Last year December I sat for AZ-204 exam and got certified successfully. Before taking this exam, I had no prior experience with Azure technologies. Since I have worked with AWS cloud, didn’t think of starting with Azure Fundamentals. Instead, directly went with AZ-204.
Being a full-time employee, it took me 6 months to prepare for the exam. In this article, I will share My personal experience on how I prepared for the exam.
Know the exam
These are some of the important points to be aware of AZ-204 exam:
- Exam Name: Az-204 — Developing solutions for Microsoft Azure
- Exam Duration: 180 minutes (including preparation time)
- Type of questions: MCQ, Drag Drop, Scenario-Based Questions, and Case Studies
- Negative marking: NO
- Pass marks: 700 / 1000
- Number of questions: 45–55
- Exam Fee: Refer here
- Pre-requisite: NONE (1–2 years of experience with Azure technologies is preferred)
- Exam validity: 2 years
Understanding the skills measured
This is the very first thing I did, prior to doing any study plans. Here is the overview outline of skills measured:
- Develop Azure compute solutions (25–30%)
- Develop for Azure storage (15–20%)
- Implement Azure security (20–25%)
- Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions (15–20%)
- Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services (15–20%)
As you can see, compute solutions and security take more weight compared to other areas. Now you would have a better understanding of the key areas to focus on. Refer here for in detailed syllabus.
Finding learning resources
The next thing I did was finding the study resources. The following are the study resources that I used.
01). Instructor-led learning resources (online)
These are a couple of well-tailored Udemy courses I followed.
02). Self learning
- MS Learning Path
Thanks to Microsoft, they provide rich content study materials for the exam. The best thing about the MS Learning path is, it gives us a FREE sandbox for each subject unit. This is the first thing I would recommend to anyone. - MS Docs
Apart from MS learning path, Microsoft also provides a variety of tutorials for each exam content. You can find tailored content for the Az-204 exam in Thomas Maurer’s blog.
03). Practice exam kit
Exam Preparation
When it comes to exams, each of us has a unique way of preparing for the exam. This I have only provided how I have prepared for the exam, it is up to you to plan out in a suitable manner fitting to your own preference.
I defined an own way of study planned called 3B phase — Baby-Bear-Bull. The idea is like starting with slow progress and gradually improve the study time when moving forward.
To get effective use of this plan, you should keep consistent progress.
This is how I studied throughout each phase:
Study tips based on My experience
Read, Practice, Repeat
- Give more focus on the Microsoft Learn path
- Do a lot of hands-on exercises related to Azure SDK, CLI, and Shell commands. Don’t memories commands and syntaxes.
- Keep the consistency
Practice with Quizzes
- Take section-wise practice quizzes and evaluate your strength in each section. Focus more on the subject area you are lacking.
- Make sure to read the reference link for each question at the end of the quiz.
- Target to score 800+ in the practice quiz, even though the pass mark is 700 in the actual exam.
Register for the exam early
- Better if you can book the exam earlier. This creates some pressure and keeps you motivated.
Hope you have found this article useful. You can use this as a guide to making your study plan for the Azure exam. May the ☁️ be with you!!!
Don’t forget to mention your experience in the comments 😉
