Databricks Community

SDK · 3 weeks ago

Hi,

I appeared for the Databricks Data Engineer Associate exam on May 3 at 11:00 PM EDT. I am writing to formally raise a concern regarding the mismatch between the exam content and the officially published exam guide that was applicable at the time I took the exam.

Since I took the exam before May 4, I reasonably expected it to follow the previous exam guide outlined on the Databricks Data Engineer Associate webpage. Accordingly, my preparation—including a structured course delivered by Databricks MVPs—was entirely based on the 2025 exam guide. I was consistently scoring 85% and above in mock exams aligned to that guide, so the outcome came as a genuine and unexpected shock.

The topics listed on the official DEA page at the time were:

Databricks Intelligence Platform
Development and Ingestion
Data Processing & Transformations
Productionizing Data Pipelines
Data Governance & Quality

However, during the actual exam, I was assessed on the following topics:

Databricks Intelligence Platform
Development and Ingestion
Data Transformation and Modeling
Working with Lakeflow Jobs
Implementing CI/CD
Troubleshooting, Monitoring, and Optimization
Governance and Security

This represents a significant deviation from the published scope, and unfortunately placed me at a disadvantage despite thorough and diligent preparation.

Given these circumstances, I respectfully request either a refund of the exam fee or the issuance of a complimentary exam voucher, so that my skills can be evaluated under fair and clearly communicated exam conditions

Sumit_7 · 3 weeks ago

@SDK As per my understanding, the coverage of the topics are same as earlier. It's just updated a bit to fit current version of the features and tools in the Databricks ecosystem.

If you had the previous topics covered, passing the 70% mark won't be much difficult.

SDK · 3 weeks ago

@Sumit_7 I did have them covered pretty thoroughly , but it seems like the new version of the exam was already live before I started my exam. All prep resources including courses by databricks MVPs are updated with 2025 syllabus.

Leon_543 · 3 weeks ago

That's rough. They really should communicate exam updates more clearly and give people a proper transition period.
The new topics (Lakeflow, CI/CD, Troubleshooting etc.) are quite different from the old guide, so I don't blame you for being caught off guard. Many prep resources were still based on the previous version.
Did you reach out to Databricks certification support directly? They sometimes issue a free retake in these situations.

SDK · 3 weeks ago

I created a ticket with the Databricks Academy more than 48 hours ago for this issue , still no one has replied. What is the usual turn around time ?

VK88 · 3 weeks ago

I think they meant 4thMay 00:00 UTC. So obviously in your timezone it is already 4th May. You just missed out by few hours.

SDK · 3 weeks ago

@VK88 It makes sense that they are uploaded the new version of the exam at midnight UTC time. But no where on the certification page, FAQs or the exam guide it has been mentioned.

VK88 · 3 weeks ago

I totally understand what you mean. I am myself preparing for the exam and didn't take a look at full guide initially only to later find out that whatever I read is now not enough. The changes are huge.
Atleast they could'hv mentioned on home page of the exam for candidates that you are going to take a newer version of the exam.