Microsoft retires exam 70-534 and replaces with a new exam 70-535 (tentative name)

  • Article

Microsoft Certified Professional program continually reviews their current and planned certifications to ensure that certifications reflect the latest Microsoft technologies. If you have been following all the Azure Updates https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates that are released daily, you know a lot has changed in Azure since the 70-534 exam was released.

At Ignite we heard that because of Azure updates releasing so often, Microsoft is going to start updating their Azure exams every three months. This started with 70-532 and 70-533 being updated currently. Continuing that pattern Microsoft has just updated the 70-534 learning page https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-70-534.aspx stating they are retiring this exam and replacing it with a new exam with new objectives. Microsoft has tentatively named this new exam 70-535. You can find those objectives in this PDF https://download.microsoft.com/download/B/9/1/B91A0CE0-9786-4B81-8937-315F63E13910/Architecting_Microsoft_Azure_Solutions_11302017.pdf.

I do not recommend downloading the PDF as Microsoft already stated they will be updating the Azure objectives every 3 months or as needed. Rather, bookmark the Microsoft Learning link above, as that is where they announce these changes.

What does this mean for those of us that have passed the 70-534 exam?

Microsoft does not clearly state how long they will grandfather that exam to count towards the MCSA or MCSE. In previous changes such as this Microsoft has given us a significant amount of time to take the new test. However, I have reviewed the new objectives, and I would recommend you plan on preparing for and taking this new test when it releases.

What does this mean for those of you that were studying for 70-534 and have not taken the exam?

The objectives are listed, so you can start studying for this now. This new exam is focusing more on what customer's need and are doing with Azure, like cloud migrations and hybrid cloud solutions that include knowledge on operational knowledge, like Azure Log Analytics, Azure Monitor, and alerting through Application Insights. This change is for the better, helping to ensure you know how to monitor and support it after the design and solution is deployed.