Why memorised answers give a false reading
Microsoft's practice assessment page is explicit: the questions are not the same as those on the exam, the exam may add other question types, case studies and labs, and a practice assessment does not replace training or product experience. If you can only answer a question because you remember it, your score measures memory of that question bank.
Real exams are also scored differently from a practice percentage. Microsoft reports technical exams on a 1 to 1,000 scale with 700 to pass, and says that, because the score is scaled, 700 may not equal 70 percent of points. The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam guide describes 50 scored questions plus 15 unscored ones that are not identified, a 100 to 1,000 scaled score with 700 to pass, and a compensatory model where you need to pass the exam overall rather than each section.
One finding from learning research explains why people over-trust familiar questions. In Karpicke and Roediger's 2008 study in Science, students' predictions of how much they would remember were uncorrelated with their actual performance. Feeling ready is not evidence of being ready.
What the research says about testing yourself
Practice testing works when it makes you retrieve information. In Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 experiments, students who restudied did better on a test five minutes later, but students who had been tested retained substantially more after two days and after one week. Their 2008 study found that repeated studying after learning had no effect on delayed recall, while repeated testing had a large positive effect.
A 2013 review in Psychological Science in the Public Interest rated practice testing and distributed practice as high-utility techniques, and rated rereading and underlining as low utility. The practical reading for certification study: answer questions from memory, spread sessions over days, and use rereading only to fix specific gaps.
- Retrieve before you look: commit to an answer, and a reason, before revealing the explanation.
- Space the retests: wait at least two days before retesting a domain, matching the delays where testing beat restudying.
- Change the question: use a different question set for retests, so recall is the only route to the answer.
Official practice resources you can start with
Start with the exam owner's own material, because it reflects the current objectives. The table lists what each provider's pages say is available.
| Provider | Free official practice | Paid official practice | Exam facts to plan around |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Practice assessments on Microsoft Learn: free, unlimited attempts, answer rationale and links for every question, score report | None needed for the practice assessment itself | Technical exams scored 1 to 1,000; 700 to pass; some questions unscored; no penalty for guessing |
| AWS | 20-question Official Practice Question Sets and 2-hour Exam Prep courses on AWS Skill Builder | Official Practice Exams in the Skill Builder subscription, from $29 USD a month for individuals | Cloud Practitioner: 65 questions in 90 minutes, 50 scored, 700 of 1,000 to pass, $100 USD |
| CompTIA (A+ Core 1) | None listed on the exam page | CertMaster Practice with timed practice exams and objective quizzes, estimated 10 to 20 hours | Up to 90 questions in 90 minutes, including performance-based; passing score 675 on a scale of 900 |
The cycle: diagnose, study gaps, retest
Run this cycle two or three times across your study period rather than taking practice tests every day.
- Diagnose: early on, take one official practice set without notes. Record each question as right and sure, right but guessed, or wrong.
- Map: tag every guessed or wrong item with its exam domain. AWS weights Cloud Practitioner domains at 24, 30, 34 and 12 percent; CompTIA weights A+ Core 1 from 28 percent (troubleshooting) down to 11 percent (virtualization and cloud). Fix heavy domains first.
- Study the gap, not the question: for each miss, write why the right answer is right and why each wrong option is wrong. AWS describes wrong options as plausible distractors that someone with incomplete knowledge might choose, so explaining them is the skill being tested.
- Retrieve: build ten of your own questions per weak topic and answer them from memory on two separate days.
- Retest: after at least two days, take a fresh set. Reuse an old set only to check explanations, and do not count that score.
- Rehearse once at full length: take one timed full practice exam near the end, under exam conditions.
Worked example: pacing a 65-question exam
The Cloud Practitioner exam gives 90 minutes for 65 questions, about 83 seconds a question. Fifteen of those questions are unscored and you will not know which, so every question deserves an answer; AWS scores unanswered questions as wrong and does not penalise guessing.
A practical rule from that arithmetic: in practice runs, aim to finish a first pass in about 65 minutes, a minute a question, leaving roughly 25 minutes to revisit flagged items. If your practice runs regularly need the full 90 minutes, speed of recall is a gap in itself, and short timed sets of 10 questions in 10 minutes are a useful drill.
A readiness checklist
These thresholds are our suggestion. Neither Microsoft nor AWS publishes a practice score that guarantees a pass, and Microsoft notes that practice questions do not reflect exam length or complexity.
- You scored 80 percent or more on two fresh question sets taken at least two days apart.
- No domain is far behind the others in your most recent attempt.
- You can explain every wrong option on a random sample of ten questions without notes.
- You finished a full-length timed practice with time to review flagged questions.
- Your score on new questions is close to your score on repeated ones; a big gap means you are recognising answers.
- You have checked the exam's current objectives, retake policy and price on the official page this week.
Questions before you decide
Are Microsoft practice assessments the same as the real exam questions?
No. Microsoft says the practice questions are not the same as the exam and do not reflect its length or complexity. They are free, can be attempted as many times as you like, and show the answer and rationale for every question.
Does a 70 percent practice score mean I will pass a Microsoft exam?
Not necessarily. Microsoft reports technical exams on a 1 to 1,000 scale with 700 to pass, and says the scaled score may not equal 70 percent of points because the pass mark reflects question difficulty.
Are AWS official practice questions free?
The 20-question Official Practice Question Sets and 2-hour Exam Prep courses on AWS Skill Builder are free. The full Official Practice Exams are part of the Skill Builder subscription, which AWS says starts at $29 USD a month for individuals.
Why is testing myself better than rereading my notes?
In Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 experiments, rereading helped on a test five minutes later, but students who were tested retained substantially more after two days and one week. A 2013 review rated practice testing high utility and rereading low.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- Microsoft Learn: Practice Assessments for Microsoft Certifications Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Microsoft Learn: Exam scoring and score reports Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- AWS Certification: Exam preparation resources Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: exam overview Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam guide Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- CompTIA: A+ Core 1 (V15) exam details Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Roediger and Karpicke (2006), Test-enhanced learning, Psychological Science (PubMed) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Karpicke and Roediger (2008), The critical importance of retrieval for learning, Science (PubMed) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Association for Psychological Science: Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques Accessed 30 Oct 2026
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