Lately my reading lists has had an explosion in traffic, and definitely because of the fact that Microsoft was/is giving away free exams for Office 365 and Azure at http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2014/10/16/get-certified-on-microsoft-azure-or-office-365-with-free-exams.aspx

At the About me page there is a email form that … sends me an email with your question in it. Today I just wanted to share the most common questions, and the answer that I think is the correct one. If you have another opinion or something to add, feel free to comment this post 🙂

Q: Is is realistic to pass one or two of these exams in just 1 month of studying?

Well, this really depends on your existing knowledge of the topics, and if you are able to put aside a few hours each day. The official courses for these Exams is all 5 Days courses. If we expect about 5 efficient hours of training each day, that would be a total of 25 hours in one week. Having a skilled MCT as a trainer helps, so since we study on our own, we should add at least 5 extra hours I think. Splitting that out on two weeks, we should have about 3 hours (plus) each day to study, and then be through the same content as the courses. Doable? Absolutely! I have done it myself, but it will require dedication.

Q: Is there any good video or eBook resources available for free?

Yes definitely, and I should add these links to the reading lists also!

Microsoft Virtual Academy is the #1 place to get video training in my opinion.

For Office 365 courses, see this link: http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/product-training/office-365

For Microsoft Azure courses, see this link: http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/product-training/microsoft-azure
For Microsoft Azure PDFs, see this link: http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ebooks#azure

Eric Ligman also released a huge list of eBooks freely available, where we find some books related to Office 365 and Azure. Please take a look at his blog here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2014/07/07/largest-collection-of-free-microsoft-ebooks-ever-including-windows-8-1-windows-8-windows-7-office-2013-office-365-office-2010-sharepoint-2013-dynamics-crm-powershell-exchange-server-lync-2013-system-center-azure-cloud-sql.aspx

Another recommendation would be to actually use the export function at MSDN and TechNet Library. That way we know that what we read actually is the newest and most correct information.