Pass AI-901 in 10 days with 916

AI-900 retired on 30 June 2026. Its successor, AI-901 (Azure AI Fundamentals), is the new baseline for AI literacy and Foundry-oriented practice concepts.

I took AI-901 on 3 September 2026. In a 60-minute sitting I finished and reviewed in about 45 minutes. The result appeared immediately: 916 — Passed (out of 1000; pass mark 700).

This page shares the latest exam picture I used, how to pursue a half-price route, my 10-day AI study workflow, and the traps I hit on site. If you do not want to build the toolchain yourself, the AiCert AI-901 app at the end packages the same audio-first loop.

Question count, timing and question-bank overlap are from this sitting. Exam content and promotions can change — confirm on Microsoft’s official pages.

AI-901 is still a fundamentals certification and does not require a deep coding background, but the emphasis shifted sharply from AI-900:

• AI-900 leaned on AI concepts and Azure service recognition.
• AI-901 centers on Microsoft Foundry (formerly Azure AI Foundry): portal workflow, basic Python ideas, and Azure resource awareness.

Three study clusters that covered my sitting:

• AI fundamentals: ML flow (data, train, evaluate, deploy), generative AI and prompting, hallucination and leakage risks.
• Azure AI scenarios: vision (OCR, object detection), language (sentiment, translation), and Azure OpenAI-style usage.
• Responsible AI: fairness, reliability & safety, privacy & security, inclusiveness, transparency, accountability — governance scenarios appear often.

Official skill areas remain two blocks: identify AI concepts and capabilities (40–45%) and implement AI solutions with Microsoft Foundry (55–60%). Form: about 40–60 questions (I had 42, weighted), 60 minutes at a test center.

Check the official AI-901 exam page for current pricing, languages and objectives.

List prices are often in the US$50–99 range depending on region. A common saving path:

1. Register for an official Microsoft Virtual Training Day (VTD) related to AI-901 / Foundry and complete attendance requirements.
2. Within about 5–10 business days, an eligible 50% exam benefit may attach to the same Microsoft Learn profile email.
3. When booking on Pearson VUE with that email, confirm the discount at checkout (often valid about 90 days — follow the event terms).

Pitfall: not every event, region or exam guarantees a discount. Save the event terms and completion notice; contact Microsoft Credentials Support if an eligible offer does not appear.

Core idea: use AI to learn AI — protect one focused hour a day, then use commute and walking time for audio memory.

• Days 1–7 (about 1 hour/day): understand that day’s audio lesson, skim notes, then replay audio while commuting, walking or waiting.
• Day 8: run a full pass of practice questions (I used a 128-question bank) and split into “understood” vs “weak / ambiguous”. Use unofficial banks to find gaps, not as an answer authority.
• Day 9: only the weak pile; replay all lessons at 1.5–2.0×.
• Day 10: rapid Q&A from first to last until no hesitation remains.

Toolchain: ChatGPT for a 7-day outline and plain lessons; merge bank topics into daily notes and hard-item explanations; Cursor for the mobile player; Azure AI Speech for natural TTS of lessons, questions and explanations.

I tested at a Taipei test center. Before you sit:

• Two IDs — preferably one with your Latin-alphabet name (e.g. a credit card) for phonetic matching.
• Phone, wallet, watch and other belongings go in the locker; the proctor seats you and leaves after confirming the exam has started.

Difficulty felt higher than AI-900 lore, but roughly 85% of concepts still appeared in practice. Options were reordered; some wording or scenarios changed — memorizing positions is risky.

Biggest trap: unofficial AI-900-era answers can conflict with current Microsoft Foundry workflows. Example: after you create and save an Agent (prompt, model, tools) in the portal, you can test it live in Agent Playground without writing code. When to use Playground vs deploy an API endpoint depends on the new scenario — study current Foundry behavior, not old portal folklore.

The same audio-first loop produced my 916. AiCert: AI-901 packages that workflow and is now available on Google Play:

• Daily loop: learn → practice → diagnose → review.
• High-quality voice: Azure AI Speech lessons and Q&A audio for commute and walking study.
• Day 1 free: no credit card required for the full first-day experience; remaining days unlock with a one-time purchase.

Passing is realistic once concepts are familiar; a high score still needs current AI-901 terminology and Foundry behavior—not memorized option letters.