Official Study Materials

Microsoft Learn - Usually the place that everyone uses in preparation for exams since it’s always updated and it contains sandboxes so you can actually try the stuff out you are learning. People usually pair it up with some 3rd party courses and practice tests but in terms of raw information related to the exams this is usually the best.

Right now, there are 4 big components to Microsoft Learn:

• Learning Paths and Modules - Collection of modules that will help you understand the topics of the exam. You can find them on the bottom of every exam page.
• Readiness Zone - Introductory videos that will help you with seeing what exactly you should know to pass this exam but they aren’t deep enough to teach you these topics. Good to see what you are jumping into and making a plan.
• Practice Assessments - New Practice Assessments where you can get more familiar with the style of questions Microsoft uses in their actual exams. They are pretty new at this time, but the feedback on fundamental exams was that they were really on point and helped students prepare for the exam itself. For role-based exams there isn’t any feedback unfortunately, I will update when I get it.
• Microsoft Exam demo - Exam sandbox where you can get familiar with the types of questions, exam environment and the testing process. Highly recommended to try it out so you aren’t surprised when you take your first exam.
• Exam study Guides - Can be found on every exam page and it details every topic that the exam contains. You can plan your study plan around it so you aren’t missing any important topics that your study resources skipped.

Microsoft Virtual Training Days - These are pre-recorded webinars usually for fundamental exams. You need to register beforehand and there are capacity limits for the individual events.

MeasureUp - Official Microsoft Practice tests. They are pretty pricey but they will prepare you for the exam. They are harder than normal exam questions but that helps even more to identify your weak areas and where you need to study more. MeasureUp also offers a money back guarantee if you don’t pass the exam

GitHub Microsoft Learning - GitHub contains a lot of hands-on materials for the exams including labs and/or case studies to practice on. You can easily access the individual pages using the formula aka.ms/examnamelabs, for example https://aka.ms/az104labs or https://aka.ms/az-204labs (if the shortener doesn’t work for the exam of your choice, find the exam on GitHub and the labs/case studies are in: /tree/master/Instructions/Labs). If you search the exam name in the Microsoft Learning GitHub you can see all additional resources. Some only have labs or case studies.

• For some exams, Microsoft has added interactive lab videos. You can find it on top of the page of the lab exercises. It isn’t as useful as the labs themselves, but if you are on budget or are stuck in some tasks, it is another great resource you can use.

Microsoft Azure Free account - You can register for a free Azure account, you only need a credit card for validation. You will get 200$ for a month to try stuff out and will have multiple services free/discounted for a year to try the stuff out. This is separate from the sandboxes in the Microsoft Learn modules.

Microsoft 365 E5 Developer subscription - You can register for a M365 E5 Dev subscription in a tenant. It is renewed every 3 months and it usually renews if you are using it regularly.

Note

Program is currently paused for people not subscribed to Visual Studio Enteprise pending update.

Microsoft Log Analytics Workspace demo environment - You can use this environment to practice and learn KQL. It is already pre-filled with data so you don’t need to create the data yourself.

Microsoft Sentinel Training Lab - Great and cheap solution to try out Microsoft Sentinel. It takes around 15mins to deploy and will fill your Sentinel workspace with logs, tables and other objects. It also comes with a lab guide with instructions if you are not sure where to start. You can find it over here Microsoft Sentinel Training Lab Guide.

Microsoft 365 Maps by By Aaron Dinnage - These aren’t straight from Microsoft themselves but instead from one of their employees and at this time best and most current resource about chaotic Microsoft 365 licensing.