Book excerpt: The 98-381: Introduction to Programming Using Python is a Python certification from Microsoft. The certification is meant for candidates who can: Recognize the various data types in Python Understand and modify existing Python code Write syntactically correct Python code Upon successful completion of the Microsoft Python certification examination, the candidates are awarded the MTA (Microsoft Technical Associate) credential. An MTA 98-391 certified individual can work with Python on a professional level and is ready to explore the advanced aspects of the high-level, general-purpose programming language and related technologies. Exam Details Name – Introduction to Programming Using Python Code – 98-381 Duration – 45 minutes Language(s) – Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish Level – Associate Passing Percentage – 70% Prerequisites – 100+ hours of instruction/hands-on experience in the Python programming language, familiarity with the capabilities and features of Python, ability to understand, write, debug, and maintain well documented Python code Price – $127 Total Questions – 40 Type – Drag & drop, a selection from the drop-down list, single-choice and multiple-choice questions Syllabus Data and data type operations Document and structure code Error handling Input and output operations Python conditional statements and looping Python modules and tools Now that you know what the best certifications are, it’s time to prepare for them. How to do that? You need to go through the syllabus, practice, read as much as possible about Python, and much more. You can, however, also take Python certification practice tests to ensure that you’re certification-ready without overindulging yourself in preparation for clearing the Python certification exam.