Microsoft 365: Identity & Services (MS-100) Exam Prep Guide

This blog is part of a series. For more exam prep guides check back in the future.

Back before I did my Office 365 MCSA, I used to wonder which of the two exams would be harder – 70-346 (Office 365 Identities & Requirements) or 70-347 (Enabling Office 365 Services). Most people I talked to said they thought 346 was the harder of the two – mainly because they had far less experience with, and exposure to, ADFS and Powershell. Most took 346 after 347 and some didn’t take 346 at all. That’s a real shame. I took 346 first and would always recommended others to do so. Not because it was harder (it was significantly more focused than 347 in terms of scope) but because I feel that Identity really is the starting point for everything else. As an admin, how and what and where users can access services is as fundamental as it gets.

MS-100 is, to all extents, an updated 70-346. When you see Identity in a Microsoft exam you know you will get roles and domains and authentication. However, this time around there are several adds for new features such as Azure B2B. What is particularly noticeable in the exam description is that there is far less emphasis on ADFS and more on Azure AD Connect. Whilst there is still a need to still know ADFS, I personally think this is more reflective of how hybrid identity is implemented in the majority of cases. So its important to get to know Azure AD Connect inside and out, the supported scenario’s and how it’s configured for filtering, writeback and pass through. And even though there isn’t a great deal here on the services, which makes sense considering these will be in the associate workload exams, I would recommend getting to know Pro Plus deployments intimately.

A few Office 365 MCSA holders will no doubt feel a bit aggrieved by having to do this exam. After all, there’s no transition available from 346/347 as this and 101 are classed as expert level as opposed to associate exams. I understand – Microsoft announced these new exams on the August 2018 MCT Town Hall one month after I passed MCSA and MCT. It was tough. Yet there are a few reasons why it’s really worth it in the end. The first is that it has always been recommended to retake 346/347 regularly anyway as Office 365 changes so frequently. The second is that by doing this you’ll hold the certifications across two generations of services so it really defines your expertise across generational change. The third is that is that it’s recognised that this subject – your subject – really is expert level not associate.

MS-100 is part of the Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. On it’s own, it will only be an exam on your transcript. You’ll need MS-101 and then you’ll need either one of the new associate workloads (MS-200 – MS-500 exams) or MCSE Productivity. So for all those still kicking off about no transition exam your Office 365 MCSA may count after all.

Link to Exam: Here
Released: 5th November 2018 (Now in General Availability)
Practice Test: Available later in 2019
MOC Course: Available (MS-100T01, T02, T03)

Important Note: this exam prep guide should be used to supplement your own resources and should not be used for the whole of your learning. Some of the resources may be not completely cover the requirements especially if the requirement is vague. If you find better articles than the ones below, please feel free to reach out and I’ll amend.

Status: I passed this exam on 12/02/2019 having done the Beta. I had 60 odd questions in this particular paper. I remember I had quite a few questions on Azure AD Connect in several scenarios and Roles

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