Forum Discussion
Feedback about MS-102 retirement
TL;DR: I don't think you should retire the MS-102 as it really is a big downgrade losing and expert M-365 administor certification just for it to be replaced by an unrelated and under leveled AI Services administrator one.
Hello community,
This is my first post and I think it's a good time to open a thread to share some feedback about the retirement of the MS-102 exam and certification and I encourage others learners and users to do the same.
For those who don't know It was announced last June 25th that exam MS-102 and Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert are retiring October 2026 replaced by AB-650 Microsoft 365 Certified: AI Services Administrator Associate, exam beta on July 26.
You can check the announcement here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/skills-hub-blog/microsoft-credentials-roundup-june-2026/4528350?WT.mc_id=studentamb_165290
I was shocked to read that because last week I scheduled my exam and I didn't see any notice about future retirement. I just rechecked today and there isn't still any update on the retirement on the MS-102 cert or exam pages:
Cert page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/m365-administrator-expert/
Exam page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/exams/ms-102/
So even today, lot's of users are scheduling the MS-102 exam right now without knowing that it is expected to be retired soon
I think's it's a weird move to retire an expert Microsoft 365 administrator certification just for it to be replaced by just an associate certifciation AI Services Administrator Associate. So we lose and expert certification abount managing M365 and we can only get an associate certification about AI services in it's place
I think it would've better to have AB-650 as an additional certification, maybe even a prerequisite for the M365 Administrator Expert just like MS-700 or the SC-401
Lot's of recruitments department look for expertise about managing M365 and MS-102 take a big part on lot's of admins resumes to provee their knowledge about managing M365, so we won't only lose a cert or exam, we lose a way to prove knowledge about managing M365 at an expert level.
I've read lot's of users complaining about this retirement and I hope you could get feedback about it and rearrange this move.
Thank you for reading.
65 Replies
I completely agree with you OP, this replacement/retirement of the Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert (MS-102) is a complete slap in the face to all MSFT/365 admins who have spent many hours taking exams for the prerequisite certification first and then finally sitting their MS-102 and even more so the ones who sat this exam in the last few months essentially wasting their time! That is not even to mention the fact that this whole replacement sucks by just chucking in a bunch of AI (their copilot crap) and removing decent stuff!
Trying to sell AI as a replacement for an expert administrator is really whats driving me into abandoning this all and going full Red Hat
That and dismissing this as if it wasn't a big deal to begin with. The response to their customers is embarrassing.
"you're totally clueless and just shut up and deal with it", all gaslighting and deflection
Unserious vendor.
Any other folks here, don't bother. I myself will not be recommending any of these certifications to anyone going forward.
They're not interested in feedback or changing it.
I don't mind Microsoft adding AI content to the certification path. What I don't understand is retiring the Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert certification and replacing it with an Associate-level certification. Instead of evolving the existing Expert certification with AI topics, administrators are being forced to switch to an Associate certification and validate many of the same core skills again, just to cover the AI additions. Updating MS-102 would have made much more sense. What a move. 😂
Even copilot says MS shouldnt do it 🤣
Microsoft should not retire MS-102 because it is the only certification that validates end-to-end Microsoft 365 administration, covering identity, security, compliance, and tenant management in a single exam.
Key reasons:
- Validates broad Microsoft 365 expertise across Entra ID, Defender XDR, Purview, and tenant administration.
- Reflects real-world admin roles, where many organizations rely on one administrator to manage multiple Microsoft 365 services.
- Provides a clear Expert-level certification path for Microsoft 365 professionals.
- Addresses critical security and compliance skills that are increasingly important for modern enterprises.
- Promotes cross-workload knowledge instead of siloed expertise in a single Microsoft product.
- Remains valuable to employers seeking administrators who can manage the entire Microsoft 365 environment.
so ironic isn't it? 😂😂
I agree with this.
MS-102 covers skills that are still very relevant for people who actually manage Microsoft 365 environments every day. Identity, security, compliance and tenant administration are not going away.
AB-650 is not a replacement for that. AI administration is a different area and, for many organizations, not nearly as relevant to daily operations yet.
Retiring the Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert certification without a proper successor leaves a clear gap. I would much rather see Microsoft keep a broad Microsoft 365 administration certification alongside the newer AI-focused certifications.
I've been studying for MS-102 for the past few weeks alongside my job, and only today (!) noticed the retirement warning on the Learn page.
Maybe I should have kept a closer eye on Microsoft's certification announcements, but I honestly never expected Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert to be retired without what appears to be a true successor.
It's difficult not to question whether I should continue prepping for a certification that's about to be retired. That being said, I will continue with it, because I still believe MS-102 represents a broader and more well-rounded skill set for Microsoft 365 administrators than AB-650 appears to cover.
I was just about to book the MS-102 exam today when I came across the announcement while looking for the scheduling link.
This all feels so absurd.
Google Workspace did the same thing by downgrading the Professional Google Workspace Administrator certification to an Associate certification.
We'll have to see what its replacement will actually cover, but regardless, I don't see the logic behind downgrading these certifications. It sends the wrong message about the level of expertise they represent.
It's almost as if expert-level tenant administrators are no longer needed...
After all, we have AI now...
I agree that AB-650 should remain a separate exam. Just for the sake of AI, there's no need to change all the existing certifications. You can update some of the objectives and add AI-related content where it makes sense.
When a legacy certification exam is retired and replaced by a new version, Microsoft should automatically issue a free certification voucher to all candidates who previously passed the original exam. This ensures existing certified professionals can easily update their credentials without a financial penalty.
Tinezones has always been the problem hasn't it, us leads and mcts excluded in stuff for years and years, its only my baraging for more timezone friendly meetings we get included. This was a meeting held in one timezone and is non friendly was excluded let alone the poor wording and communication. As my fellow mcts here in Australia say, some of which have 20 25 30 plus years on them, which respect what im trying to do here atm thinks certain personal need to stop drinking the coolade and start championing for the learners.
