I just took the new AB-900: Copilot & Agent Administration Fundamentals exam at Microsoft Ignite — and in this video, I’m sharing my honest first impressions.
If you’re thinking about taking AB-900, here’s what you’ll learn:
✅What the exam really covers
✅How hard is it compared to MS-900 or SC-900
✅What Microsoft Learn gets right (and wrong)
✅The topics you absolutely need to review
✅My study recommendations to pass it on the first try
This exam is still in beta, so if you want early access, discounted pricing, or to stay ahead of the 2026 certification changes, this video will help you prepare.
👉 My recommended SC-900 study path (great overlap with AB-900)
Watch my 100+ courses on Pluralsight
Video Summary
- AB-900 is here—and it’s big! I just took the beta exam for Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals (AB-900) at Ignite. It’s a fundamentals exam, but wow—it covers a lot of ground across Microsoft 365, Copilot, Purview, Defender, and more.
- Expect breadth, not depth. The exam isn’t super technical—no PowerShell scripts or step-by-step configs—but you need to know what each product does, where to manage it, and when to use features like sensitivity labels vs. DLP. Think “wide surface, shallow depth.”
- Copilot & agents are front and center. Study how to manage agents: enabling/disabling, assigning, approvals, and reporting. Also, know where to find Copilot analytics in the M365 admin center. This is new territory for most admins, so don’t skip it!
- Don’t ignore security & compliance. Defender XDR and Purview are heavily represented. You don’t need to configure them, but you do need to know what each component solves. Plus, brush up on Zero Trust principles and Responsible AI principles—they’re in the study guide, and they show up.
- How to prep effectively. Defender XDR and Purview are heavily represented. You don’t need to configure them, but you do need to know what each component solves. Plus, brush up on Zero Trust principles and Responsible AI principles—they’re in the study guide, and they show up.
For more information, read the transcript blog below, or watch the video above!
Transcript
Hello everyone! Today, instead of my home studio, I’m joining you from my hotel room in San Francisco. Today was day zero of Microsoft Ignite. I got checked in and received my nice backpack—it even has a Microsoft print on the inside. That’s the official Microsoft Ignite backpack!
But more importantly, what I did today was take the AB-900 certification exam beta, which is the Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals. This exam is still in beta; it actually came out just a few days ago. Since Microsoft Ignite attendees get one free certification exam, this is the one I decided to take.
Now, let me take a step back for those of you who have no idea what AB-900 is. I did a video that covers all five Microsoft credentials recently released that are dedicated to M365 Copilot. You’ll find the link in the description below—watch that first and then come back here. In this video, I want to give you my honest feedback after taking the exam and share what I think about it.
Originally, I wanted to record this video at the conference center, but this year, they’re stricter about cameras, so I decided to do it here to be safe. It’s all still fresh in my mind. So, what can you expect? I won’t break NDA, of course, but I’ll tell you what to expect, recommend study materials, and share my honest feelings about the exam.
Like every Microsoft fundamentals exam, you’ll have 60 minutes to complete it, with somewhere between 40 and 60 questions. Remember, this is a fundamentals exam, so you’ll have about one minute per question. It can go quite fast. The questions are the type where you either know the answer, or you don’t—no complicated labs or case studies, no architecture design. Most are true-or-false questions, multiple choice with four options, or image-based questions where you need to identify where to click in a menu.
It took me about 20 minutes to complete the exam, not including feedback. I can’t tell you the exact number of questions I had because that varies per person, and sharing that would break NDA. The exam closely follows the official study guide, so most of what appeared was covered there. I didn’t encounter any weird surprises.
To prepare, I used Microsoft Learn content and, as a Microsoft Certified Trainer, I also reviewed the official course. But since the official course is based on Microsoft Learn, you’ll actually find more content on Learn than in the paid material. You’re not missing much.
One thing to note: the assessments at the end of Microsoft Learn modules are way too easy. They don’t reflect the difficulty of the actual exam—the real exam is harder.
Now, what do I think about the exam? It covers a ton of content. It’s a fundamentals exam, so it doesn’t go deep, but the breadth is huge. If you’ve been in the Microsoft ecosystem for a decade and worked on Purview projects, SAM projects, Copilot implementations, governance, and Defender XDR, you’ll be fine. There are some new agent administration topics you’ll need to study, but overall, the exam is very wide, not very deep.
You need to know all the different admin centers in Microsoft 365—Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and so on—and what tasks you manage in each. You also need to understand Entra ID, Zero Trust principles, and, importantly, Microsoft Defender XDR. Most collaboration experts don’t touch Defender XDR much because it’s usually handled by security teams, but you need to know what each Defender product does.
Similarly, Purview is a big suite with many components—DLP, Insider Risk Management, Sensitivity Labels, Communication Compliance, DSPM for AI, and Data Lifecycle Management. Expect questions like: “You have this business challenge—what Purview product solves it?” You don’t need to know PowerShell commands or exact steps to publish a sensitivity label, but you do need to know when to use sensitivity labels versus DLP or lifecycle management.
On the Copilot side, this is all new. You need to know where to manage different parts of Copilot—how to enable or disable agents, assign them, understand approval processes, and monitor agents. Refresh your knowledge on Copilot analytics and reporting in the M365 admin center. These details are in the study guide, but they’re easy to overlook.
Also, memorize the three core Zero Trust principles: Verify explicitly, Least privilege access, and Assume breach. Know what each means. And review Microsoft’s Responsible AI principles—there are five or six of them, and they’re well explained in Microsoft Learn.
Honestly, the study guide covers everything you’ll be tested on. I don’t think there’s anything you can skip. Microsoft did a good job spreading questions across all topics.
Now, how should you study? If your goal is just to pass, Microsoft Learn is decent, but be careful—some content and assessments are wrong, which is expected in beta exams. If you want to truly understand the material, study MS-900 (admin side) and SC-900. In fact, SC-900 might be even more important because it covers Purview and Defender. Check out clips from your preferred study provider—I have SC-900 content on Pluralsight, and I’ll link that below.
Also, play with Copilot researcher and analyst agents. If you don’t have a Copilot license, try the free applied skills module for the researcher agent. It’ll help you understand what it does.
To summarize: the exam covers a large number of topics, but not deeply. That’s typical for fundamentals exams, but this one feels even broader than usual. Microsoft says one day of training is enough—I don’t think so. You’ll need more time to properly understand everything.
Other details: 60 minutes, 40–60 questions. As of today, there’s still space to take the beta with 80% off—I’ll share the discount link below. Use Microsoft Learn, SC-900, MS-900, and explore agent administration settings, SharePoint Advanced Management, Purview, Defender, and all reporting tools.
If you have questions, leave them in the comments—I’ll answer without breaking NDA. I’ve also registered for AB-730 tomorrow and AB-731 on Wednesday, so I’ll be doing all the beta exams. If you enjoyed this video and found it valuable, let me know, and I’ll make more like this!
