MB-820 exam-day guide
MB-820 · Prepare for the day ahead.
Your checklist
Government-issued photo ID
Bring the original, unexpired ID you registered with. The name on the ID must match your registration record exactly; a nickname or a married-name mismatch is the most common reason candidates are turned away. Confirm with the provider which ID types are accepted for your country.
Appointment confirmation / registration number
Have your confirmation email, appointment ID, and the Microsoft certification profile email available. If you registered through a testing vendor, bring the vendor's confirmation, not just the Microsoft Learn page.
Second form of identification
Some regions and some testing vendors require a second ID (for example a signature-bearing card). This varies by location - confirm with the provider whether one is required at your site.
Test-center logistics: address, parking, arrival buffer
Do a route check the day before. Plan to arrive well ahead of your appointment slot; the standard guidance is about 30 minutes early to allow for check-in, ID verification, and the rules briefing. Confirm the exact arrival window with your provider.
Online proctoring system test (if testing remotely)
Run the vendor's system check on the exact machine and network you will use: webcam, microphone, browser version, bandwidth. Rerun it the morning of the exam - an OS update the night before can break the secure browser.
A compliant testing environment (remote delivery)
Private room, closed door, clear desk, no second monitor, no phone within reach, no notes on walls within camera view. Tell household members your slot time so nobody walks in mid-exam.
Reviewed the official skills-measured outline
Re-read the published skills outline for MB-820 the week before and note the domain weightings. Budget your last study hours proportionally - the largest domains deserve the most review.
Rehearsed the AL development workflow end to end
Be able to describe, without notes: creating an extension project, adding a table extension and page extension, writing a codeunit with an event subscriber, publishing and debugging against a sandbox, and calling/consuming an API. Practical sequencing questions are where prepared candidates lose points.
Confirmed exam duration, question count, and pass score
These details are published on the exam's official details page and in the pre-exam screens. Microsoft associate exams commonly use a 700/1000 passing score and roughly 100 minutes of seat time, but the number of questions varies by delivery - confirm with the provider rather than relying on a remembered figure.
Water and a light snack for after the exam
Rules on food and drink inside the testing room are strict - usually nothing at the workstation. Plan to eat and hydrate before check-in, and again after the appointment ends.
Scratch materials for working through logic problems
Test centers typically supply a dry-erase sheet or laminated booklet and marker. For remote delivery, the on-screen notepad or an approved digital whiteboard may be all that is permitted. Confirm what your delivery method allows before exam day.
A rest and timing plan
Do not schedule the exam at the end of a full workday. Pick a slot when you are sharpest, and set a target pace after the first five questions so you are not rushing the last section.
Plan the day
Stop acquiring new material. Rerun the skills outline and tag each domain as confident, shaky, or unknown. Spend the remaining time only on 'shaky' items - practice writing event subscribers, page/table extensions, and explaining the publish-debug cycle out loud.
Verify logistics: confirm the appointment date, time, and time zone on your confirmation; check the test-center address or run the remote system test; sort out your transportation plan and any childcare/work conflicts.
Do one timed practice pass of mixed topics, then review only the explanations for questions you got wrong. The goal is calibration on pace and question style, not a high score on a practice set.
Light review only: the skills outline, a one-page cheat sheet of the domain names, key object types, and extension concepts. Lay out ID, confirmation, and clothing for the next day. No cramming past early evening.
Avoid installing OS updates, new browser extensions, or a new antivirus on the machine you will test on. Sleep a normal night - fatigue costs more points than one forgotten fact.
Eat a real meal, hydrate, and arrive or log in with a comfortable buffer. Re-run the remote system check if online. Close every other application and silence your phone.
Read the pre-exam screens carefully - they state your time limit, number of questions, and how to flag items. Take the tutorial if offered; it does not count against your time on most deliveries, but confirm on screen.
First pass: answer everything you know, flag anything requiring more than about 90 seconds, and move on. Second pass: return to flagged items with the remaining time. Never leave a question blank if there is no penalty for guessing - confirm the guessing policy on the pre-exam screen.
For drag-and-drop, hot-area, and build-list items, read the required ordering rule and the exact constraints before dragging. For multi-part scenario items, write the scenario's key parameters on your scratch sheet so you do not re-derive them on each sub-question.
Stop opening new items you cannot finish. Use the review screen to confirm no question is unanswered, unflag anything you have resolved, and submit.
Rules to check
Bring the exact ID you registered with, unexpired and original. A photocopy, a digital image on your phone, or a name mismatch will normally end the appointment before you sit down.
Expect a check-in process: signature, photo, and a review of testing rules. Follow the proctor's instructions exactly; arguing about a rule at check-in is not a productive use of your exam window.
Personal items - phone, smartwatch, notes, bags, second screens - go in a locker or out of the room. Do not touch your phone during an unscheduled break; doing so can invalidate your score.
Scheduled breaks and their rules differ between test-center and remote delivery, and whether the clock stops varies. Ask the proctor or check the on-screen instructions before you take one. Confirm with the provider if it is not stated.
Do not attempt to capture, photograph, dictate, or share exam content in any form. All exam material is confidential, and violations lead to score cancellation and a ban.
Scoring is reported on a scaled basis, not as a raw percentage of correct answers, and question values are not equal. The commonly cited Microsoft passing score is 700 on a 1000-point scale - confirm the passing standard on your official score report or exam details page rather than assuming a percentage target.
Partial credit exists on some interactive item types and not others. Treat every multi-part item as all-or-nothing while planning your time, then re-check the parts you flagged.
If a technical failure interrupts your session, stop and contact the proctor or vendor support immediately and get a case number. Do not attempt to restart or reconfigure the machine on your own - an unreported interruption is much harder to remedy afterward.