In June 2025, I took and passed the Azure AI-102 certification exam. I would like to share my experience and what might be useful for someone else on this journey.
As AI is inevitably becoming the new game of the industry, naturally, many will want to learn more about it. My key driver was to learn what’s possible. Before my studies started, I had seen multiple PoCs, heard of ideas, and seen extraordinary AI applications changing people’s lives in many areas. But this certification focused on the Azure services was supposed to empower me to participate in conversations and ideation processes for AI-powered applications, to help me think creatively, consider ethical accountabilities, and business needs. And so it enabled me to do this.
My study journey
To set the context, the time frame of my preparation was probably not ideal due to the recent changes to the content on the 30th of April. On the 1st of May, I first looked at the content and started my study path, and a month later, I took the exam. I followed the official learning path for the certification, and I would conclude that the path is designed carefully. It’s straightforward and should be your main source for study. It includes quizzes and hands-on labs, which were very valuable.
Although the MS Learn path for Azure AI-102 certification was long and had good coverage, I am glad I also spent time reading the official documentation found on the MS Learn website.
Using AI to learn about AI
Because I felt that I couldn’t remember everything and my deadline for the exam was a bit tight, in the last week or so, I decided to ask Google Gemini to generate certification-style questions and make a quiz for me based on the content in the documentation that I was revising. I did this not only because I wanted focused revision on specific topics, but also because there are so few resources out there for mock exams of this specific certification. These Gemini-generated quizzes are what got me into an assessment mode and even helped me get into the habit of using intuition when I couldn’t rely on the confidence of my knowledge.
Whatever your reason might be, it could be a useful approach. But never abandon the act of actually reading the documentation, and ensure that your AI chat is not hallucinating by grounding it on the exact content you are interested in.
Create a 10-question quiz based only on the content in this documentation: https://docs.azure.cn/en-us/ai-services/language-service/question-answering/overview
Follow the Azure certification exam question style:
You have a question answering project.
A customer asks a question that is not part of the project.
You review the active learning suggestions and do not see any suggestions.
You need to ensure that customer questions are included in the active learning suggestions. The solution must minimize administrative effort.
What should you do?
Practice material online
📚 If you have access to O’Reilly resources, this resource provides revision questions. Although the questions are ridiculously easy compared to the actual exam.
📚 Whizlabs also has some practice tests available that are more in the format of the exam. I am not sure how up-to-date they are since the last change to the exam, but at the moment, you can Try Free Test of 15 questions.
📚 Udemy has practice tests with questions similar to those in the actual exam.
You don’t need them all. For me, doing the free test on Wizlabs was enough to get the gist of what to expect. But I imagine if I had purchased more of those tests, I would have felt maybe a bit more confident.
And most importantly, take the practice assessment provided on the official certification page. It will generate a report that you can use to identify your weaker sections and will even create a revision plan for you.
My time
In total, I spent 8 full work days - about 7 hours each, going through the learning path. And then about 3 hours for 8 more days revising, looking into more details in the documentation, repeating the lab exercises, and quizzing myself.
How was the exam?
I took my exam online. I had never done this before, but the overall setup and check-in process went smoother than I expected. As long as you have completed the system check on your machine before the exam, you can be calm and enjoy the comfort of your home during the assessment.
The questions in the exam included:
- single-choice and multiple-choice questions
- code/json completion exercises with dropdown options
- building lists in the right order
- one Hot Area question to determine what I would click to achieve an objective
- Mark Review questions
- Case Studies questions
There was no lab exercise during my exam.
At the end, there were six questions dedicated to one case study. You will see it clearly in the progress bar when you get to them. Don’t forget to use the buttons in the left pane to expand and read the case study information!
MS Learn
You can also access Microsoft Learn documentation during the assessment, but be extremely mindful of your time. I used it for a couple of questions, and even then only quickly scanned through the pages. There is a limit of maybe 5 tabs that you can open. See how you can access the documentation.
Exam time
From the moment you start the assessment, you will see a timer counting down the minutes you have left to finish the exam. You have 100 minutes + 20 minutes more, which includes a break and any adjustments in case you need them. The time you see counts for both parts of the assessment - the first ~50 questions, as well as the last 6 questions dedicated to the case study. It also includes the review time.
Difficulty
The difficulty of the questions was what I expected - difficult. I had to use intuition a lot and have internal conversations about why I chose this answer over the other. It’s the little details in the question that matter. I didn’t know everything and didn’t have time to look up the documentation, but as long as I had an overall knowledge of the services, experience with the labs, and common sense, I was able to answer with some confidence.
If you want to learn from my mistakes:
- Keep up the pace during your assessment - time flies by when you’re having fun ;)
- Expand for more information in the last case study questions - I forgot it was a thing pressured under the time limit
- If you want to keep tissues or chewing gum on your desk, take them out of the packaging
Exam day
The weekend before the exam, I went dancing (one of my passions). Some friends told me to study instead, but I know what works for me. Study and practice early, not the night before. My rule of thumb - from 3 pm on the day before the exam, I am not allowed to study, take practice tests, or revise. It’s rest time.
You might not know everything that’s in the exam. You might not feel confident. But you stuck to your plan, and que sera, sera. You are capable, you’ve done the work, find your peace.
I took my exam online, and when I saw the page with my results indicating that I successfully received my certification, I sighed with relief and thought of my exam proctor - “Is he proud of me?”
This is what I wish for you - may your proctor be proud of you. Good luck with your studies. You’ve got this!
Top comments (7)
Dumps4azure made my AI-102 preparation stress-free and smooth. The dumps were accurate, reliable, and very close to the actual exam. It felt like I had already taken the test before sitting for the real one.
Love how you mixed in actual AI to prep for an AI cert, and the dancing-before-exam bit is so real. Was there one Azure service or concept that really tripped you up during the test?
Haha, no, I don't really remember anything specific. But there was a question about some feature that I had never heard of. So I went to the MSLearn website and searched for it there - I couldn't find it. I'm not sure whether the question was actually about something that didn't exist, or if my search was incorrect. But this would definitely be a good scenario to use that MSLearn website :)
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