Hello readers!
It’s been a while, but I am back on this blog – and I plan to start writing more often now.
On the last AZ-900 blog I mentioned that I would have followed up with some tips on how to ace DP-900: Azure Data Fundamentals. And here we are! I will summarize my journey in achieving this certification. …and since you’re here, I hope this will help you earn it too!
Why DP-900?
Azure Data Fundamentals is focused on Azure’s data services.
Data is everywhere – data is information, knowledge. And knowledge is power. Okay – maybe I am getting a bit too serious… 😆
Still, data needs to be collected, stored, updated, and sometimes deleted. One thing I really appreciate about the Microsoft Fundamentals certifications is that they truly start from the basics: you won’t be thrown straight into the different services offered in Azure, instead, all starts with some basic explanations. In this case we’ll get to know what data is, the different types of data that exist, what a database is, how you can use it and analyze it, and so on. And for each of these fundamentals, Microsoft explains the services that it offers to best meet its customers’ needs.
We are surrounded by data, and it is extremely important to understand the basic concepts – relational and non-relational data and how to best manage and store this information effectively. Whether you’re interested in data or not, if you’re a developer or an IT enthusiast, I would highly recommend learning these data fundamentals.
DP-900 Study materials
Here’s a list of the materials I have used to achieve this cert:
In my previous blog I mentioned how much I love studying on paper, yet you might have noticed that no book was listed among the materials I used. This is because there is so much free material online that I did not feel the need to buy a book. So far, this is the first (and only) certification exam I prepared without a book. If you would like to purchase one, I would recommend ordering something from either Packt or Microsoft Exam Ref – if you’re unsure on which one to choose, go for the latest release.
Microsoft Learn Platform
Just like with AZ-900, Microsoft Learn Platform has helped a lot in preparing for this exam. You can find everything you need, a learning path that walks you through the different topics needed to ace this exam.
Something worth mentioning is that since I took this certification, Microsoft decided to add some practice tests to the fundamentals preparation materials on the platform: take advantage of them! They usually consist of about 50 questions. You can check if your answer is correct right away, and you’ll also get an explanation if you choose the wrong answer. Once you finish the test, you’ll see a full report of your results! You can take this test multiple times, and in the report you’ll also see how you scored in all the previous practice tests you took – you can even go back to see each practice test’s assessment.
Free online resources
This certification is so popular that the web is full of practice tests and free resources you can use to get ready to crack this test.
I have searched a lot for “DP-900 questions” all over YouTube, and I also practiced a lot with ExamTopics. A great thing about ExamTopics is that while they provide sample questions with relative answers, they have a huge community of people that under every question explain and/or debate on why the answer is what it is. Please keep in mind to double-check the ‘Discussion’ session as sometimes the answers provided by ExamTopics are not correct.
Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Days
I really like to take advantage of these free training days offered by Microsoft to make a general review of everything I have studied before the exam. And these are also great for asking questions about things you haven’t understood properly yet! During these two sessions you can ask questions directly to experts (via chat). If you are unsure about certain topics or how things work in Azure, take advantage of this opportunity.
Something else you can earn from the Virtual Training Days is a discount for your exam! I was lucky to receive a full voucher discount: now it seems that Microsoft offers 50% discounts – still better than nothing!
To keep in mind for this exam…
During the exam, I noticed that there were more questions than I expected regarding:
- ACID principles (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability)
- Roles (data analyst, data engineer, database administrator….)
- Power BI (reports, datasets, dashboards…)
Then I personally found ETL and ELT concepts tricky, as on the web there were many different discussions and interpretations about them. I hope that this short bullet list will help you:
- ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
- Source: CRM System
- Transform: an in-memory data integration tool
- Load: data warehouse
- ELT (Extract, Load, Transform)
- Source: CRM System
- Load: data warehouse
- Transform: Within the data warehouse
Tips for the exam
Start with a deep breath – you’ve got this!
You can take the exam either on-site or online with PearsonVue. So far, I have always used the online option, but according to the instructions there shouldn’t be huge differences between the two. It will take some time before you’ll be up and running with the online option, but once the exam starts there is no going back! 😈
There might be moments when you find yourself stuck with a difficult question: don’t spend more than a couple of minutes on it – if you see that it needs more time, simply ‘flag it’ with the ‘Review later’ button present on the screen and proceed with the other questions. You do not have the entire day to do the test, so focus on what you know first and review the questions you’re unsure about at the end.
Another possibility that Microsoft gives is to leave feedback on each question. Is the question unclear? Is it misleading? Is it misspelled? Whatever the problem you might see – you can leave feedback once you’re done with your test.
And after the feedback session, it will magically appear: you will be served with your result right away!
This is it for this blog. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you. Hope you’ll ace Azure Data Fundamentals! Wish you the best of luck!
See you at the next blog about AI-900: Azure AI Fundamentals, a very fun and interesting certification that became very popular in the last years.
Beatrice