Know what the exam asks before you sit it

Clear exam facts, study plans and free sample questions for IT and tax certifications. When you are ready, test yourself with full-length practice exams.

IT exams

Finance exams

What this site is

ExamSprintLab is a free reference for people studying for IT and tax certification exams. For every exam we cover there are at least ten guides: what the exam actually asks, how long it takes, what it costs, how the domains are weighted, a four-week study plan, and practice questions with worked explanations. 48 exams are covered so far, across cloud, data, networking, security, AI and US tax.

Everything on this site is free to read. There is no account and no paywall. The only email we send is an optional note when an exam we cover changes.

How to use this site

Pick your exam, read the format guide so there are no surprises on exam day, and follow the study plan. Each exam section includes free sample questions with explanations, so you can check your level before you buy anything.

If you are still deciding between two certifications, start with the comparison guide in the section — every exam has one, written against the official skills outlines rather than marketing copy.

What is in every exam section

GuideAnswers
Exam formatNumber of questions, passing score, time limit and price
ComparisonHow this exam differs from its predecessor or a related exam
Study planWhat to cover in each of four weeks
Sample questionsFive free practice questions with explanations
Domain guidesOne guide per exam domain, with three questions each
Is it worth itWho the certification is actually for

Free written courses

For five exams there is also a free written course: short lessons in the order of the official outline, each with a diagram or worked example and three check questions. No account is needed.

ExamCourseLessons
AB-900Copilot and agent admin fundamentals12
AI-901Azure AI fundamentals12
AAIRAdvanced in AI Risk13
AAIAAdvanced in AI Audit13
AAISMAI security management13

Which certification should you take?

The right exam depends on the platform you work on and how far along you are.

Cloud platforms. Microsoft Azure runs from AI Fundamentals at entry level up to the AI Apps and Agents Developer and Cloud and AI Security Engineer associate exams, and on the infrastructure side from AZ-900 through AZ-104 to the AZ-305 architect and AZ-400 DevOps expert exams (see the Azure administrator and architect path). AWS offers the AI Practitioner for a broad foundation, the Machine Learning Engineer Associate for people who build and deploy models, and the updated Developer Associate (DVA-C03) and Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C03) exams, whose official exam guides AWS has now published.

Data and machine learning. On Microsoft’s side, PL-300 covers Power BI, DP-600 and DP-700 cover Microsoft Fabric, DP-750 covers Azure Databricks and DP-800 covers AI-enabled SQL; the Microsoft data path compares them. Databricks has the deepest ladder we cover: data analyst, data engineer at associate and professional level, machine learning at both levels, a generative AI engineer exam and a Spark developer exam. Pick the level that matches what you already do daily, not the one that sounds impressive.

Networking and security. CompTIA Network+ is the standard vendor-neutral networking certification and a common prerequisite for security roles, and Security+ (SY0-801) is the usual next step, and CySA+ (CS0-004) is the analyst-level exam for security operations, vulnerability management and incident response. Cisco’s CCNA (200-301) goes deeper on network configuration, with CCNA Automation (200-901) for network automation. CompTIA SecAI+ covers securing AI systems. On the Microsoft side, SC-900 is the security fundamentals exam, followed by SC-300 (identity), SC-200 (security operations), SC-401 (data protection) and SC-500 (cloud and AI security); the Microsoft security path shows how to choose.

Governance and risk. The ISACA advanced certificates in AI audit, AI risk and AI security management are aimed at people already working in governance, not at newcomers.

Agents and low-code. The Salesforce Agentforce Specialist and Microsoft AI Agent Builder exams both test building AI agents on a specific platform. For the business side of AI, AB-730 (AI Business Professional), AB-731 (AI Transformation Leader) and AB-100 (Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect) target people who plan and lead rather than build.

Tax. The IRS Special Enrollment Examination has three parts — individuals, businesses and representation — and passing all three is the route to becoming an enrolled agent. See all finance exams.

Not sure which exam to take?

The certification paths lay out the exams in order for each vendor — Azure AI, Azure administrator and architect, Microsoft security, Microsoft data, AWS, Databricks, CompTIA, Cisco, ISACA and Salesforce, plus the enrolled agent route through the three SEE parts — and say plainly which ones to skip.

If you are choosing between ecosystems rather than levels, the comparison guides put exams head to head: AIF-C01 vs AI-901, MLA-C02 vs AI-103, Databricks vs Azure, AB-620 vs Agentforce and AAISM vs SecAI+.

Before you book anything, check the exam changes tracker and the list of retired exams and their replacements — vendors reweight domains and retire exams with little notice.

Practical guides

Beyond the exam sections there is a glossary of the terms these exams actually use, a guide to what happens on exam day including proctoring rules and retake policies, a breakdown of what each certification costs, and an explanation of how to read a skills outline — the free document every exam is written from. For test-taking itself there are guides on how to study for a certification exam, multiple-choice exam tips and exam question types, and a page of useful links to the official exam pages and tools. For hands-on practice there are topic guides on the concepts that return across exams, sets of practice questions by topic, and free in-browser study tools such as a subnetting trainer. If you are not sure where to start, the pages by situation cover career changers, people studying next to a full-time job, retakes and more.

About the practice questions

The sample questions on this site are written from scratch against each exam’s official skills outline. They are not real exam questions and they are not copied from anywhere.

This matters more than it sounds. Sites that republish real exam questions violate the certification bodies’ terms, and using them can get your certification revoked. They also teach you to recognise a question rather than understand the material, which is exactly what the exam is designed to catch. Every question here comes with an explanation of why the correct answer is correct and why each other option is not.

Full-length practice exams

The guides are free. If you want to sit a complete timed practice exam before the real one, each section links to a paid practice test course on Udemy. That link is how this site is funded, and it is the only thing on the site that costs money.