Blueprint: How to become Microsoft Certified (Updated for Q4 2026/2027)

Introduction

Ready to validate your cloud and AI skills as we head towards 2027, but unsure where to start? Following the massive shakeup to Microsoft's credential portfolio throughout 2026, this updated edition of my certification guide cuts through the confusion to break down the "what, why, and how" of Microsoft Certifications. We’ll explore the different exam tiers—from Fundamentals to Expert, the AI Business tracks, and hands-on Applied Skills—and provide a clear, three-step roadmap for studying, practising, and confidently passing your next (or first!) Microsoft exam.

Getting Started

As we approach the end of the year and start looking ahead to 2027, a lot of people begin thinking about what they want to improve on or achieve next—whether that’s getting a head start on the classic New Year resolutions or mapping out career goals for the year ahead. If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you might remember that I first published my How to Become Microsoft Certified guide back at the start of 2026. At the time, Microsoft's new AI and business credentials had only just landed in beta, and the sweeping wave of 2026 exam retirements and replacements hadn't happened yet. So much has changed in the cloud world over the past few months that, rather than waiting until January, I’ve decided to revisit and update the ‘How to…’ of Microsoft Certifications now: what are they today, what’s changed since my post earlier this year, and how do you get certified heading into 2027?

For those who work in the technical space, certifications are still a great way to highlight and show off your skills. However, while Microsoft themselves have an assortment of resources regarding ‘Getting Certified’, for anyone new to the process—or anyone returning after this year's overhaul of exam codes and study portals—it can be a bit confusing. I wanted to give my updated take on the process and hopefully help someone out there start (or continue!) their own certification journey as we head into the new year.

Why Get Microsoft Certified?

You can read up on Microsoft’s Learn page on why getting certified is important. These reasons include career progression and boosts to salary that are great in the long term, especially if you progress into the more advanced ‘Associate’ and ‘Expert’ level certifications.

However, if you are new to the IT industry or wanting to pivot into the cloud and AI space as an existing engineer, getting a Microsoft certification—even if it’s just the fundamental level exams—can be a great way to stand out. You'd be surprised at how many organisations still use on-prem (physical) infrastructure and haven't done any sort of cloud/hybrid setup, or are only just figuring out how to govern Microsoft 365 and Copilot properly.

Speaking from my experience, I genuinely don't believe I would be where I am today without having done the AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals. Taking that exam was the catalyst for my transition to working so heavily in the Azure and Microsoft 365 space; the learning material was fresh, it was interesting, and I genuinely enjoyed learning something completely new, which inspired me to move full-time into cloud engineering.

What Are Microsoft Certifications?

First and foremost, a Microsoft credential is essentially an industry-recognised stamp of approval that validates your level of knowledge and understanding in a given topic area. For this blog series, I’ll keep the focus primarily on Azure (alongside the newer AI and Copilot tracks), but you can become certified in a wide range of Microsoft technologies—from Security and Microsoft 365 to the Power Platform and Microsoft Dynamics.

There are two different types of credentials that Microsoft offer:

1. The "Full" Microsoft Certifications
This is the main one—the badge you’ll see posted across LinkedIn and professional social media profiles. Think AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals, AZ-104: Azure Administrator Associate, or AI-103: Azure AI App and Agent Developer Associate. Most beyond the entry tier are "Role-Based" (aimed at specific job roles like Administrators, Developers, or Architects) and are rigorously tested via proctored exams. Once you've earned your certification (i.e. passed your exam), you are then granted ‘Microsoft Certified’ status for that given subject area.

For Associate, Expert, Specialty, and AI Business level certifications, Microsoft requires an annual renewal assessment. This is a free, short, unproctored (meaning no one is watching you) assessment on Microsoft Learn designed to ensure you are up to speed with the latest changes in that technology for the year ahead. As long as you complete that renewal assessment each year before it expires, you keep your ‘certified’ status—but fail to do so, and you'll have to take the full proctored exam all over again.

2. Microsoft Applied Skills
The other type of credential is Microsoft Applied Skills. Rather than validating an entire job role like "Azure Administrator", these are laser-focused on practical, scenario-based learning and prove that you can solve a specific real-world problem (such as "Configure secure access to your workloads using Azure networking", "Secure storage for Azure Files and Azure Blob Storage", or "Create and manage agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio").

If you haven't tried one yet, here is what makes Applied Skills stand out:

• 100% Lab-Based (No Multiple-Choice!): When you launch an assessment on Microsoft Learn, there are no multiple-choice questions to answer. Instead, you are dropped straight into a live virtual machine and Azure/M365 lab environment with a scenario brief and a list of technical requirements to build, configure, or fix. Crucially, there are no step-by-step instructions—you have to actually know your way around the portal, CLI, or tools to complete the tasks, and an automated grading script checks your environment at the end.
• Free, On-Demand, and Unproctored: Unlike full exams, you don't need to pay an exam fee, book an appointment with Pearson VUE, or have an invigilator watching you via webcam. You simply work through the optional Microsoft Learn study path and click "Launch lab assessment" directly in your browser whenever you have a spare couple of hours (you get up to 2 hours to complete the lab).
• Low-Pressure Retakes & Lifetime Validity: If you get stuck and don't pass on your first attempt, you only have to wait 24 to 72 hours before retaking it—completely free. Better still, just like the Fundamentals exams, Applied Skills credentials do not expire. Once you pass, the verified Microsoft badge sits permanently on your Microsoft Learn transcript and can be shared straight to LinkedIn.

My Take: Don't view Applied Skills as a replacement for full certifications—recruiters and hiring managers will still filter CVs for headline badges like AZ-104 or AZ-305*. Instead, treat them as* free hands-on practice labs with a verified badge attached*! If you are studying for a big Associate or Expert exam, knocking out two or three matching Applied Skills assessments along the way is one of the best ways to build real portal muscle memory without spending a penny on your own Azure sandbox.*

Breaking Down the Different Certifications

Focusing on the "Full" certifications, if you look at the Become Microsoft Certified poster, you might notice that they are broken up into distinct categories. It isn't just a random list; there is a structure to the madness—especially after the big 2026 portfolio refresh that wove AI and agentic workflows across almost every track. Here is how they stack up heading into 2027:

1. Fundamentals
As the name suggests, these are the entry-level certifications (look for the "900" series exams, such as AZ-900, SC-900, AI-901, or AB-900: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals, which replaced the old MS-900 earlier this year). If you are new to the Microsoft Cloud, this is an excellent place to start. They are designed to provide a high-level overview of the technology and core governance without requiring deep technical prior knowledge.

While the Fundamental exams are optional, in my opinion, they are absolutely worth doing. Unlike the higher tiers, they do not require renewal, meaning once you earn them, you keep them for life. They look excellent on a CV and show you have a solid grasp of the core concepts.

2. Role-Based
The next step up is the "Role-Based" tier. These are the bread and butter of IT professionals and are split into two distinct levels:

• Associate (Intermediate): These exams test your practical, hands-on knowledge of tools and services. If you read my original post from earlier in 2026 or older study guides online, watch out for classic exam codes that have been retired or replaced during this year's AI shakeup—for instance, AI-103 replaced AI-102, AI-200 is replacing AZ-204, SC-500 is replacing AZ-500, and AB-650 has arrived for Microsoft 365 and AI Services Administrators. Microsoft generally recommends six months of experience, but I would personally recommend around 6–12 months of hands-on exposure to really feel comfortable.
• Expert (Advanced): These test your ability to translate practical skills into high-level technical designs. The focus shifts heavily towards architecture pillars like cost vs. performance, redundancy, security, and multi-agent design (such as AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions or the new AI-500: Multi-Agent AI Solutions Expert). It is recommended to have 2–3 years of experience here.
  • The Catch: Most Expert certifications have a prerequisite. For example, to earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, passing the AZ-305 exam isn't enough; you must also hold an active AZ-104 (Azure Administrator) certification.

3. Specialty
As the name implies, these are focused on specific niche solutions within the cloud. They are perfect for those who want to deep-dive into a particular technology, such as AZ-140: Configuring and Operating Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).

4. Business & AI Transformation (The AB-Series)
When I wrote the first version of this guide at the start of 2026, these were the new kids on the block sitting in beta after their late-2025 announcement. Now as we head into 2027, the AB-series is firmly established. While AB-900 and AB-650 are built for IT administrators governing Copilot and agents, exams like AB-730 (AI Business Professional) and AB-731 (AI Transformation Leader) are aimed squarely at business professionals rather than engineers—focusing on using AI tools effectively in areas like Marketing, Project Management, Operations, and Customer Service.

What Certification Level Is Right for You?

How Do You Get Certified?

So, we know what Microsoft Certifications and Applied Skills are and what some of the benefits are, but how do you actually get certified? Well, remember the Become Microsoft Certified poster? It starts once you’ve selected the certification path you want to take. Each certification on the poster has an embedded link to the official certification page where it covers all the details and skills measured for that exam. If you’re entirely new to infrastructure, start with AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals. Interested in Security? Go look at SC-900: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals, or for Microsoft 365 and Copilot governance, check out AB-900. Whatever your path or career goals heading into 2027, there is a certification relevant to you.

Once you’ve chosen a path or an exam you want to take, this is where you’ll need to put the work in towards that certification. Unfortunately, I can’t do the studying for you, but what I can do is help you break it down into three key stages: Study, Practice, and Exam.

Stage 1: The Study Process

For most certifications there are a lot of resources you can use, both official (material provided by Microsoft) and non-official (material provided by third parties), and within that, the resources fall into four main areas. I personally use a combination of all of them as this is what works for me, though you might learn differently:

• Microsoft Learn: This is your foundation. It's Microsoft's own free learning platform, offering structured, self-paced modules for every exam on offer. Because so many exams have been updated throughout 2026, Microsoft Learn is always aligned with the latest exam material and consists typically of written materials with some ‘try-this’ style exercises.
• Microsoft AI Skills Navigator (New!): Alongside classic Microsoft Learn, Microsoft now heavily uses the AI Skills Navigator portal for its newer exam and practice materials—especially if you are targeting any of the AI, Copilot, GitHub, or agentic certifications (like AI-901, AI-103, AI-300, or the AB-series). Rather than just reading static text, AI Skills Navigator organises material into role-based Skilling Playlists and interactive Skilling Sessions. These sessions combine expert videos with quick knowledge checks and a built-in AI-powered study coach (which even supports voice dictation) that can answer your questions grounded directly in the study material as you go!
• Video Courses: As the name suggests, these are generally full video series on the course material with demos and visuals to help you learn. You can use reputable platforms like Udemy or Pluralsight, which are great for easy digestion even on the commute to work every morning. I recommend going with courses from highly rated trainers such as Scott Duffy or John Savill on YouTube, who offers brilliant deep-dives and Study Crams across a huge number of Microsoft certifications.
• Hands-on Labs (and Applied Skills!): If you're like me, you generally learn more by ‘doing something’ rather than just reading about it—so rather than just reading how to create an Azure Virtual Desktop or configure a Copilot agent, go create one and try to connect to it and use it! As someone who has worked in Azure for four, going on five years, hands-on experience is crucial—especially if you want to tackle those Associate and Expert level certifications. Alongside completing relevant Microsoft Applied Skills labs for free on Microsoft Learn, I also created a guide in my Getting Started with Azure post on how to set up your own subscription for practice at home without breaking the bank.

Stage 2: Practice Exams

I would always advise—especially if you have never done a Microsoft certification exam before—practising the types of questions you’ll get in your full exam. While they’re not designed to trick you, they are designed to test your applied knowledge, especially on Associate and Expert level exams where a pass could be the difference between knowing the Azure services that offer regional failover and those that don’t for a particular scenario.

There is a good variety of sites and third-party platforms that offer practice exams. Some of the courses on Udemy that we discussed earlier even include their own set of practice exam questions, but the ones that I recommend personally are:

Microsoft Practice Assessments (Official via Learn & AI Skills Navigator) - For each certification Microsoft offer, under the ‘Prepare for the exam’ section towards the bottom of the exam page, you can take a free official practice assessment as shown in the screenshots below.

One quick heads-up: For many of the newer AI, Agent, and Business exams introduced in 2026 (such as AI-901, AI-103, and AI-300), Microsoft now hosts the official mini-practice assessments and prep quizzes over on the Microsoft AI Skills Navigator site rather than the traditional Microsoft Learn quiz interface. Don't be surprised if clicking a practice link redirects you there—it’s completely official, free to use, and gives you a great showcase of how the new exam questions are structured!

TutorialsDojo (Non-official) - TutorialsDojo is a third-party platform that offers exam-like practice questions just like you would see in your actual Microsoft exam in a course-style format. These are paid courses for around £10–£12 each give or take, and having used this site across my certifications so far, it’s been incredibly helpful and provides clear guidance throughout your practice exams on why your answers are right or wrong, with links back to official Microsoft Learn documentation.

Whatever platform you use, it’s important to go through these practice tests to ensure that there are no gaps in your knowledge. If you do find a topic area that you are struggling with, go back and do some further study in that area until you feel more comfortable. There is nothing worse than getting to a question in your actual exam and having completely forgotten about that specific topic (don’t ask me how I know!), as that one topic could be the difference between a pass or fail—so make sure your score across the different topic areas is balanced to give yourself the best chance in the exam.

For the actual certification exam (Applies only to Associate, Expert, and Specialty level certifications), you do have access to Microsoft Learn (Open Book); however, any time spent here is used up against your exam clock! Don’t spend ages looking for information, otherwise you might miss out on answering all the questions or have to rush towards the end, leaving marks on the table for questions you do know. Instead, what I have found works well is to flag or mark ‘🚩’ any questions you are unsure of for review at the end of the test, and then use any time you have left to search for that information to confirm those questions.

Each exam study practice platform will have its own recommended threshold; on the official Microsoft practice tests they recommend aiming for a consistent 80% (a pass is a scaled score of 700/1000, or roughly 70% in the actual exam), whereas TutorialsDojo has the threshold at 70%. From my experience, if during your practice exams you are getting between 75%–85% pretty consistently, then you are ready to take your exam.

Stage 3: Booking Your Exam

Note: I would recommend booking your exam as soon as possible after studying. Don’t do all of your studies and practice then wait something like 8+ weeks for your exam—book the exam as close together as possible. Even if you are getting 65%–75% in your practice exams, book the exam a few weeks in advance, and by the time the exam appointment rolls around you should be up to that 75%–85% practice mark. Alternatively, book the exam at the start of your studies and work towards that date. Don’t worry if you get close to your exam date and don’t feel ready; you can reschedule your exam free of charge as long as it’s done 24+ hours in advance of the date and time of your appointment.

So, you’ve done all your studying and now you're ready to take the exam, but how do you schedule it? Well, if you haven’t already done so, the first step is to set up your Microsoft Learn Profile as you cannot take any exam without one—I covered the process on how to do this in Getting started with Azure. Once you have done this step, head to the certification exam page of your choice; in this example, we’ll use the AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals. From the exam page, scroll down until you find the ‘Schedule exam’ section as per the screenshot below:

Exam prices will vary depending on region and level; in the UK, a typical range is around £64 – £113 (plus VAT where applicable) or your regional equivalent at the time of writing, with role-based exams on the higher end of the scale.

You will then be transferred to Pearson VUE once you have filled out and submitted the candidate identity page as per the screenshot below:

Once you have been transferred to the Pearson VUE site, the first option you will need to choose is where you’re going to take your exam. There are two main options to choose from:

1. Test centre (In-Person) - Travel to and take the exam at a dedicated testing centre, operated and managed by Pearson VUE.
2. OnVUE (Online / Remote) - Allows you to take the exam at home or at a remote location in your own space.

Taking Your Exam

Depending on which option you chose to take your exam, your experience on the day will vary slightly. If you chose to take your exam at a test centre, then the process is fairly straightforward. Once you arrive at the test centre (bring two forms of ID!), the staff on site will guide you through the steps and what you need to do—things like phones and watches will be locked away in lockers before you head in.

However, if you are taking the exam at home via OnVUE, then there are strict requirements and steps you need to follow to ensure a space within your home meets those exam rules (like unplugging extra monitors and clearing your desk), otherwise Pearson VUE may cancel your exam on the day. You can read the full details on how to set up your space here. Plus, if this is your first time taking an exam, Microsoft also have a link at the bottom of each certification page where you can launch the Exam Sandbox demo to run through a short walkthrough of how the full exam interface will look.

Closing Thoughts

And there you have it—my updated breakdown of the what, why, and how of Microsoft Certifications and Applied Skills. Whether you read the original edition earlier in 2026 or you're stumbling across this guide for the very first time, I hope this post has been helpful to remove some of the mystery and confusion around Microsoft credentials. Whether you're trying to squeeze in one last exam before the end of the year or planning out your study goals for 2027, I wish you all the best of luck!