UrNbZ
4. Microsoft Ignite Sessions > https://bit.ly/30ULn7L, https://bit.ly/3gUSd2F, https://bit.ly/30Vbxr4, https://bit.ly/3iH8oRA, https://bit.ly/3fWDXoM, https://bit.ly/33Zf2ii, https://bit.ly/30YQh3X, https://bit.ly/30RTbr2, https://bit.ly/2XZRp59, https://bit.ly/2DXE1rk
5. Microsoft AI-100 (AI Engineer) Exam Prep > https://bit.ly/2CtBeFU

3) DP-900: Azure Data Fundamentals; 60 mins, 49 questions

I appeared this exam when it was just 1 week out of Beta; hence did not find any such specific material(s) for this exam. I prepared using the following, and sat for the exam. Fairly easy exam; cleared it within 10 minutes.

1. DP-200 Exam Prep (access here > https://bit.ly/33Hpivh).

4) MS-700: Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate; 2 hours, 41 questions

1. Download course content here > https://bit.ly/3eY1qp5
2. Microsoft official Exam Prep > https://bit.ly/2ZZuBUD
3. Microsoft Learn modules > https://bit.ly/3jHezq7
4. Upgrade path to Teams from Skype for Business Online & Skype for Business on-premises > https://bit.ly/39uAmgo. Pretty straight-fwd exam if you've tinkered with Azure AD, Teams Admin Center, PowerShell, troubleshooting.

5) MB-600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect

1. Microsoft Learn *free* training on "Architect solutions for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform" > https://bit.ly/2WEyKeO
2. A broad knowledge of Azure, Power Platform, Power Automate, Power BI & Dynamics 365 is needed to clear this Architect exam.
3. Course MB-600T00-A: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect > https://bit.ly/2WDIUMB

6) MB-901: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals; 60 mins, 39 questions

1. Official Certification page > https://bit.ly/38LotSQ
2. Download outline here (please NOTE - Exam content is getting updated from 10 July, 2020) > https://bit.ly/3iGpcJr
3. Microsoft 'Learn' modules for *free* training > https://bit.ly/2O70fsD
4. MB-900 (older version) Exam Prep session at Ignite > https://bit.ly/2ZQUwMR

7) PL-900: Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals; 60 mins, 36 questions

1. Study Guide, thanks to Stanislas Quastana for preparing and putting this up. > https://bit.ly/3gyuwwM
2. Inside the Microsoft Power Platform | Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI and more > https://bit.ly/3f69l4K
3. Microsoft Power Platform Online Conference 2020 | 9 Hours of content & Sessions > https://bit.ly/3f8rf74
4. Microsoft Learn 'LearningPath' > https://bit.ly/2O2AKsw
5. Power Platform management: Tips and tools to start your rollout > https://bit.ly/2ZBaXNa
6. Robotic Process Automation with Microsoft Power Automate, UI flows & AI Builder > https://bit.ly/31OeRoG

*Note* - The content of this exam will be updated on July 13, 2020. Please download the skills measured document below to see what will be changing > https://lnkd.in/dNAf2md

8) MS-900: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals

1. Microsoft Learn for Microsoft 365 > https://bit.ly/3gpVfLT
2. MS-900 Exam Prep > https://bit.ly/2BZsF56
3. LinkedIn Learning Learning module of 4 Courses geared towards passing MS-900. I completed all the 4, so highly recommended to finish the entire module of these 4 courses > https://bit.ly/35cKbiz

9) Exam 98-364: SQL/Database Fundamentals & Administration, version 2020; 45 mins, 37 questions

1. Official page for content > https://bit.ly/2D0S271
2. LinkedIn Learning MTA: 98-364 Certification Learning path comprising of 4 courses > https://bit.ly/2CNGZ0U
3. SQL Essential Training > https://bit.ly/2BPyG4i

10) AZ-220: Microsoft Azure: IoT Developer Specialty; 3 hours, 59 questions

1. Exam AZ-220 Contents > https://bit.ly/31aHMDm
2. MCT Guide Book for AZ-220T00 Microsoft Azure IoT Developer OR take the course > https://bit.ly/2Z2S6KF
3. LinkedInLearning course on Azure IoT Development > https://bit.ly/2VaNGQW
4. Microsoft Ignite Session on IoT Edge > https://bit.ly/2V9x4ZZ
5. IoT Deep Dive Live: Building End to End Industrial Solutions with PTC ThingWorx & Azure > https://bit.ly/2Vau3Zm
6. The No Code Way to Connect Sensors to Azure IoT > https://bit.ly/3fTT82K
7. Microsoft Ignite sessions > https://bit.ly/2NpKexq
8. IoT at Microsoft Build 2020 Sessions > https://bit.ly/37X1aVq
9. *Mandatory watch* - Channel9 IoT Sessions > https://bit.ly/2Z08tI5
10. Hands-on Lab (IoT Hub RaspberryPi Web Simulator) > https://bit.ly/3fP81mB
11. Free Microsoft Learn IoT Learning Path > https://bit.ly/2zUOmT0
12. Azure IoT Developer Specialty Certification Prep by Olivier Bloch & Pamela Cortez > https://bit.ly/2NqoKRf

11) AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions; 2 hours, 44 questions

1. Reference Text book was the 'AZ-400T00' PrepGuide (available to MCTs). Publicly available training modules are available here > https://bit.ly/3hOvLJA
2. Azure for DevOps: Designing a Strategy, https://bit.ly/3e9lCom
3. Learning Azure DevOps, https://bit.ly/2Y7B6nj
4. Azure for DevOps: Continuous Integration, https://bit.ly/2Y3Xmyy
5. Azure for DevOps: Application Infrastructure, https://bit.ly/3d4km4F
6. Microsoft AZ-400 Exam Prep > https://bit.ly/2Y5f2d2
7. Detailed Study Guide > https://bit.ly/3fH4gzV

12) AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals; 60 mins, 32 questions

1. Free full course > https://bit.ly/2UAYxmK
2. Free bootcamp by Bhavesh Goswami, CloudThat Technologies > https://bit.ly/2B0JTOS
3. Free Q&A > https://bit.ly/2AlmZlw
4. Practice questions > https://bit.ly/2YGfZb5
5. Tim Warner Microsoft Ignite Official Exam Prep session: https://bit.ly/2Yq0TWN
6. John Savill AZ-900 Hints & Tips: https://bit.ly/2AjbYkH

13) AZ-500: Azure Security Engineer Associate; 3 hours, 36 questions

1. A big note of thanks to Alan Rodrigues for his wonderful Udemy course on AZ-500 prep, definitely one of the best courses out there. https://bit.ly/3cwB0ud
2. For this exam, I finished Alan's Udemy course; and followed every Lab, finished them on my official (Microsoft) Azure subscription. Took a few mock tests, and sat for the exam.

14) AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator

1. Microsoft Learn course modules > https://bit.ly/2YAtf1w

Since I had tinkered with Azure considerably; really no further hands-on was needed.

15) AI-100: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate & DP-100: Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate

1. An excellent resource compiled by Stanislas Quastana (Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft) which he was kind enough to share: https://bit.ly/2KTFGPp
2. Microsoft Learn modules.
3. 3 books on my desk that I use for reference:

• Machine Learning by Tom Mitchell
• Deep Learning with Applications using Python from apress
• Deep Learning with Azure by Senior Data Scientists - Mathew Salvaris, Danielle Dean & Wee Hyong Tok (from Microsoft AI & Machine Learning Research Team).

16) DP - 300: Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate

• Firstly extensive study of SQL Server, Azure SQL Database - Single DB, Elastic Pools & Managed Instance (MI) documentation

1. SQL Server technical documentation > https://bit.ly/2QZ0mI1
2. Azure SQL Database technical doc > https://bit.ly/3buS8kp
3. Azure SQL MI technical doc > https://bit.ly/2EQUT3R

• Secondly, I used LinkedIn Learning modules. Here's the top ones >

1) SQL Essential training > https://bit.ly/3lI9NtF

2) Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Essential training > https://bit.ly/2YZdW2t

3) Implementing a Data Warehouse with SQL Server 2019 for BI Reporting > https://bit.ly/2F04SDk

4) Learning Microsoft SQL Server 2019 training > https://bit.ly/3gWyI9c

5) Microsoft SQL Server 2019 - *NEW* features training > https://bit.ly/2QOfdFg

6) Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2019 training > https://bit.ly/3bni9C1

7) Learning SQL Programming training > https://bit.ly/31T1q6s

8) LearningPath for "Master SQL for Data Science" which includes 6 courses > https://bit.ly/3hRNTC1

17) DA-100: Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate; 150 mins, 58 questions

• I primarily used my pre-existing notes from earlier MCSA: BI Reporting achieved in 2019.
• Excellent Udemy course on DA-100 by Philip Burton: https://bit.ly/2TpnSPK; it is highly recommended to finish this course from top-to-end; finish all the Labs; and I can guarantee, you will be very very well prepared for the DA-100 Exam.

18) AZ-600: Microsoft Certified: Azure Stack Hub Operator: Associate

• Tech Community announcement > https://bit.ly/3vRAVL1
• Microsoft Stack Overview > https://bit.ly/3vTUimF
• If you're an active MCT, then please use "AZ-600T00A MCT Trainer" handbook which is a 318-page official training guide.
• Mark Grimes Study Guide > https://bit.ly/2QXtZxh
• Thomas Maurer > https://bit.ly/3ewx2W5

That's all!

So best of luck!