I recently passed the Microsoft certification exam for 70-532: Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions. To celebrate this achievement, I would like to share some information that will help you prepare for the exam.
1. Read the Official Exam Prep book.
Exam Ref 70-532 Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions
by Zoiner Tejada, Michele Leroux Bustamante, Ike Ellis
You can purchase the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
2. Take notes while thoroughly reading the book.
Never underestimate the power of your own notes. By taking notes while reading the book, I was able to review the notes to remember key features just before I walked into the exam.
3. Watch the MVA course for 70-532 prep.
My colleague Bret Stateham and his co-host Sidney Andrews have a great video course on Microsoft Virtual Academy to give you a high-level overview of this exam’s objectives.
- Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions: http://aka.ms/mva-azure-70-532
4. Watch the MVA course on Azure Fundamentals.
If you need a refresher on Azure Fundamentals, check out Bob Tabor‘s Azure Fundamentals video course on Microsoft Virtual Academy:
- Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: http://aka.ms/mva-azure-fundamentals
5. Watch the PowerShell video tutorial on Lynda.com.
If you’re new to PowerShell, Lynda.com has a great video tutorial on PowerShell. If you don’t have an account with them, you can start with a free trial.
- Up and Running with PowerShell 5: http://www.lynda.com/PowerShell-tutorials/Up-Running-PowerShell-5/189402-2.html
6. Memorize the details of each pricing tier.
There are tables of data in the official book and in Azure documentation about pricing tiers for virtual machines, websites, SQL Server databases, etc. I would highly recommend reading through these tables thoroughly so that you’re prepared to answer questions where such knowledge is key.
7. Get some actual experience on Azure!
Nothing beats first-hand experience! Head on over to the Azure website today to start your free trial or activate your Azure account via BizSpark or MSDN, whichever option applies to you.
- Azure: http://azure.com
- BizSpark: http://bizspark.com
- MSDN: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/benefits-overview.aspx
For more information on signing up with BizSpark, check out my BizSpark info page:
- BizSpark info: http://WakeUpAndCode.com/bizspark
8. Download Visual Studio!
To get the development tools you need to work with the Azure SDK, download Visual Studio for free!
- Visual Studio Community Edition: http://aka.ms/vs2013ce
9. Now, get ready to schedule your exam!
Best of luck!
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Just from exam perspective is the ref book by Zoiner Tejada, Michele Leroux covers ask questions?
Exam questions aren’t permitted outside the exam room, so you won’t find actual exam questions in any professional Microsoft book or preparation materials. The book does have checklists and questions+answers for the lessons learned in each chapter, so all that should help.
Try the other suggestions in my study guide, and get some real-world experience with Azure. Even if you don’t pass the first time, take advantage of the free “Second Shot” offer from Microsoft to retake the exam for free. FYI, Second Shot is currently available for a limited time, for exams scheduled and taken between July 12, 2015, and January 12, 2016.
https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/second-shot.aspx
how many questions and how long is the exam?
Questions may vary as it’s a dynamic exam. The exam duration is shown during the time of scheduling the exam. I cant schedule the 532 exam again, since I’ve already passed it. But if I start to schedule the 533 exam, I can see that the Exam Length is 150 minutes. My 532 exam may have had the same duration, but I don’t recall as I was done ahead of time.
Is there any way I can get accustomed to the questions? How can I practice the questions?
It is forbidden to share the actual questions outside of the exam, so there is no legit way to practice the actual questions. Using a “dump” of answers from any online source may also get you banned from future exams, so I wouldn’t recommend this.
The best way to practice is to follow the guidelines outlined above, and defiinitely seek out newer sources of information. The above blog post is actually from June 2015, so I’m sure there is a ton of new material out there from the past 3 years.
The official book has questions and answers in it, but those questions may not actually be in the exam, so I would suggest learning the material well.
Best of luck!