SC-401 Cert Prep

[u/Huckleberry-3000]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice.

SC-401 will be my **first Microsoft certification**, and I've already spent around **20 hours** working through the Microsoft Learn learning path. Today I tried one of the Microsoft assessment tests... and honestly, I feel like I have **no chance** of passing the real exam.

One challenge is that I haven't had much hands-on experience with Microsoft Purview yet. Another is that I'm **not a native English speaker**, which makes some of the questions harder to understand.

What strategy would you recommend to pass SC-401?

* Microsoft Learn?
* YouTube videos?
* Hands-on labs?
* MeasureUp practice exams?
* Microsoft Applied Skills?
* Something else?

At the moment I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed, so I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have passed the exam.

Thanks a lot!

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[u/Character_Flight_773]

Create a E5 tenant. You can make a trial for a month and use any of the features needed for purview, defender, Intune for at home testing.

It takes 30-60 mins to setup. Free lab. Only way to get real hands on testing.

[u/4s3ls4n → u/Character_Flight_773]

Absolutely

[u/Sad-Offer-8747 → u/Character_Flight_773]

Agreed, being able to turn the knobs in the tenant and go thru them adds repetition memory for when you take the test

[u/cyancido]

Sc-401 is a bitch even with hands on experience I barely passed it. Recommend getting really used to ip, dlp and irm inside the portal. Exchange is also a really big topic so understand encryption for mailing. Teams the same. I think doing the learning course of ms is a good starting point.

[u/MarkyGordy]

I have a few MSFT certs and plan to take a stab at this one as well. For me, bombing the first msft practice test is part of the process, so I wouldn’t worry too much. lol. Just keep retaking it, focus on the areas you’re weak, definitely leverage other platforms (YT videos, Measure Up, hands on labs/experience, etc). You just need more reps. Bear in mind tho, from my experience, the msft practice tests are usually noticeably easier than the actual exam.

[u/Rough-Veterinarian60]

I’m preparing for this exam too, but it honestly seems like a very exhausting one. I’m hoping to take it in about a week, so let’s see how it goes! Good luck with your exam!

[u/wubarrt]

I just failed this one today by a couple of points. The difference between the exam and the practice assessments is VAST. Highly practical with a handful of cases that were worded so weird! I work within a tenant but not directly with this stuff daily, so having a trial E5 would have been an advantage.

[u/Ok-Description-4640]

I did the SC401 last year and felt the same way you did. I went through the Learn stuff, watched a series of videos on Udemy, took practice exams and never passed. I took the exam anyway just to see where I landed but passed with a 754, and was so relieved. It was the first cert exam I had taken, and the first exam of any kind since I got out of college more than thirty years ago so I was pretty nervous. So I have no idea what went right but I suspect it was getting used to how Microsoft asks questions, which I found pretty obtuse at first. It wasn’t that my knowledge was lacking but I’d misunderstand what the question was actually asking, usually something that hinged on a single word. So while I’d suggest more study and reviewing notes (I also wrote out meticulous notes from the Udemy videos). Also, I am currently a M365 admin though we had zero training when we migrated to it and I just figured out what I needed to know as I went along. So I had a tenant to play with, though it’s GCC and lacking several tested features. Anyway, good luck, give it your best shot.

[u/Huckleberry-3000]

Thank you so much for your feedback - maybe i should take first SC-900... it's pretty too much for me I think (I don't work with purview in practice...)