The AI-900 certification is a ‘fundamentals’ exam, intended to test a basic level of knowledge of how and why to use each of the Azure AI features, and unlike most of the other fundamentals exams, possibly due to the subject matter, it also covers some quite technical concepts. The skills measured in the exam are as follows;
- Describe AI workloads and considerations (15-20%)
- Describe fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure (30-35%)
- Describe features of computer vision workloads on Azure (15-20%)
- Describe features of Natural Language Processing (NLP) workloads on Azure (15-20%)
- Describe features of conversational AI workloads on Azure (15-20%)
To prepare for the exam, Julian broke the study material down into 9 sessions over the course of 5 weeks, sessions being held twice weekly. The only pre-requisite for taking part in the study group was that each participant would provision their own trial environment, so that it was ready for the first session, and as always participants were given full instructions on how to achieve this.
The sessions were structured so that all of the learning content required for the exam was covered;
- Session 1: Introduction to Azure AI
- Session 2: Cognitive Services
- Session 3: Computer Vision
- Session 4: Language
- Session 5: Bots
- Session 6: Introduction to Machine Learning
- Session 7: Machine Learning Tools and Data
- Session 8: Machine Learning Models
- Session 9: Responsible AI
I found the study group extremely useful, and would encourage anyone to sign up for them given the opportunity. But for anyone undertaking self study for the AI Fundamentals exam, there are some great learning resources available online, the main one being Microsoft Learn.