Microsoft Learning posted an article that announced some upcoming changes to the Microsoft Azure and Data & AI certifications. These certification exam changes are slated to be released by March of 2020, and affect the Azure Administrator, Azure Developer, Azure Solutions Architect, and Azure AI certifications. Most notably, these changes include new certification exams that will be replacing existing exams.
New Azure Certification Exam Changes
The Azure Administrator, Azure Developer, Azure Solutions Architect, and Azure AI certifications have been announced to be affected by this new change to releasing new replacement exams. These new exams will completely replace the existing exams (after a transition period once released) and will include their own exam objectives to be studied.
The certifications earned are not changing, but the exams required to earn the certifications will be changing. Currently, nothing as been released, outside of the announcement from Microsoft Learning stating what they are planning.
Here are the certification exam changes that are being planned:
| Certification | Old Exam | New Exam | Expected Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate | AZ-103 | AZ-104 | March, 2020 |
| Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate | AZ-203 | AZ-204 | February 24, 2020 |
| Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect | AZ-300 & AZ-301 | AZ-303 & AZ-304 | March, 2020 |
| Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate | AI-100 | AI-102 | March 2020 |
Keep in mind the certification earned will not change. Only the exams that you will be required to pass when earning the certification will change.
The announcement mentioned that there may be additional certifications that will undergo similar changes. These are the only certification changes announced so far, and in the coming months we may see more announced.
Note: As of the time of writing this, the exam objectives for these new exams have not been announced or released yet. I’ll update this article with links and information when announcements are made.
Exam Transition Period
If you’re currently studying for a certification exam, you do not need to worry. Microsoft has laid out a plan to phase out the old and phase in the new exams over a 90 day window. During this time period you will be able to choose between both exams when sitting for your certification process.
This will enable you to keep studying and working towards earning certifications by passing the old exams, even after the new exams are available. Or, you can choose to study and pass the new exams. Then after the 90 day period, the old exam will be retired and the replacement by the new exam will be completed.
After the 90 day transition period has ended, the old exam will be retired and no longer available. Essentially, this means that you can keep on your progress for the old exams if you’re already started studying. If you are just starting your certification journey once the new exam is released for your certification of choice, you should start studying the exam objectives for the new exam.
“We will leave the old exam in market for 90 days after the new version becomes available.”
Libery Munson, Principal Psychometrician, Microsoft
Overall, this transition period should help ease the process of studying for a certification exam that’s planned to be retired soon. Also, don’t worry, a certification earned now will remain active, and you don’t need to worry about new exams until it comes time to renew your certification at a later date.
Video Explaining Azure Exam Changes
Here’s a short video from Scott Duffy explaining what the coming changes to the Microsoft Azure certifications mean. He combed through the exam syllabus changes for each of the certification exam updates, and gives us some great insights from his first impressions of these changes. Thanks Scott!
If you’re interested in reading about the reasons for these changes, then I encourage you to read the official announcement article from Microsoft Learning.
About the Author:
Chris Pietschmann
Chris Pietschmann is a Microsoft MVP, HashiCorp Ambassador, and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with 20+ years of experience designing and building Cloud & Enterprise systems. He has worked with companies of all sizes from startups to large enterprises. He has a passion for technology and sharing what he learns with others to help enable them to learn faster and be more productive.
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Hi Chris, I have enrolled to AZ 103 in March month so what will happens to my enrollment whether it will be moved to 104 automatically or i need to prepare for AZ 103 syllabus only’
Go ahead and continue your plan to take the AZ-103 exam. Once AZ-104 is released, the AZ-103 exam will still be available for a transition period of 90 days. During the transition period, both exams will be available. At the end of the transition period, then the old exam will be retired, and the new exam will only be available. At this time, you have plenty of time to continue on your AZ-103 path as planned. 🙂
This is not good at all. I prepared for 70-534 in 2018 then it upgraded to 70-535 early 2019 , with in 8 months it got replaced with AZ-300 & AZ-301. Now again changing them .I passed AZ-300 and ready to book AZ-301 but now this news It is completely disappointing. Why Microsoft not just upgrade content and keep the exam number same for at least couple of years to avoid confusion. AWS is just doing with same exams for years with updated content every year.
You will still have 90 days to take and pass AZ-301 once the AZ-304 exam is released. Microsoft expects to release AZ-304 in March, 2020. This still gives you a few months to study up and pass the AZ-301 exam to earn your certification before the exam update. This is actually better, since previous updates were made by removing the old exam and replacing with a new one on a single release date. This could result in some taking an exam with different objectives than what they studies. This new update process will allow you to still take the exam version that matches the objectives you’ve been studying for.
Hello Chris, do you know if someone with both AZ-300 and the new AZ-304 will be able to attain the Azure Solutions Architect badge. or you can’t mix old and new certifications?
Thanks.
Microsoft hasn’t mentioned if you’ll be able to mix the old and new exams to earn the certifications. I’m assuming you will need to either take both old or both new exams to earn the Azure Solutions Architect certification. That seems to make sense to me, but there has not been any official statement from Microsoft on this question yet.
Chris, I get your point but it sounds odd that two people earning same certification by passing different exams.Other thing you are retiring exams of person A having same certification as person B has with different exam. Is it not confusing ?
What about if after passing AZ-300 I am not able to pass AZ-301 . Can passing AZ-304 will earn Expert Certification ? If not then what?
It’s not clear if you can mix old and new exams to earn the certification. I haven’t seen Microsoft specify if that will be accepted, but I’m assuming you wont be able to do that.
I was planning to take AZ 103 certification exams but now i will do it AZ 104 directly. Otherwise I need to give upgrade exam within few months. I have already done 70-532/70-533/70-534 earlier in 2017
That’s a solid plan if you don’t see yourself being able to take the exam for some time. Otherwise, if you plan to take the exam in the next 3-4 months, then I’d recommend to just go with the AZ-103.
Even though the exam numbers have been “stable” for a year or so with each change, the exam contents has been updated every 3 months or so. The cloud and Microsoft Azure are very rapidly changing and evolving! This requires constant certification and exam updates to keep them up-to-date with the latest state of the cloud. This release of AZ-104 is another reflection of that. If you plan to take the exam in the next 3 months or so, then I’d recommend to stay the course with studying for the AZ-103 exam. If you wont be there in that time frame, then switch to AZ-104 will be required. However, AZ-103 study materials will get you probably 80% of the way there, until there are AZ-104 study materials available for you to use when studying.
Hi Chris, thanks for the information. I booked AZ-300 in June with many of my colleagues at work with the idea of booking AZ-301 later in the year. If Microsoft does not allow to use AZ-300 combined with AZ-304 to get the certification is going to be very disruptive for us. This is usually why I don’t like certifications that requires more than one exam to pass. Microsoft should really consider this when they roll out new certifications. 90 days is enough time for a transition with a single exam but not enough when you need to take 2 exams to earn a certification.
Thanks, Andrea! Those are really great points. I do hope they address this concern, as I have heard the same argument from multiple people.
Hi Chris, I have already completed my AZ-103 during June, now will it be necessary to do AZ-104 again?
No, your certification will be valid for 2 years from when you passed AZ-103. Only after that you’d need to renew it.