MCT Germany

Applied Skills are not a new exam format. They’ve been available for quite some time, but many MCTs and course participants hardly notice them or underestimate their value. Yet, they provide exactly what Microsoft and companies have increasingly emphasized in recent years: practical skills instead of pure exam knowledge are in demand and essential.

What are Applied Skills?

Applied Skills are short, time-limited, scenario-based assessments. Participants work in a preconfigured sandbox environment and solve concrete tasks within the Microsoft portal. There are no multiple-choice questions, no traditional exam sheets – but rather tasks that reflect real-world professional scenarios.

Examples:

• Creating a Conditional Access Policy
• Setting up an Azure Storage Account with specific properties
• Configuring a Microsoft 365 compliance policy

Why are Applied Skills important for us as MCTs?

Many MCTs focus exclusively on MOC courses. That’s understandable – MOC courses are often the foundation of our work. But if you only know and teach these courses, you’re missing out on an important area.

Benefits of engaging with Applied Skills as an MCT:

• You’re familiar with new exam formats and stay up to date
• You can better support your participants in their preparation
• You demonstrate that you don’t just understand the theory, but can also implement the topics you teach

Combined with our professional experience from real-world projects outside of training environments, these are the arguments why clients hire us as trainers instead of simply buying a video course.

What differentiates an Applied Skills assessment from a traditional certification?

• Focus on practical implementation instead of theoretical knowledge
• No multiple choice – real configuration in Microsoft environments
• Shorter in scope but with higher demands on true understanding
• Current technology applications and scenario-based requirements

Here you can find an overview of Applied Skills.