Great News, Azure Developers! Microsoft Is Simplifying Your Path to Certification!
Posted 27 Dec 2018 by Liberty Munson (Microsoft)
January 15, 2019: Updated in red.
Effective January 3, 2019, Microsoft is consolidating the Azure Developer certification path from two exams, AZ-200 and AZ-201, into one exam, AZ-203: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure.
Subject matter expert feedback indicated that AZ-200 and AZ-201 assess knowledge of content beyond that which is essential for the Azure Developer job role. While we will continue to provide training on all of these skills and more, we have determined that some of the skills that were assessed on these exams can be assumed by other skills that we are assessing, so we are removing this redundancy and moving some skills to more appropriate certifications, such as our Data and AI certifications launching at the end of the month, and simplifying the certification process for Azure Developers.
After all, we put our technical exams through a beta process to ensure not only the quality of the items that we include on the live exam but to also ensure that we are measuring the right skills. Through the beta process, we learn a lot. In fact, we sometimes learn that we can simplify the certification experience for our candidates.
AZ-203, the new consolidated exam, pulls approximately 70% of its objectives from AZ-200 and 30% from AZ-201. Because the new exam is simply a refinement of the two original developer exams, it will not go through beta when it launches, and anyone who takes it will be scored immediately.** **
What was removed?
- Select the appropriate cloud technology solution (AZ-200 FG 1)
- Design and develop applications that use media services (AZ-200 objective 3.8)
- Develop for asynchronous processing (AZ-201 objective 1.1)
- Develop long-running tasks (AZ-201 objective 1.3)
- Implement distributed transactions (AZ-201 objective 1.4)
- Develop Azure Cognitive Services, Bot, and IoT solutions (AZ-201 FG 3)
What happens to the exams in market?
Starting today, AZ-200 and AZ-201 are retired. Anyone registered for those exams will receive a cancellation notice from Pearson VUE with a request that they register for AZ-203.
AZ-202 will retire on March 31, 2019, since a transition exam isn’t required for a single-exam certification.
What happens to beta candidates?
Candidates who took AZ-200 and AZ-201 will be rescored (per the usual process*) and will earn the certification if they passed both exams. They will only be scored on the content that remains on AZ-203.
Candidates who only took AZ-200 will also be rescored (per the usual process*), but with a higher cut score. Because 70% of the AZ-203 content comes from AZ-200, it is possible (though unlikely) that someone could pass this exam and demonstrate competence at a sufficient level to earn the certification. These candidates will be manually rescored and awarded the certification based on that higher cut score, as appropriate. Candidates who did not pass will receive a voucher to take AZ-203. It will take a few weeks to get these vouchers sent to affected candidates; please be patient.
Candidates who only took AZ-201 will be given a voucher to take AZ-203, since someone can’t earn the Azure Developer certification by passing just AZ-201 on its own. It will take a few weeks to get these vouchers sent to affected candidates; please be patient.
Ultimately, we have simplified your path to certification—now you only need to take one exam. And that exam focuses on the most important skills that you need to be a Microsoft Certified Azure Developer. Ready to prove that you have the skills to develop amazing solutions in Azure? Register for AZ-203 today and plan to take it starting January 3, 2019!
*The rescore process starts on the day that exams go live, and final scores are released approximately 10 days later. For updates on when the rescore is complete, follow me on Twitter (@libertymunson). For questions about the timing of beta exam scoring and live exam release, see the blog posts The Path from Beta Exam to Live Exam and More Tips About Beta Exams.
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