Study guide · Azure AI-103
AI-103 Exam Cost, Format and Passing Score
Every figure Microsoft actually publishes about the AI-103 exam, in one place — and a clear note on the two numbers it does not.
The published facts
AI-103 — "Developing AI Apps and Agents on Azure" — leads to Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate. It is an intermediate, associate-level exam aimed at the AI engineer and developer roles, built around Azure and Microsoft Foundry. You get 120 minutes. It is proctored, scheduled through Pearson VUE, and may include interactive components rather than only multiple choice. It is offered in ten languages: English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish.
Exam code ......... AI-103 Certification ..... Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate Level ............. Intermediate / Associate Duration .......... 120 minutes Passing score ..... 700 (scaled, out of 1000) Price ............. $165 USD in the US; varies by region Validity .......... 1 year, renewable free online Delivery .......... Proctored, Pearson VUE, may be interactive Languages ......... 10
700 is not 70%
This is the single most misread number on the exam. Microsoft scores on a scale that runs to 1000 and requires 700 to pass, and that scaled score is not a percentage of questions answered correctly. Questions are not worth the same, some may not be scored at all, and the scale is adjusted so that a given scaled score means the same level of competence across different versions of the exam. The practical consequence: you cannot compute "I need 35 of 50 right", and any resource telling you the pass mark is 70% of questions has translated a scaled score into a percentage it was never expressing.
What is on it, by weight
Microsoft publishes the skills measured as ranges rather than fixed percentages, which is why they do not sum neatly to 100. Two domains carry the exam between them: planning and managing an Azure AI solution at 25–30%, and implementing generative AI and agentic solutions at 30–35%. The three implementation domains — computer vision, text analysis and information extraction — are 10–15% each. Reading those three as "the small ones you can skim" is the most common way to fail: together they are up to 45% of the exam.
Plan and manage an Azure AI solution ............ 25-30% Implement generative AI and agentic solutions ... 30-35% Implement computer vision solutions ............. 10-15% Implement text analysis solutions ............... 10-15% Implement information extraction solutions ...... 10-15% Microsoft updates the English exam first; localised versions follow roughly eight weeks later.
The cost over time
The exam is $165 in the United States. Microsoft states only that price depends on the country or region in which the exam is proctored, so the figure for your market may differ and taxes may apply on top. After that the ownership cost is unusual: Microsoft associate, expert and specialty certifications expire annually, and renewal is a free online assessment taken on Microsoft Learn, unproctored, rather than sitting the exam again. Microsoft also runs an Exam Replay offer that bundles a retake, which is worth checking before booking if you are unsure.
What Microsoft does not publish
Two numbers you will find quoted everywhere and will not find here. First, the question count: Microsoft does not state how many questions AI-103 contains, and the figures circulating online are inference from other exams. Second, the pass rate: Microsoft has never published pass rates, so any specific percentage is invented. We would rather tell you a number does not exist than repeat one that does not.
Is AI-103 open book?
Partly, and in a specific way. Microsoft lets you open Microsoft Learn inside the exam on associate and expert role-based exams, and AI-103 is an associate exam. It opens in a split screen beside the question, and you can browse anything on learn.microsoft.com except Q&A, practice assessments and your own profile. Every other website is blocked, and no extra time is added — the exam clock keeps running while you read. Microsoft says plainly that it is meant for the occasional question where you need to look something up, and that if you lean on it for every question you will not finish in time, by design.
Further reading