Pass 70-761 MCSA Certification Exam Fast

70-761 Exam Has Been Retired

This exam has been replaced by Microsoft with new exam.

Microsoft 70-761 Exam Details

The MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development certification exhibits the holder’s skills in database development of both on-site and cloud-based and can be acquired through 70-761 certification exam.

About MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development Certificate and Who It Targets

The Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate: SQL 2016 Database Development is a certification that verifies the earner's expertise in the development and implementation of a database of organizations. Any individual with this certificate will be equipped with the essential knowledge to be able to query data with Transact-SQL, along with developing entire SQL databases. The candidates interested in earning this associate certification will have to take two exams coded 70-761 and 70-762.

About 70-761 Test

Exam 70-761, in particular, was created for those candidates who are performing responsibilities as developers, system engineers, or database administrators having 2-year work experience in the sector and who would like to develop their skills by learning to write SQL queries. Getting a passing score in this exam will validate the examinee’s knowledge of writing queries among other related things. Nailing such a test will take you one step closer to obtaining the MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development certification. The Microsoft 70-761 test will be 120 minutes long and consists of around 40 to 60 questions of various types that the vendor doesn’t reveal before the exam day. This test can be taken in the English language only and the minimum passing score is 700 points out of 1000. It is recommended that the students attempt all the questions even if they don’t know the correct answers as this increases their chances of achieving the required passing mark. The exam costs $165, which is the cost applicable to the residents of the USA. But if you're a resident of another country, check the official webpage to learn about the exact sum of the fee for you.

Domains for This Test

This 70-761 certification exam evaluates the candidates’ skills in the following different areas:

Query Data by Using Higher-Level Transact-SQL Elements

The initial topic for 70-761 exam deals with data queries and covers up to 35% of all the exam content. In particular, this section will test you on the relevant knowledge of how to query data by utilizing subqueries, table expressions, and APPLY. Understanding joins, query plans, and types of APPLY clauses will help you through this section. The candidate's knowledge of basic table expression components and their usage will also be assessed. Thus, you should be able to skillfully group and pivot data, differentiate between the usage of windowing functions and GROUP BY, and build GROUP BY clauses among other multiple activities. Also, within this domain, you will be tested on Group and PIVOT data as well as temporal & non-relational data. This includes the output of JSON data, queries, and output XML data. To sum it all up, a candidate needs to possess knowledge about querying data using subqueries, table expressions, grouping, and pivoting data, and querying temporal and non-temporal data.

Manage Data with Transact-SQL

When it comes to the second tested area, it is the most extensive one with 40-45% of all test questions and highlights such notions as Transact-SQL SELECT queries and multiple query tables. This section will check the candidate’s knowledge of constructing several queries by using set operators, along with the understanding of UNION and UNION ALL behavior. It is also imperative for examinees to have a proper understanding of various JOIN clauses along with multiple operators. In addition to these, you as a candidate will get to know more about how to deploy specific functions together with data aggregation. This also includes being able to identify differences among deterministic & non-deterministic features along with other multiple functions. Finally, in this part, the know-how of changing data by writing INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE phrases will be tested and it is essential for the examinee to have an understanding of Data Definition Language (DDL). In a nutshell, knowledge about Transact-SQL SELECT queries, joins, implementing functions and aggregating data, and modifying data will help you through this area in the final exam.

Program Databases by Using Transact-SQL

The final objective for exam 70-761 has a weightage of around 25-30% and focuses on how to program objects for databases by making use of Transact-SQL. You should be capable of creating stored procedures, triggers, and various user-defined functions among others. The understanding and capability of distinguishing both deterministic as well as non-deterministic functions will help you through this domain. You should be capable of using error handling alongside transactions. The skill of using Data Definition Language (DDL) will be beneficial as you will be asked to determine the results of various DDL statements. Finally, from this last topic, you will need to have an understanding of how to make use of types of data and NULLs to identify their proper usage. This means that you will be required to know about the types of data transformations, identify data types, joins, etc. In short, to master this scope of knowledge, the examinee needs to be able to successfully build programmability objects in the database using transact-SQL, implement error handling, transactions, data types, and NULLs.

Career Opportunities

Acquiring the aforementioned Microsoft certificate will open up multiple career opportunities in the field of database management. It is an excellent approach for anyone looking to promote their careers and expertise in querying data and developing a database using Transact-SQL. This certification will prove your fluency in SQL and handling server databases in organizations. So, you will be able to chase multiple career paths with decent average annual salaries. Some of them are:

Database Administrator: $74,035;
Database Developer: $75,476;
IT Manager: $88,524;
Systems Administrator: $62,746;
System Engineer: $80,458.

The above-mentioned average annual salaries are as stated by PayScale.

Career Path

After succeeding in acquiring this Microsoft MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development, you will be able to move forward to pursue the MCSE: Data Management and Analytics certification.