All Microsoft exams are usually made up of four to six question types. There are multiple-choice questions, drag and drop, true/false, dropdowns, best answer scenarios, and case studies. The following is additional detail on question types:

1. Multiple-Choice questions are simple. A question may have more than one answer. The exam questions are transparent about how many correct answers you need to choose for each question, and you will be alerted if you choose the incorrect number of choices.
2. Drag-and-Drop questions are typically based on actions of a process to test your understanding of the order of operations to configure a service. There are more potential answers given than you need, and you are required to move the steps that are appropriate to the question over to the right-hand side in the correct sequence.
3. True/False questions are slightly different than traditional questions. You are usually provided with some screenshots are an exhibit from within the relevant Microsoft portals that show you what has been configured. You will then find three to four statements based on whether the statements are correct based on the information provided.
4. Drop-down questions are typically the ones with PowerShell or Azure CLI code in them. You are asked to achieve certain steps within a string of code where the blank sections provide the drop-down selections to choose from.
5. Best-answer scenario questions are used to test for a genuine understanding of a subject area. You will receive a warning when you get to this section that you will be unable to navigate back on these questions. The question will provide a specific scenario that needs to be solved, along with a potential solution. You will be required to establish whether the solution is the best one to solve the scenario. You can select yes or no, after which you will get the same scenario but with a different possible solution, to which you must again select yes or no.
6. Case study questions give a pretend company setting with an existing environment, future environment, and business and technical requirements. You will then be asked multiple (five to seven) questions that cover multiple objective areas of the exam you are sitting. You will find one to three of the case study questions on the associate level exam.

The various question types test your level of understanding in different ways, and all go into the weighted exam goals that will be discussed later in this chapter.

So far, we have covered the exam question types as well as the different locations where you can sit the exam. In the following sections, we will cover the various resources that will aid you in the process of learning the exam topics covered within the SC-400 exam and how you can gain access to the solutions, which will enable you to follow along with the exercises in this specific guide.

Accessing resources and Microsoft Learn

We referred to some of the resources available to you when preparing for the exam earlier in this chapter. Microsoft Learn was one of those, along with Microsoft Docs, but due to the amount of information, we have dedicated a whole section to this due to the amount of free content that it provides to aid you in preparing for the exam.

Accessing Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn is a good resource to get your learning path started. One of the major benefits of this content is the fact that it is free. When you create a Microsoft account, you are able to track your progress and you can acquire badges along your journey. Microsoft also creates learning challenges intermittently, with prizes such as free exam vouchers. You can create a free account by selecting the button at the top right of the page and then selecting Sign in, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 1.2 – Microsoft Learn Sign in

You have the option of signing in with an existing Microsoft account or creating one to get access to the content, as shown here:

Figure 1.3 – Sign in or create a new Microsoft account

To access Microsoft Learn content, you can use the following link: https://www.microsoft.com/learn.

Relevant content can be found on Microsoft Learn in many ways. You can search for specific roles, products, or certification codes. You can find these options on the selection ribbon at the top of the Learn page as shown in Figure 1.4. You can also find several recommendations to start your learning on the same page:

Figure 1.4 – Microsoft Learn navigation

You can select the drop-down arrows from the Learn site navigation tabs to filter for content in the specific Roles, Products, or Certifications, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 1.5 – Category filter drop-down arrow

After you have chosen the subject that you want to learn about, you can then search a specific topic of that subject and filter even further on particular topics or individual courses, and even learning paths, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 1.6 – Microsoft Learn content library

In this section, we took a look at the information needed to access the Microsoft Learn content library and how to browse for learning modules and learning paths. In the next section, we will guide you through finding content that is particular to the SC-400 exam.