Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate (DP-700)

What it is

Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate is awarded for passing exam DP-700, Implementing Data Engineering Solutions Using Microsoft Fabric. It covers ingesting and transforming data, securing and managing an analytics solution, and monitoring and optimising it, using SQL, PySpark and KQL.

Exam facts (as of 2026-09, from Microsoft Learn)

• Time: 100 minutes; the exam is proctored and may include interactive components.
• Passing score: 700.
• Skills measured, each 30 to 35 percent: implement and manage an analytics solution; ingest and transform data; monitor and optimise an analytics solution.
• Languages include English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
• Price: set by the country where you take the exam. Microsoft's pages give associate exams a headline price of USD 165 in the United States; it is lower in many countries. Check the price for your country when you schedule.
• Renewal: associate certifications expire after a year and are renewed free by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn.
• The English exam is updated on 19 October 2026 with minor changes; read the study guide's change log.

The DP-203 history

Microsoft retired the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification (exam DP-203) on 31 March 2025 and pointed candidates to DP-700. Many courses and blog posts still teach DP-203 topics such as Synapse dedicated SQL pools. They are not the current exam.

How to prepare

• The free self-paced training on Microsoft Learn (course DP-700T00's learning paths), with the exercises done in a Fabric trial workspace.
• The free practice assessment and exam sandbox on the certification page.
• The official study guide, which lists every skill measured.

Is it worth your time?

If you chose Azure, it is the certification that matches where Microsoft is investing, and the preparation is free apart from the exam. It does not replace a portfolio: a documented Fabric or Azure Databricks pipeline you can explain is still what convinces an interviewer. Microsoft also runs discount offers at events and for students from time to time; use official channels only.

Scam warnings

Book through Microsoft Learn and Pearson VUE only. Exam dumps break the certification agreement and can lead to revoked certifications and bans.

Common questions

Do I need Azure experience? Fabric is software as a service, so you need less Azure infrastructure knowledge than DP-203 required, but SQL, PySpark and lakehouse concepts are essential.