“Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals” is a certification program offered by Microsoft that assesses the fundamental knowledge of candidates in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. It also checks the basic understanding of using Microsoft Azure services related to artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is the perfect certification for those who want to prove their fundamental knowledge in AI and Machine Learning along with Azure services. Candidates with technical as well as non-technical backgrounds can take this exam as there are no such eligibility criteria related to AI or machine learning. Through this certification, they can show their knowledge of defining and managing AI and Machine Learning workloads on the Azure platform.

Exam Pattern

To achieve this certification, candidates need to take an exam that is known as “Exam AI-900”. It is conducted by Microsoft through exam vendors. To take this exam, candidates need to visit the official website of this exam and need to schedule the exam by paying a fee of $99 USD. This fee price varies from country to country. If you take it from India, the fee will be Rs 3696.

Below are the important details regarding this exam:-

• Mode: Online
• Duration: 1 Hour
• Number of Questions: 40 to 60
• Formats of Questions: Different formats such as case study, short answers, multiple-choice, mark review, drag and drop, etc.

The marking of the exam is done on a scale of 100 to 1000 where the minimum passing marks are 700.

Exam Contents

This exam assesses the different skills of the candidates in the field of AI and Machine Learning. It also checks their understanding of different Azure services used in these fields. The major knowledge areas required for this certification with their weightage is given below:-

• Describe AI workloads and considerations (15-20%)
• Describe fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure (30-35%)
• Describe features of computer vision workloads on Azure (15-20%)
• Describe features of Natural Language Processing (NLP) workloads on Azure (15-20%)
• Describe features of conversational AI workloads on Azure (15-20%)

Some of the questions will be multiple choice-based questions, some will be with multiple choices and multiple selects where more than one option may be correct. Many questions require candidates to drag and drop the correct answers or drag and fill the correct answers. Candidates will find many formats of the questions in this exam.

Steps to Prepare

Good preparation is the key to any success. To perform well in this exam, the candidates need to prepare well by going through the information provided by Microsoft. The best way to prepare for this exam is to go through the following steps:-

1. Collect Information: You will find hundreds of blogs and other information on the internet related to this certification. Some may be useful and some may be misleading. The best way to collect information is to go through the official website of the certification and find the basic information. To know more about the skills and specific points to be covered in every particular skill, you can go through the exam skills outline provided by Microsoft.
2. Go through the tutorials and blogs of Microsoft: You can find around 3000 learning lessons provided by Microsoft that are based on different types of implementations around all the required skills in this exam. Along with that, there are around a thousand blogs and tutorials available in Azure AI Gallery. You can go through these blogs and tutorials and learn different skills related to AI, Machine Learning and Azure.
3. Go through the product descriptions and use cases: You can go through the descriptions of all the relevant Azure products and services and read about those along with different use cases and applications. The list of all the Azure products and services can be found in the Directory of Azure Cloud Services.
4. Take Mock Test on MachineHack: There are many macks exams on popular professional certifications offered by MachineHack, India’s leading hackathon and assessment platform. These mocks are provided for free, just to support the candidates. You can take Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals Mock on MachineHack where you will experience taking this exam in real life. You will find the same levels of questions belonging to all the required domains to be attempted within the stipulated time. After taking this mock exam, you will be able to assess your level of preparedness.
5. Repeat: Repeat steps 2 to 4 until you score very good in the mock test.

Final Words

This is not a very difficult exam as it aims to assess and certify the fundamental knowledge of the candidate in AI and Machine learning related to Azure. The most important points to be focused on are very good planning, the right strategy and perfect preparations. Once you have the required information and learning resources as discussed above, you can do good preparation. All the time during your preparation, you can assess your knowledge by taking the mock and then again you can plan adequately for further preparation if required.

All the best!