You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
MICROSOFTMicrosoft Certified:Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty certification validates your expertise in designing, implementing, and monitoring cloud-native applications using Azure Cosmos DB. It is ideal for developers responsible for data management and integration with Azure services. Achieving this certification demonstrates your ability to optimize and maintain solutions that meet performance and security requirements.
Exam formatMultiple choice and multiple response
Duration100 minutes
DeliveryPearson VUE
Passing score700 out of 1000
Free questions464
Content last reviewed 21 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What DP-420 proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
5domains
17objectives
143concepts
US $165exam fee
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty certification confirms your skills in designing and operating cloud-native applications that utilize Azure Cosmos DB. This certification is aimed at professionals who are responsible for the reliability and performance of data solutions.
Earning this certification demonstrates your ability to integrate Azure Cosmos DB solutions with other Azure services, ensuring security, availability, and resilience. It highlights your proficiency in developing applications that use Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL, optimizing data models, and implementing data distribution strategies.
Who it’s for
This certification is intended for developers and data professionals who design and implement cloud-native applications using Azure Cosmos DB. You should have experience with data management and integration with Azure services. Candidates should be proficient in developing applications that use Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL, writing efficient SQL queries, and creating indexing policies. Familiarity with provisioning and managing resources in Azure is also recommended.
Recommended experience
Solid knowledge and experience with Azure app development and Azure Cosmos DB technologies. Developing apps for Azure; Working with Azure Cosmos DB database technologies; Creating server-side objects with JavaScript; Proficiency in SQL queries for the API
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective Microsoft measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official Microsoft exam outline · checked 21 July 2026 · See the source
Design and implement data models
- Design and implement a non-relational data model for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL
- Design a data partitioning strategy for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL
- Plan and implement sizing and scaling for a database created with Azure Cosmos DB
- Implement client connectivity options in the Azure Cosmos DB SDK
- Implement data access by using the SQL language for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL
- Implement data access by using Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL SDKs
- Implement server-side programming in Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL by using JavaScript
Design and implement data distribution
- Design and implement a replication strategy for Azure Cosmos DB
- Design and implement multi-region writes
Integrate an Azure Cosmos DB solution
- Enable Azure Cosmos DB analytical workloads
- Implement solutions across services
Optimize an Azure Cosmos DB solution
- Optimize query performance when using the API for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL
- Design and implement change feeds for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL
- Define and implement an indexing strategy for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL
Maintain an Azure Cosmos DB solution
- Monitor and troubleshoot an Azure Cosmos DB solution
- Implement backup and restore for an Azure Cosmos DB solution
- Implement security for an Azure Cosmos DB solution
On the day
The exam itself
Everything Microsoft publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
No mandatory prerequisites — this certification has no required predecessor exam or credential.
Exam codeDP-420
CertificationAzure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty
Exam formatMultiple choice and multiple response
Duration100 minutes
Passing score700 out of 1000
DeliveryPearson VUE
LanguagesEnglish, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Traditional), Italian
PricingUS $165
Certification levelSpecialty
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path Microsoft lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to Microsoft Certified: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty
Credential earnedMicrosoft Certified: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty Specialty level certification Renewal and maintenance
The Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty certification is valid for one year. Renew before it expires by completing Microsoft's free online renewal assessment. Stay current with the latest technologies and maintain your certification.
Learn more about renewal requirements Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. Microsoft maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by Microsoft
Exam registration
Register for the exam through Pearson VUE, Microsoft’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official Microsoft certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
Is any part of the DP-420 exam hands-on or lab-based?
Yes. In addition to multiple-choice items, DP-420 may include interactive components to complete as part of the exam.
If I fail DP-420, when can I retake it?
You must wait 24 hours after a first failed attempt, and the waiting period varies for subsequent attempts.
What job roles does the Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty credential map to?
It aligns with roles such as Azure developer and data engineer, focusing on cloud-native application development and data management.
Can I recertify by passing a different Microsoft exam?
Yes. Earning a higher-level Microsoft certification may automatically renew this credential without taking the DP-420 renewal assessment.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-21 Up to date
Practice free questions 464 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept Microsoft measures — each one written out.
5domains
17objectives
143concepts
101free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official Microsoft exam outline · checked 21 July 2026 · See the source
1Design and implement data models208 questions
Design and implement a non-relational data model for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL10 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Design a data partitioning strategy for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL9 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Plan and implement sizing and scaling for a database created with Azure Cosmos DB9 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Implement client connectivity options in the Azure Cosmos DB SDK9 concepts · 7 pagesOpen →Implement data access by using the SQL language for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL11 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Implement data access by using Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL SDKs13 concepts · 10 pagesOpen →Implement server-side programming in Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL by using JavaScript9 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →
2Design and implement data distribution51 questions
3Integrate an Azure Cosmos DB solution42 questions
4Optimize an Azure Cosmos DB solution61 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
Design and implement a non-relational data model for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL6 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
27 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
464 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
464questions
101pages
17objectives
Freealways
Start anywhereDesign and implement a non-relational data model for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL 27 questions · 6 pages
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Design and implement data models208 questions
2Design and implement data distribution51 questions
3Integrate an Azure Cosmos DB solution42 questions
4Optimize an Azure Cosmos DB solution61 questions
5Maintain an Azure Cosmos DB solution102 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
143concepts
464free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from Microsoft
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
1official link
143concepts mapped
The source
Microsoft’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official Microsoft outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 17 objectives, 143 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When Microsoft changes the outline, this page changes with it.
17objectives on the outline→143concepts written→464free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.