Microsoft AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Exam Study Guide

I recently prepared and passed AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam by Microsoft. I wanted to summarize all the learning resources that I have used in this study guide to help all the others.

This is really fundamental / basic exam from Microsoft about Azure and from my perspective should be entry towards all the other Azure related exams. I would strongly suggest taking this AZ-900 exam before going further with other Azure related exams unless you are familiar with Azure already. Also if you want to polish your Azure knowledge this is also great starting point as it covers all new products introduced in Azure in recent years and believe me it is a long list of products and services 🙂

So let’s get started!

Exam Overview

Exam AZ-900 can help you prove knowledge of cloud concepts, core Azure services, Azure pricing, SLA, and lifecycle, and the fundamentals of cloud security, privacy, compliance, and trust.

This exam is intended for people beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services.

You can find all details about this exam on its dedicated page. You can find there skills measured by this exam together with all learning possibilities from Microsoft like online or instructor-led training and possibility to schedule for this exam.

I am not mentioning this information here as it’s subject to change therefore head directly there for up to date information. Skills measured for example was changed significantly on May 2020 that’s why I am not mentioning it here.

Study Guide

I was able to pass AZ-900 exam just with 3 learning resources:

1. Learning Paths in Microsoft Azure Documentation
   • Best source of knowledge for this exam
   • I was really impressed by quality of provided documentation
   • IMHO Microsoft has incorporated into these learning paths knowledge and experience they have gained from their older platforms like Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) and Channel 9 and created really great platform to share knowledge on combining text and video documentation
   • There are four learning paths dedicated to each skill measured by this exam:
     1. Explore Microsoft Azure cloud concepts
     2. Distinguish Microsoft Azure Core Services
     3. Examine Microsoft Azure security, privacy, compliance, and trust
     4. Review Microsoft Azure pricing, service level agreements, and lifecycles
   • I was actually following this learning path https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/azure-fundamentals/ which has couple of more modules than mentioned above but it gave me better understanding for the beginning and polish my knowledge of Azure products and services. Definitely recommend doing the same by you!
2. YouTube video series about AZ-900 by Tim Warner
   • Tim Warner is great instructor and I have already known him from some Pluralsight courses
   • He created YouTube video series about each topic from Skills measured list
   • As of 8th July 2020, series is still not complete but only few topics are missing so you are ready to watch it 🙂
   • You can find it here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfZ1kgHlrfg&list=PLYGZ9Q0oTOHfsI-3IAhvyc09ssPDfoePv
3. Practice 🙂
   • Above two learning resources are great but I am a visual person and I always remember the things best when I know where I can find them myself and then I worked with something
   • Therefore I definitely recommend going to Azure portal and follow Tim Warner screens from his YouTube series and also follow practice sessions from Learning paths
   • Check all the Azure services mentioned above, try to create new instances, try various tools like Azure Advisor, Cost Management and all others mentioned in documentation.

Additional Resources

There are various other resources you can use to tackle down this exam but above mentioned are core of your knowledge needed for exam. Below mentioned are more to repeat what you already know or are just small amendments to above mentioned.

• There is Microsoft Exam Ref book written by Jim Cheshire. You can find it on Amazon for example. I have read this book and it’s really great. As skills measured have been changed this year, some things are missing but it’s a great introduction to the topic and if you want to know about Azure more this could be good starting point.
• There is Learning path on Pluralsight from Ignite 2019 Conference specifically dedicated to this exam worth watching to repeat your knowledge.

There are lot of trainings on Udemy and other video series on Youtube and other platforms but above mentioned resources are really sufficient. No need to search somewhere else. Just read the documentation in Learning Paths and practice by your own. That should be best preparation for this exam.

Good luck getting certified!