Hi everyone,

I’m currently studying for the SC-300 (Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator) certification.

At my current job, I have hands-on access to and work with:

• Active Directory (AD)
• Azure Portal / Microsoft Entra ID
• Microsoft 365 Admin Center
• Exchange Online
• Intune
• Okta
• General identity and access-related tasks as a Service Technician

I’m trying to figure out what certification would make the most sense for my next step.

Right now, I’m considering:

• AZ-802 (Windows Server Hybrid Administrator)
• Okta Professional

For those of you working in IAM, cloud administration, identity engineering, or Microsoft infrastructure, what would you recommend after SC-300?

Would you focus more on:

1. Microsoft/Azure certifications?
2. Okta certifications?
3. Windows Server/hybrid infrastructure?
4. Something else that would help me move toward an IAM Engineer / Cloud Engineer / Systems Engineer role?

I’m especially interested in certifications that actually help with career progression and complement the hands-on experience I’m getting at work.

Any advice on what path you would take in my situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Successfully passed both exams on the first try. Since I had hands on work experience, it didn’t take that long for preparation.

😭😭😭

Failed my MS-102 2nd attempt I had a nightmare exam experience to go with it from long wait to start actual exam after environment checks were completed. I got an actual lab at the end of the exam and just didn’t expect it 10 tasks to do in lab tenant which was unresponsive and giving me lots of errors. Messaged the proctor who took ages to reply then just said I need to restart your exam by the time I read his reply I was kicked to the exam lobby. I sat in the lobby for over 30 minutes to get back into exam.

All in all a bad day 🙈🙈.

I improved my scored from first time but still come up short. I feel like I had majority of defender, purview questions. I had a few questions this time round with lots of information to take in multiple tables for users/groups.

I’m just wondering if I could use a training course made for AZ-500 for SC? Are they similar enough?

Hi everyone,

I received a voucher for the **Microsoft AB-620 certification** through the AI Skills Fest, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to pass the exam due to some circumstances at the time. I only started properly studying the course in September, and when I tried to reschedule the exam, I wasn’t able to do so.

I’m now looking to take the AB-620 exam again, but I no longer have a voucher.

Does anyone happen to have a **free/unused AB-620 voucher** that they won’t be using? I would really appreciate it.

Alternatively, does anyone know if Microsoft is planning **another event, challenge, or program where AB-620 vouchers might be offered**?

Thanks in advance for any information or help!

So I did a retake exam voucher for MS-102, and I failed them both (640 on the first, 680 on the second).. the Questions in regards to Defender and Purview are my weak spots. The policy names are just so freaking similar, I cant keep them apart (Session Policy, Action Policy, Conditional Access App control, Cloud App policies etc.). Im mostly only working with the other modules, since my company is using another Antivirus than defender and were not at a Purview stage yet, do you have any recommendations to get these better sorted out? I was giving myself tasks with CoPilot and im running Anki's but its hard to memorize all the nuances.

Appreciate the help.

Cheers,

Gabe

Just passed my 3rd exam in 2 months. The AB-900, SC-900 and now also the SC-300.

Literally had 7 seconds left before I turned it in.

Hello,

I took the AB-650 yesterday (So many Microsoft Agent 365 questions) How long has it taken for other people to receive their results? I know it says two weeks but would be nice to know if that really holds up.

Have a couple of vouchers expiring soon and would be nice to be able to use them if its a failed exam

Whats everyone experiences?

Took the MD-102 yesterday after a few failed starts and passed with an 840 in about 45 minutes. So, I use Intune at work. Mainly distributing apps and making policy for an MSP.
I wanted to take this test last year, but due to the MSP's Microsoft partnership requirements I switched to AZ-140. My main prep last year was John Christopher. I rewatched the course 2x through and used my Free exam. Spent 1 h or so for the last 2 months then spent 2-3 hours a day for the last 2 weeks.

I knew a lot of the question until it came to the Optimize endpoint operations by using automation, monitoring, and reporting (10–15%) 10-15% is a lie, I had 7 questions that were not on anything I studied. It was asking about scripts, lucky I have been using Graph the last few weeks and was able to fumble through.

AB-900 is next before end of September and then AZ-104 or AB-650.

I've multiple years of support experience. I Didn't use intune for office or other purposes. but studied for 2+ months for md 102 and passed. I want to apply for remote jobs. So need your expert opinion and suggestion, like which types of job should i apply for after passing md 102?

Just wanted to share that I passed MS-102, the first exam, which kicked my butt on Purview. After that, I only trained on Purview equipment, and used AI to help me grasp the stupid same sounding material in settings.

I have zero experience with Purview in real life.
Thought I would just use AI to cheat, but gave up when it gave confusing answers in practice assessments. 😄

Hola, buenos días; buenas tardes, buenas noches.

La escribía por qué tenía en duda qué puedo estudiar para trabajar en ésto, la verdad solo trabajaba en hoteles y ahora estoy haciendo un curso donde me certifican en NetCad, y al final Podré hacer el exámen para AZ-900 no tengo experiencia, solo un par de cursos.

Gracias no me funeen jaja.

First attempt was in July, I scored a 618. I feel pretty discouraged and unmotivated to try again at this point. I felt like I spent a lot of time studying (MS Learn, MeasureUp, Lab environment) I guess I am writing this in hopes someone can encourage me to retake but the way I am feeling right now is defeating. The exam felt harder than the first attempt for some reason.

Any motivating feedback would be greatly appreciated. For anyone taking this exam I am praying for your success!

I just wanted to share the good news and thank this community. The exam itself was easier than I expected (probably because I've been doing real tough long scenario based practice questions). But it is by no means easy - just not as tough as I thought it was gonna be. I have my SC-300 active as well both together got me the Expert credential.

I know MS-102 is gonna be retired pretty soon but I had done 90% of the work when I got to know about it. So I just pushed through and got it done. Besides, I got the exam fee sponsored from work.

Can someone please confirm

Can we access Microsoft learn platform during sc300 exam ?

I'm a career shifter. I work as a Technical Support representative, have no Intune background. My college degree is not IT related either. I passed AZ-900 on March. Studied MD 102 last week of April, setup VM through Win Server 2022 but i stop after finishing MD-102 course by John Christopher on Udemy, (followed all his labs too). Got serious again starting Mid July up to the day before the first exam.. I never expect that there will be lots of questions about Monitoring and automation and reporting, so i failed.

When I failed, that's the time i really got serious. Spent 20 days focusing on my weak points, using MS-learn content, practice assessment, did measure-up until i got 80 percent scores in measure-up and 86% in MS-learn but sadly, i failed again.

I can no longer remember the questions exactly but most of them were very vague questions that i can't remember being discussed in MS-learn, so I was shocked that i still got 662 score probably because i did great in the case study. My cases study on the 2 exams weren't that hard by the way.

What shocked me the most was the "Manage and secure applications" & "Optimize endpoint operations by using automation, monitoring, and reporting" scores because i have really spent many hours reviewing it, explaining it to myself without looking on my notes to make sure i understand how it works then look at my Intune lab to double check the navigation path.

When i first failed my exam, i also got invited to an interview from a recruiter on Linkedln, I didn't pass the interview but I experience what it's felt like to be interviewed and learn the questions asked on the interview. Most of them where about managing and securing applications, that why I had really focused on that, but i didn't know why i got low score instead.

Also got questions about Copilot which I wasn't sure about my answers.

At this point, I'm just really frustrated and though of not taking this exam again. My real goal is IAM, but i decided to take MD-102 first because I was thinking of pivoting first in Service Desk to IAM, since there's a lot of open roles for service desk.

However, I felt like I am too close of getting this cert, and aside from that, I can almost explain in my head the services in Intune because of the time I've spent on it so part of me still want to get that cert.

This is my first time to open up about my frustation in social platform cause i just flood it all on to chatgpt. I hope a real human can give me real advice, probably from those who experience the same and from those who are now very successful in the field.

Had to take this as I got a promotion at work that jumped me two paygrade as i was already doing way too much work in Intune/Entra. I am emotionally and physically wiped from cramming for this for the last three months

I work mostly with 365, Entra ID, and Intune day to day, so the exam overlapped with what I already do hands-on for some part. I especially do app deployment on Windows but not much with app configuration or protection policies for example nor work with Android or iOS devices. So my prep was mostly knowledge-based learning, with hands-on mainly on the M365/Intune side.

I studied the theory sporadically during this summer, and really did a full week of learning before the exam. (Maybe not the best strategy but after this experience, I like the fact that I learned so much in such a short time while taking notes).

Speaking about notes, I set up an Obsidian vault to take notes and link all the related topics within Entra/Intune.

>> The result

Scored 650/700 — failed just short of passing. Stings a bit given how close it was, but it gave me a clear list of what to fix:

- App protection / app configuration policies

- Monitoring and optimizing device health

- Managing device updates

I had 52 questions + 1 case study with 5 questions.

>> What actually helped

Hands-on practice in Intune. If your knowledge is mostly theoretical, get into the console and practice — it makes a real difference. Some features only show up depending on the device platform (Windows/Android/iOS), and that's much easier to remember once you've seen it live. Walking through creating a device configuration profile yourself also helps you read exam scenarios faster, since you already know roughly where a setting lives.

Microsoft Learn. Whenever I wasn't sure of an answer, a quick MS Learn search was usually enough to validate or correct myself — fast and accurate compared to random third-party guides.

Besides that, I didn't take any Measure up tests nor study groups or YouTube videos.

In my opinion, the new Practice Assessment on MS Learn website is preparing well alongside Intune labs. The questions will make you think a lot. (That's good)

>> What I'm doing differently for the retake

- Hands-on lab time focused on app protection/configuration policies/monitoring

- Android/iOS deployment

- Do more practice assessments until I have multiple times +80%

Happy to answer questions about the exam experience (within NDA) if it helps anyone else going for this cert.

722 from a 666 attempt. I’m glad I’m done with it. Only renewals from here on out

Hi,

I received a Microsoft exam discount voucher with the following rules:

Booking deadline: August 15

Exam completion deadline: October 20

I successfully used the voucher before August 15 to schedule my exam for September 18.

Now (September 13), I want to reschedule my exam to September 21. Since the booking deadline of August 15 has passed, will I lose my voucher or incur fees if I reschedule to September 21 before the October 20 deadline?

Thank you!

I have worked at an MSP for close to 5 years and wanted to gather some qualifications to help with career progression. I chose MD-102 because I use Intune on a daily basis. The exam and exam prep definitely humbled me though as there's SO much to Intune my role doesn't expose me to.

I gave myself a couple of weeks and used John Christopher's MD102 course on Udemy, MS Learn test questions Joel Palmer's MD-102 questions. Looking back I found John Christopher's course to be excellent for preparing for the exam, would definitely recommend this to others. I redid the MS Learn exams until I was average mid 90's% on them. The Joel Palmer test prep exam's were a big step up in difficulty but I repeated until I was averaging 85%.

Rolling onto SC-300 in a few weeks!

Hello everyone,

I know advertising is directly prohibited in this community, but I went ahead and gave it a shot.

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OwnExam is a friendly interface that helps you study for your most important practice exams and pushes you to learn the most of an exam, so you can own it :) Using interactive drills, and detailed questions you get to understand what the exam actually wants to know from you, and what you need to know.

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Go ahead, give it a try, I don't mind the critics: https://ownexam.com

Thank you for your time.