Background

Back in 2020 Microsoft announced that it was updating it’s role-based certifications renewal process. Prior to this renewing Micrsoft role-based certifications was an ordeal. You’d have to retake the required exams every two years to maintain certifications. Depending on the number of certifications you might have this could lead to a very strenuous time of studying full exams. This new process is a yearly renewal but not the full exam. The majority of folks may not have had the ability to take a certification renewal so I will attempt to answer any questions/provide background as I found there was lack of information readily available.

When/Where can I take it?

The exam can be taken within 180 days of your certification’s expiration. You may take it from any computer and there is no proctor and no scheduling required.

Can I Retake it?

Microsoft says you can retake it as often as you’d like, just no more than once in a 24-hour window after an initial retake. I did not have to retake mine so I can’t verify this.

Is it Open Book?

From what I can tell, yes. I believe the intent is for you to look up answers that you are unsure about.

What Does it Cost?

Nothing.

What Do I Need to Pass?

It might be different for various exams. For the Azure Architect Expert exam my score report showed >68% for passing.

What was it like?

Was easy! I renewed my Azure Architect Expert certification. It consisted of about 23 questions on various topics. It seemed to be random which ones got selected. For mine it seemed to be more focused around Azure Recovery Services which involved me having to do more looking into features as it’s not something I’d use every day.

I took my time and submitted my answers and received a passing mark. The score report consisted of a high-level overview on the area of questions that were asked and how you performed against them. Nothing fancy similar to Microsoft score reports, just a bar shading in what your correct answer percentage was.

Conclusion

Renewing Micrsoft role-based certifications is much more streamlined than the older version. It is simple, gives you more than enough time, and was stress free. I’d argue that the level of difficulty might have been seen as too easy; however, I’ll take it as opposed to the other end of having to study ahead of time, pay an exam fee, and schedule an appointment. In the end it won’t bite and encourage everyone to partake in their yearly exam renewals.

If looking at taking an exam remote check out my post “Taking Remote Proctored Microsoft”