SQL Server 2014 Exam Numbers and Certifications

SQL Server 2014 Exam Numbers and Certifications

Posted in microsoft

Microsoft have confirmed the new SQL Server 2014 certifications and associated exams. As the new version of SQL Server is focused on performance tuning and high availability, they've placed the new DB platform solely in the MCSE certification group this time.

As a result, the current SQL Server 2012 exams will continue to exist in their MCSA form and there will be no MCSA SQL Server 2014 certification to replace them. Instead candidates must pass the high level MCSE certification to acquire the SQL Server 2014 credential.

Expected in March 2014, the MCSE: Data Platform exams and MCSE: Business Intelligence exams will be updated with appropriate SQL 2014 material.

Exam numbers remain the same



SQL 2014 MCSE: Data Platform

  • 70-464
  • 70-465


SQL 2014 MCSE: Business Intelligence

  • 70-466
  • 70-467


New material



Microsoft will publish new exam prep material approximately one month before the exams are updated…so that's around Jan/Feb 2014.

As you may know, SQL 2014 comes with these new features:

  • In-memory capabilities for improved performance
  • Disaster recovery and backup via Azure
  • Updatable and clustered column store indexes
  • Resource Governor controls IO
  • BI features: Power Query, Power Map, Polybase
  • Always On in Azure


These topics will be split between the two MCSE certifications for Data and Business Intelligence.

You can find a complete list of new features over at MSDN


SQL 2014 exams in a nutshell



Existing MCSA SQL 2012 exams are not replaced
Existing MCSE SQL 2012 exams are updated to include 2014 content