Microsoft

MS-102, the required exam for the Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert path, is still active on October 1, 2026, but its retirement date is close: November 30, 2026. Candidates should therefore treat it as a time-sensitive path rather than a certification target they can prepare for indefinitely. Microsoft has already introduced the beta AB-650, Administering Microsoft 365 and AI Services, as the newer administration direction. The current MS-102 blueprint covers four connected responsibilities: managing the Microsoft 365 tenant, implementing and managing Microsoft Entra identity and access, managing security with Microsoft Defender…

Microsoft DP-600 is easier to prepare for when Fabric is treated as an analytical system rather than a list of product features. The current exam expects candidates to reason about analytics solution planning, data preparation, querying, semantic models, Direct Lake, governance, security, performance, and the development lifecycle. These areas depend on one another, so a strong study plan should follow those dependencies instead of moving through topics in random order. DP-600 remains active as of October 23, 2026. The English skills update effective October 19 is now in force, so…

DP-700 remains Microsoft’s active exam for Fabric Data Engineer Associate in 2026. The role is centered on data loading patterns, data architectures, orchestration, transformation, security, monitoring, and optimization inside Microsoft Fabric. It is not an “Azure data engineering” exam in the DP-203-era Azure data engineering model, even though many cloud data-engineering principles transfer directly. Candidates preparing for DP-700 should be comfortable with SQL, PySpark, and KQL, along with Fabric lakehouses, warehouses, notebooks, pipelines, Dataflow Gen2, OneLake, and real-time workloads. Microsoft’s English-language DP-700 skills update took effect on October 19, 2026….

The Microsoft PL-300 exam remains current on October 6, 2026 under the English blueprint dated April 20. A useful study plan follows the Power BI workflow: establish the analytical requirement, prepare data, build the semantic model, write and validate measures, design reports, analyze patterns, publish and refresh, then secure and operate the solution. Define the analytical problem and prepare data For the PL-300 study-plan capstone, hand a finished Power BI solution to another analyst and ask them to trace the business question back through visuals, measures, relationships, Power Query, and…

Microsoft retired AI-900 on June 30, 2026. The current Azure AI Fundamentals exam is AI-901; candidates transitioning from older material can use the AI-901 beginner study path to structure their new Foundry and Python practice. That transition matters because Microsoft AI-901 is not simply AI-900 with a new code. The current exam still expects candidates to recognize core AI workloads and responsible-AI principles, but it also raises the practical baseline. Microsoft’s April 15, 2026 skills outline expects foundational technical ability, familiarity with Azure resources, Python syntax, and awareness of how…

The AZ-800 exam is retired, but its hybrid-core content remains highly relevant to the current Microsoft AZ-802 Administering Windows Server exam. Candidates who already built a study plan around AZ-800 should map that work into the consolidated AZ-802 blueprint instead of discarding it. The new exam still expects AD DS, hybrid management, virtualization, networking, storage, security, and troubleshooting. The transition also simplifies certification planning. The former Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate path required AZ-800 and AZ-801; the current Microsoft page now centers the credential on AZ-802. That means the preparation…

PL-200 retired on August 31, 2026, but two of its most useful skill areas—Power Automate and environment management—remain central to current Power Platform work. New candidates should prepare for AB-410 rather than the retired Functional Consultant exam, while reusing the operating discipline that made reliable automation and controlled environments important in the first place. Model the process before building the flow Start with event, state, actor, decision, action, exception, and completion. A flow is easier to design when the business process is explicit. If a request can be approved, rejected,…

AZ-400 is an advanced DevOps exam, not a general introduction to Agile or cloud development. Microsoft expects candidates to design and implement the systems that move work from an idea to production: collaboration and traceability, source control, build and release pipelines, security and compliance, and instrumentation. The exam assumes you can connect people, process, Git, automation, Azure, GitHub, and Azure DevOps into one delivery system. The English AZ-400 exam was updated on July 27, 2026 and currently has no listed retirement date. The weighting is unusually clear about where to…

AZ-140 is a specialized Azure certification because virtual desktop infrastructure sits at the intersection of cloud compute, networking, identity, storage, security, application delivery, user profiles, monitoring, and end-user experience. Microsoft’s current study guide expects candidates to plan and implement Azure Virtual Desktop infrastructure, identity and security, user environments and applications, FSLogix, monitoring, and operational management. The AZ-140 exam leads to the Azure Virtual Desktop Specialty credential. Microsoft classifies the role as intermediate and describes the target candidate as a server or desktop administrator with expertise in designing, implementing, managing, and…

Microsoft MS-900, Microsoft 365 Fundamentals, retired on March 31, 2026. Candidates can no longer schedule it. Microsoft now offers AB-900: Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals as the beginner credential for an AI-enabled Microsoft 365 environment. Anyone using an old MS-900 voucher or study plan should treat it as historical and move to the current AB-900 objectives. Do not treat AB-900 as a simple exam-code rename MS-900 emphasized cloud concepts, Microsoft 365 applications and services, security and compliance, and licensing and support. AB-900 assumes familiarity with core Microsoft 365…

Microsoft DP-203, Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure, retired on March 31, 2025. It is no longer a schedulable certification exam. The closest current Microsoft data-engineering path is Microsoft DP-700, which earns the Fabric Data Engineer Associate certification. The useful way to handle old DP-203 preparation is to preserve the durable engineering skills while moving the platform-specific study plan to Microsoft Fabric. What still transfers from DP-203 The fundamentals did not disappear with the exam. Data engineers still need to ingest data reliably, choose appropriate storage, transform data, orchestrate pipelines, secure…

Microsoft AZ-800 retired on September 30, 2026, so “reasons to prepare for AZ-800” must now be reframed as reasons to reuse that preparation for AZ-802: Administering Windows Server. Candidates who already studied the old hybrid core exam have a valuable head start, but they should stop following retired domain weights and rebuild the plan around the current consolidated exam. Keep the identity foundation AD DS, DNS, authentication, group policy, and hybrid identity remain essential. Review them as an operating system of dependencies rather than isolated facts. Practice diagnosing sign-in failures…

PL-200 retired on August 31, 2026, so a preparation guide that still tells candidates how to pass Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant is pointing at a closed exam. Microsoft replaced that certification direction with AB-410: Building Intelligent Applications. The best transition is to keep the durable business-application skills from PL-200 and reorganize them around the current intelligent-app builder role. Start by separating durable skills from retired blueprint details Requirements discovery, Dataverse, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages, security, environments, integrations, and solution lifecycle remain valuable. Retired percentages, old question emphasis,…

Microsoft SC-900 remains current as of October 6, 2026. Microsoft’s current English scope is dated July 28, and the certification page announces an English update on October 21. The exam is designed for people who want foundational understanding of security, compliance, and identity across Microsoft cloud services. A good study plan should move from concepts to Microsoft Entra, then to Microsoft security solutions, and finally to Microsoft compliance solutions, while keeping the distinctions between those layers clear. Stage 1: establish security, compliance, and identity vocabulary SC-900 identity, security, and compliance…

AZ-400 is not a generic “learn Azure DevOps” exam. Microsoft positions it as the professional assessment for DevOps engineers who connect people, processes, source control, build and release automation, security, monitoring, and feedback into a continuous delivery system. The current English-language skills outline was updated on July 27, 2026, and it remains heavily weighted toward build and release pipelines. Passing AZ-400 is only one part of the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert path. Candidates must also hold either Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate. That prerequisite matters because Microsoft…