The time has come around where my Microsoft Certification Dashboard is prompting for an Azure Certification Renewal assessment. If you don’t already know the Microsoft Azure role-based exams no longer need to be repeated if you want to maintain your certification. Microsoft now offer a free, online short questionnaire type of exam for your to renew you certification.
How do you take an Azure Certification Renewal Exam?
If your certification is eligible to be renewed by taking the Azure Certification Renewal exam then you will be notified in your Microsoft Certification Dashboard 6 Months before your certificate is due to expire. When you pass the exam your certification will be extended by 1 year from the current expiration date (not from the date your took the renewal exam).
What happens if I fail the renewal exam?
If you fail the renewal exam it is not a major issue! you are allowed to take the renewal exam as many times as needed before you pass. The only caveat is that you have to wait 24 hours before you retake the exam. I still recommend you brush up on any areas of the exam you are not confident with. As the solutions in Azure change quite often it is likely that the exam will bear some focus on them areas.
My experience on taking the AZ-104 renewal exam
One thing that has always helped me mentally prepare for any Microsoft exam is to hear about the experiences other exam takers have had. So I thought it would be beneficial to share my thoughts with this blog!
My exam experience was Positive! which makes a change… this time I didn’t even have to tidy my office, disconnect multiple monitors, show myself on camera, or even get dressed! it was very pleasant.
I noticed that same morning when I logged into the Certification dashboard that I had a large banner across the home page prompting me that my renewal assessment was ready. And against my own advice, I just clicked the button to take the exam. As I said, I don’t advocate this approach unless you are confident with your applied knowledge of the exam skills outline, but that’s your choice.
The exam had challenging questions. They were in a slightly shorter format than the full exam, there were about 30 questions and it took me about 30 minutes. No case studies, no labs, just hard cold questions, just the way we like it. I even managed to complete the exam before my dog woke up and started to pester me to take him for a walk.
Other things you should know!
1. You can take Free Microsoft Exams if you have not already earned your certification!
2. You can only renewal an eligible exam when you are eligible to do so. That means only 6 months before the exam expires. You will get notified via email and within the certification dashboard when the exam is ready.
3. The Microsoft Fundamental Certifications do not expire, you will not have to renew or retake a full examination to re-earn this achievement.
4. As I said above, the renewal certifications are aligned with any updates in the full exam criteria, make sure you brush up before you take the exam!
5. If your certification is no longer available to earn (has been retired) then you will not be able to renew your certification. You will have to follow the new route available to earn the new certification.
6. A full list of detailed information on renewing your Microsoft exam can be found at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/renew-your-microsoft-certification
