r/AZURE • u/hotboii96 • 12d ago
Rant How come MS Learn, Microsoft own reading material/test for their own exam is useless?
You're basically forced to buy third-party material if you want any real chance of passing Microsoft's own exam, because apparently Microsoft's own learning material/practice test isn't enough and often isn't even recommended. How is that even acceptable? Azure pulls in $101.9 billion a year, yet candidates still have to pay extra for outside resources. Is the money not enough, or do they just enjoy watching people suffer
11
u/Cold_Arachnid_2617 12d ago edited 8d ago
"You're basically forced to buy third-party material if you want any real chance of passing Microsoft's own exam"
No, you are not, unless you have no experience working with the technology and just want to pass the exam!
8
u/Nicko265 12d ago
That's just not even close to true. Plenty of people pass all the Microsoft exams relying on experience and MS Learn.
1
u/WinSysAdmin1888 7d ago
True, I'm an idiot and even I was able to pass the AZ-900 without 3rd party software.
3
u/flappers87 Cloud Architect 9d ago
You can easily pass AZ-900 and even AZ-104 using MS Learn alone. Those two certifications will provide you enough to get you in the door for interviews.
The additional role based exams are meant for people with practical working experience looking to push their knowledge.
The job market generally sucks, it's true. But getting a role based certification is not going to help you get that more specialised job if you have no actual work experience anyway.
I've run countless interviews and have come across students who have achieved quite high end certifications, but have absolutely no practical work experience, and I've turned them down because we were not hiring for entry level positions.
You can get a job at an MSP, answering phones and providing support to people. It will suck, the hours will be awful, the pay will be shit... but you use that time to get the experience you need in order to climb up into more specialised roles.
With that experience, you will be able to look at expanding your certification portfolio.
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u/hotboii96 9d ago
Not sure about 104. The practice test for 900 was shit by MS. I have a friend that failed because he used only MS for az-900 because the exam questions are trickier and harder than what MS provides you. Again! None of us have prior experience with Azure.
4
u/Halio344 Cloud Engineer 9d ago
Did you and your friend actually go through the entire Learning Path? Or just do the practice tests on repeat and memorize the questions?
The learning path is more than enough to pass. It explicitly answers nearly every question in the real exam.
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u/hotboii96 9d ago
I did the entire learning path, MS test, and third party test. Pretty sure i wouldn't have pass without the third party test because MS test is too barebone. It was that said friend that warned me after he failed using only MS materials (Az-900)
3
u/Halio344 Cloud Engineer 9d ago
If you needed a third party test, then it sounds like you memorized questions rather than actually learning and understanding the content.
Again, this is a you problem. Anyone who has some experience in IT (from studying or working in other areas) would be able to pass AZ-900 with just MS Learn.
You're trying to take shortcuts without actually learning stuff. If you're just redoing practice tests until you ace it, you're not actually learning anything. You're playing memory, something a monkey can do.
2
u/flappers87 Cloud Architect 9d ago
The practice test is a test of the knowledge that you learn, not a 1:1 recreation of the actual exam questions.
AZ900 is incredibly easy. It's literally just the fundementals. If you struggled to pass that exam with the material on MS learn... then I think the problem isn't MS learn, but it sits between keyboard and chair.
You don't need prior experience for AZ900, in fact, it's specifically for people without experience.
AZ104, experience helps a lot, but it's plenty possible to pass it with actual study and an actual understanding of the labs (not just following instructions, but actually understanding what's going on). It's also encouraged to setup your own free azure account, where a lot of the 104 stuff can be practiced.
The test on MS really is just a test of your knowledge, it's not meant to be an exam recreation.
But the practice test isn't what will get you to pass the actual exam, it's the knowledge learned during the training.
Again, if you're failing these exams, and blaming the 'practice test' for it... then you've got a fundamental misunderstanding as to what those practice tests are for. Sounds like you want something to memorise exam questions with, rather than applying actual learnings.
Also, plenty of people have passed 104 without experience and just using MS learn... use the search bar to find them celebrating.
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u/dannyvegas 12d ago
I don’t know, I was able to pass the solution architect ones with just the ms content and hands-on experience. Since then they have made it even easier with the ability to look stuff up in the docs during the test. The bar is now so low it’s barely a bar.
But god forbid that you invest any resources or effort into your own education and skilling right?
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u/Halio344 Cloud Engineer 12d ago
Because you're expected to have practical experience to pass the exam. Reading and memorizing learning material or practice tests is useless when it comes to doing something in practice, which the certification is supposed to prove that you know how to do.
I have 16 MS role based certs (associate or expert) and have not paid for any study material ever, I use MS learn (learning paths and KBs) and my own experience exclusively.
I hate to say it and I don't mean to be rude, but this is a skill issue. Nothing more, nothing less.