AI Certification in the Thermionic Age

The Test Centre Experience

Adjusting the camera, he surmised that I was a much taller candidate than others who had been there recently. I had just signed on the signature pad, and many unsuccessful attempts were made to capture a picture of my face before I stepped forward a bit, took off my glasses, and he was satisfied with the essential security checks.

Yet he had erroneously added my details to another candidate's profile; we had to do it all over again. I only realised his error when he signed me onto the testing computer. Clicking on the scheduling for the other candidate, I saw a better picture of my visage than the one eventually used for my profile.

How Pearson VUE happens upon these test centres with kit that seems to have been acquired from an antiques shop, in a throwback to a time when computers were powered by thermionic valves, does amaze one. I have been to some dire places, and this tanks the rankings.

A Journey to Altrincham

I was in Altrincham yesterday, some 8 miles (13 kilometres) to the southwest of Manchester, attending the nearest test centre to acquire a new Microsoft certification on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Whilst I had determined to do this for months, I struggled to get through the material. The German instructor on one of the Udemy courses had a good grasp of the subject, but I could not engage with the accent, the grammar or the delivery. It felt like extreme drudgery, and I abandoned all study with a sense of dissatisfaction and lethargy.

Finding New Momentum

Then, whilst having a long break in December after my birthday and Christmas (I tend to use my holidays for study and tests), I gained some enthusiasm for just completing the cycle and closing the books on this test before the end of the year.

I completed the original Udemy course and took another, gaining the view that I had mastered the material. I then got Google's Gemini 3 Pro AI bot to produce interactive flashcards, along with the code to make them portable and playable as standard HTML files.

However, when I tried the free practice tests on Whizlabs, the gaps in my knowledge were laid bare. I went back to the Microsoft Learn study material, which now included video rather than just text-based training. Where certain concepts were still not as clear, I got AI to provide a layman's explanation with examples and use cases. I use the Poe.com interface to access AI bots, which gives me access to the broadest complement of publicly available AI bots.

Discovering NotebookLM

I discovered Google's NotebookLM in August, but never really exploited it beyond the novelty it provided then. It is a virtual research assistant that takes input from sources you provide on documents and references to turn complexity into clarity.

As a note-taking and study tool, it has amazing benefits of transforming your sources into audio and video overviews, mind maps, reports, flashcards, quizzes, infographics or slide decks.

Curating 50 sources of material, including that which its Deep Research feature was able to gather, I produced an extended last-minute audio overview of about 37 minutes in length that covered every critical idea that might be covered in the test. I listened to it twice before I arrived at the test centre. That was my last bit of revision: listening rather than reading. The leveraging of AI to the maximum to ace an AI test.

I had 45 minutes to answer 46 questions; there were not just straight multiple-choice selection answers either. I got caught out in July 2022 when, having not played in the testing sandbox provided by Microsoft, I wasted valuable time understanding how to navigate the interface, though thankfully, I passed the test. On this occasion, I was done in just over 23 minutes. I rarely ever do a review; I ended the test and got a good passing score.

Looking Ahead

Obviously, there is probably a need for a piece on how I use AI for day-to-day activities at work, for study and other aspects of life, including the grammatical reviews of my blogs.

With the AI-900: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals certificate under my belt, that makes three certifications this year. I can only wonder what next year has in store.

The ordeal of another Microsoft certification test

Sorely tested to the testicles

By the time I clicked on the submit button, I was all shook up in an Elvis Presley kind of way. I had no time for filling out feedback forms, I had been stripped of every dignity and confidence suggesting passing this Microsoft test, I was expecting some bad news.

It was 57 questions in 100 minutes, I barely had 90 seconds to spare at the end. Then, I rarely mark questions for review, my first answer or gut feel response is usually my final answer, no point scraping over sores left by finding out that you’re not as sure as you thought you were.

It is just over three weeks ago that I passed another test with barely a week of preparation.

The preparation never ends

I had painstakingly gone through the theoretical stuff for this one, and attended courses from both Udemy and Coursera, I could even run the latter at 1.5x and keep up with what was being said. Practice, practice tests, even AI producing flashcards for revision. It could easily have been 48 hours of serious study in just over 2 weeks.

What other tips I could get from people who had passed or failed the test were best viewed from Reddit, everything filled the spectrum from a full gloat to despondency at multiple attempts without success. You had to feel bad for them and there was a moment I thought I would be returning as a glutton for punishment in a few days to revisit the site of my drubbing.

My initial plan was to try for Tuesday, but I had a health progress meeting in the afternoon. It wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that I decided I had done enough, and I booked the test for Friday with hardly any leeway for postponing or rescheduling the test.

Time is not as kind

One new feature of the test is the open book facility, useful for getting exact details, but it could be a time-consuming trap when looking for ideas or processes. I fixated on the documentation section where I needed to and pored through the search results page for clues before clicking on links to dig further. It is helpful, but time suddenly plays like an hourglass; given girth to let the sand through without constraint.

The most important thing is not to panic, get to the direct question asked then walk back to the scenario or setting presented, especially when you are running out of time. Things click better when you know what you are looking for having had a glimpse of the suggested answers.

When the final screen came up, I had not done that well in one section and did much better than average in the three other sections. The most important thing, I had exceeded the passing score, I passed. Amid the shaking and trembling, as I tried to catch my breath, I signed out, collected the printout and called Brian. What a relief and well, it is preparations in earnest for the next certification test.