Earlier IT professionals required MCSA certification to validate their knowledge and skills for working on Windows software. However, this certification is no more relevant. Therefore, to showcase your expertise, you need to earn Windows 10 certification by taking two exams included in the Microsoft 365 certificate program. These exams are named MD 100 and MD 101.
Both these certification exams focus on Windows 10 and provide proof of an employee’s deployment, management, and maintenance of Windows. This blog includes all the information about the changes made to the Windows certification exam.
Upgradation of Windows
It is said that Windows 10 is the last version of this operating system. This means that it won’t be upgraded to Windows 11, Windows 12, and so on. However, Microsoft keeps adding new features to improve functionality through the Windows update process.
Microsoft introduces two major updates; once during the fall and once during the spring. Therefore, to have relevant knowledge about these updates and their functions, it is essential for IT professionals to earn Windows 10 certification and keep updating with time.
MCSA Windows 10 Certification Details
To understand the changes made to Microsoft certification courses, it is essential to take a look at the old examinations and their objectives. MCSA certification included two exams, namely 70-697 and 70-698. The details of these exams are listed below:
1] Exam 70-697: This certification ceases to remain relevant after April 30, 2019. The objectives of earning this certification were:
- Authentication and authorisation.
- Mobility.
- Hyper-V.
- Security.
- Remote access.
- Update management.
- Application management.
- Recovery of system and file.
2] Exam 70-698: This certification expired on March 31, 2019, and its objectives were:
- Installation methods and requirements.
- Post-installation configuration.
- Configuration of device and driver.
- Application implementation.
- Enterprise environment installation.
- Configuration of storage, networking, and data access.
- Remote management.
- Authentication and authorisation.
- Monitoring and management tools.
- Data and system recovery.
Updated Windows 10 Certification Exam
New Windows certification consists of MD 100 and MD 101 exams. To earn Microsoft 365 certified title, professionals must qualify for both exams. This certificate validates employees’ skills and knowledge to perform typical desktop admin tasks.
Although the new exams are completely entry-level, you need to follow an extensive preparation strategy. Therefore, joining the Microsoft certification training is helpful to increase your chances of qualifying for the exam with a good score.
The following table covers all the topics included in the MD 100 and MD 101 exams:
| MD 100 | MD 101 |
| 1. Post-installation configuration. 2. Deployment of Windows 10. 3. Networking.Management devices and data. 4. System maintenance. | 1. Upgrading to Windows 10. 2. Windows intune. 3. Deployment with Windows 10 Autopilot. 4. Group policies and profile management. 5. Device security. 6. Mobile application management. 7. Application deployment and updates. |
Preparation Strategy for new Microsoft Exams
To qualify for both the Microsoft exams, you need to proceed with your preparation according to a planned strategy. The following points elaborate on the steps you need to take to enhance your preparation:
- Understand the exam topics by thoroughly covering all the technical information. Both exams have different syllabi. Therefore, you must carefully list the topics for each exam before starting your preparation.
- Join the Microsoft course to get hands-on training from industry experts. This is one of the best ways to improve exam preparation strategy. You can choose between the live Microsoft online courses and recorded lectures.
- Make a study plan to cover the entire syllabus thoroughly. You can do this by dividing the time left for your preparation according to the weightage of each topic.
- Solve practice test papers to improve your problem-solving skills. Practice papers are the best tools to evaluate your preparation. It also familiarises you with your weakness so that you can pay extra attention to these topics to get better results in the exam.
- There are Microsoft study groups online for connecting with fellow participants. You can join these groups to discuss your doubts and remain updated with all the latest information about the exam.
Conclusion
Windows is the most widely used desktop operating system. Therefore, getting a Windows 10 certification makes you relevant for job roles that require an operation on this system. Moreover, it provides a broad scope for improving your career prospects. However, you must give proper attention to covering each topic with utmost clarity to qualify for the exam.
