I recently passed the Microsoft AI-102 exam.

This exam primarily covers Azure Cognitive Services, such as Computer Vision, Text Recognition, Speech Recognition, Language Understanding (LUIS), and the Bot Framework.

My primary study tool was the [self-study guide on Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/exams/ai-102/). I spent about an hour a night on this for about a week. I have used most of the services already, but many I had not used in years.

Although the exam covered all areas, I received a disproportionate number of questions about the Bot Framework and LUIS.

The exam covers nothing about Open AI, ChatGPT, or Codespaces. I expect that Microsoft will soon update the exam to include these newer technologies or create a separate exam.

The exam includes about 45 questions that are either multiple-choice or drag-and-drop. The drag-and-drop questions ask you to select the required steps and sort them. As with most Microsoft exams, you can go back to review a question and change your answer if you want.

The question count displays at the top, along with the time remaining (I think I was allowed 2 hours total). But the question count is misleading. After completing the questions, a case study was displayed, followed by a series of about six questions related to that study. In this section, you are not allowed to go back to review or change an answer. You are permitted to reread the case study. The case study contains a lot of information, and not all of it is relevant to the questions, so this section is as much a reading comprehension test as anything else.

Here is my advice to prepare for the exam.

Review the training materials. Schedule time each day to study them.

Open the Azure Portal and try out each service described in the training materials. Poke around and become familiar with the various options.

Take the exam shortly after finishing the training.

Make sure you allow enough time for the case study at the end.

Get a good night’s sleep before the exam. You will need to focus your mental energies.

Good luck.