To achieve the distinction of being a Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate, you need to pass two exams Exam DP-200: Implementing an Azure Data Solution and Exam DP-201: Designing an Azure Data Solution. On April 2020,  I passed Exam DP-201: Designing an Azure Data Solution!! Yay 🙂

In this post, I will share how I prepared for the exam

Preparing for Microsoft Exam DP-201: Designing an Azure Data Solution

When studying for this exam from March 2020, I relied heavily on  Microsoft Learn and a lot of hands-on experience.

In short  these are the steps I took to prepare

    • Complete learing path for  Microsoft Azure Data Engineers
    • Azure Docs
    • Azure Solution Architectures

Practice Exams: Official Microsoft practice exams are now being offered by MeasureUp. I reviewed the practice exams to find any gaps in my knowledge and compared them to the areas that would be covered in the exam. Once I was happy with my progress I applied and took the exam.

(If you are simply looking for information about exam questions and answers, please leave. Sharing or using that kind of information is a violation of the Microsoft Exam Policy and Non-Disclosure Agreement.)

Skills Measured in Exam DP-201

Every time I study for a Microsoft exam, my first step is always to check the skills measured. It helps me understand the scope of the exam, as well as the products and technologies covered.

The skills measured in this exam are:

  • Design Azure data storage solutions (40-45%)
  • Design data processing solutions (25-30%)
  • Design for data security and compliance (25-30%)

 

Taking the Exam DP-201

The first step of taking the exam is to accept and sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Because of that, I can’t discuss the exam. Instead, I want to share my exam experience.

You can find more information in Microsoft’s Certification Exam Policies and FAQs.

Time for the exam

There is a total of 210 minutes for the exam. 180 minutes are for answering questions and the remaining 30 minutes were for reading instructions, signing the NDA, and providing feedback afterwards.

Make sure there is enough time to answer all questions. According to Microsoft, exams usually have 40-60 questions. If you feel stuck on a question, I recommend that you mark it for review and return to it later. It’s better to get guess an answer to the question as you still have a chance to get partial point rather that not getting any points at all. 

Types of questions in the exam

The question types can include case studies, repeated answer choices, single choice, multiple choice, drop-down lists, build lists, drag-and-drop, and more

Summary

In this post I shared all the resources and the process I used to prepare for the exam. I would recommend that you review the official exam overview page  as the exam content changes every three months.

My advice is to work through the entire list of skills measured  and also go through practice exams. This will help prepare you for the exam, but you will also be confident that you have the skills needed to implement Azure Data Solutions in the real world.

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