The AZ900 is a great certification to study for and take if you are looking to go into cloud engineering or just want to raise your awareness of “cloud”.
Here are 3 free resources that I used to get a pass first time.
As mentioned in a previous post, Microsoft provides some fantastic, free training in the form of Microsoft Virtual Training Days.
These training days typically consist of 6 hours of free webinars over 2 consecutive days and cover pretty much cover everything you need to start your AZ900 journey. When you complete the course you are entitled to a free exam voucher for the Azure Fundamentals exam saving you £69/$99.
In theory you should be able to take the exam straightaway however the webinar does cover a lot in the time and it’ll probably be worth working your way through other resources especially around more complicated aspects of Azure.
The Azure Fundamentals course on Microsoft Learn covers everything in great detail that you need to know and I referenced it extensively, working through the course over 5 evenings.
It does go into a lot of depth and took me around 10 hours of concentrated study but I think it’s really worth it - its very well designed and chopped up into bite sized pieces, making it ideal to work through at your own pace.
As an added bonus there’s a couple of built in simulations to work through (the one that springs to mind is a walkthrough of how to setup a Cloud DB)
My final recommendation for free resources is of course Youtube.
Youtube, love it or hate it is a fantastic source of these types of resources and i’d like to highlight two really well thought out and put together “study cram” videos:
AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Study Cram - 2022 Edition by John Savill’s Technical Training
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification Course (AZ-900) by freeCodeCamp.org
The order above pretty much covers the order I used these resources.
I attended the Virtual Training Day at the end of May 2022 for 2 days, absorbing as much as possible then immediately booked the exam for a couple of Fridays in the future.
The Sunday before the exam I started the Microsoft Learn course, working though it over the following 5 nights - on the Thursday I took the sample Azure Fundamentals test, then worked through my answers to highlight any knowledge gaps. My preferred method of learning is to work through the course taking copious notes as I go - by writing everything down in my own words I reinforce the learning.
I then used the cram videos to fill in these gaps on the morning of the exam.
I hope these resources help you pass your exam first time.