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70-461, 761: Querying Microsoft SQL Server with T-SQL course (Udemy.com)

From SELECT queries to advanced. SQL Course for Server 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022. Helps with DP-600

4.6
18,624 reviews

Created by: Phillip Burton

Last updated September 2026

Our take

Based on the ratings of 18,624 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in September 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.

Phillip Burton built this as one big T-SQL course out of what used to be seven separate ones. It starts with installing SQL Server and creating tables, then climbs through joins, views, triggers, stored procedures, window functions, CTEs, XML, JSON, transactions and query tuning. The syllabus runs 28.7 hours over 270 lectures. It was written around the retired 70-461 and 70-761 exams, but the topics still map to everyday T-SQL work and to newer Microsoft exams such as DP-300 and DP-600.

Reviewers say Burton explains things clearly and at a good pace, and several call it easy to follow from zero. One says it takes learners to a comfortable intermediate level. The complaints are fairly consistent, though. A few want more coding exercises, especially after the early sections, and one finds the quizzes not very useful. A two-star reviewer found the delivery flat, disliked that he deliberately makes mistakes before fixing them, and heard keyboard noise and background sounds. An accent comment came up too, with captions suggested as the fix.

Value looks strong. The course has 98,180 students and 18,624 ratings, about 89 percent of them four or five stars, and it was updated in September 2026. One practical catch: SSMS only runs on Windows, so Mac users need dual-boot or Parallels, and M1 or M3 Macs will not work. We would recommend it to beginners who want a full, ordered tour of SQL Server specifically, and less so to anyone who learns mainly by doing exercises.

Best forBeginners who want a structured, exam-shaped path through SQL Server T-SQL and have a Windows PC.
Skip it ifYou want heavy hands-on practice, or you are on an M1 or M3 Mac that cannot run SSMS.

Pros

  • Starts at installing SQL Server and builds to CTEs, XML, JSON and indexes
  • Reviewers find Burton's explanations clear and the pace comfortable for newcomers
  • Updated September 2026, with topics that line up with DP-300 and DP-600 prep
  • About 89 percent of 18,624 ratings are four or five stars

Cons

  • Reviewers want more coding exercises, especially after the early sections
  • Some find the delivery flat, with an accent and occasional background noise
  • SSMS needs Windows, so Mac users need dual-boot or Parallels, and M1 or M3 Macs fail
Incredibly in-depth course about all you need to know about SQL and more. Brings you right up to a comfortable intermediate level.
Matas Martinaitis, a student

Beginner level fits: no SQL needed, just basic computer skills, though it runs well into intermediate topics.

Featured in our guide: The 10 Best SQL Courses on Udemy in 2026

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What you will learn

  • create tables in a database and ALTER columns in the table.
  • Know what data type to use in various situations, and use functions to manipulate date, number and string data values.
  • retrieve data using SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING and ORDER BY.
  • JOIN two or more tables together, finding missing data.
  • INSERT new data, UPDATE and DELETE existing data, and export data INTO a new table.
  • Create constraints, views and triggers
  • Use UNION, CASE, MERGE, procedures and error checking
  • Apply ranking and analytic functions, grouping, geography and geometry database
  • Create subqueries and CTEs, PIVOTs, UDFs, APPLYs, synonyms.
  • Manipulate XMLs and JSONs.
  • Learn about transactions, optimise queries and row-based v set-based operations

Course content

51 sections · 270 lectures · 29 hours of video 74 quizzes, 12 coding exercises, 31 articles

  1. 1Session 1 - Let's begin, and let's download SQL Server 5 free previews11 lectures · 42 min
  2. 2Session 1 - Starting SQL Server 2 free previews6 lectures · 2 quizzes · 17 min
  3. 3Session 1 - Creating tables - First pass7 lectures · 6 quizzes · 21 min
  4. 4Session 1 - Number types and functions11 lectures · 5 quizzes · 1.2 hours
  5. 5Session 1 - String data types and functions9 lectures · 4 quizzes · 54 min
  6. 6Session 1 - Date data types and functions7 lectures · 3 quizzes · 43 min
  7. 7Session 1 - Conclusion1 lecture · 1 min
  8. 8Welcome to Session 2 1 free preview3 lectures · 3 min
  9. 9Session 2 - Creating and querying part of a table 1 free preview5 lectures · 6 quizzes · 47 min
  10. 10Session 2 - Summarising and ordering data4 lectures · 5 quizzes · 43 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • This SQL course is meant for you, if you have not used SQL Server much (or at all), and want to learn T-SQL.
  • This course is also for you if you want a refresher on SQL. However, no prior SQL Server knowledge is required.

What you need before you start

  • You need to know how to use a computer, and hopefully know how to use a spreadsheet.
  • No prior knowledge of SQL Server required.
  • SSMS cannot be installed on the Mac OS. You need to have a Windows computer, or use a Mac computer which can dual-boot into Windows or using Parallel Desktop with Windows. (However, it will not work under Windows ARM - for example, a Mac M1 or M3.)
  • You don't even need SQL Server installed - I'll show you have to install it on your computer for free!
  • There is a 30-day money back guarantee of this Udemy course.
  • Why not have a look at the curriculum below and see what you can learn?

How it compares

Against the other 388 rated Udemy courses in SQL on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 69% of them
  • Reviews18,624#14 of 389 by number of reviews
  • Length28.7 hourslonger than 98% of them
  • Last updatedSeptember 2026more recently than 93% of them

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Quality Score

Content Quality
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Video Quality
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Qualified Instructor
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Course Depth & Coverage
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Overall Score : 92 / 100

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Course Description

Previously available as seven separate courses, now presented in one big course.

Reviews

"The instructor explain the things in great details. Very easy to follow." - Linda Shen

"Excellent course, valuable lessons, very well taught at a great pace." - Shane Tanberg

"Must get tutorial. Love it" - Hayford I Osumanu

"Perfect step by step guide to learning. Best I've seen." - Charles Schweiger

"This course is very well thought out. Its one of the better 70-461 courses on Udemy." - Isrrael M


This course is the foundation for the Microsoft Certificate 70-461: "Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012" and 70-761 "Querying Data with Transact-SQL". 

Please note - these certificates are no longer being offered by Microsoft. However, the exam requirements allow you to have a good understanding of T-SQL. A more recent version is the DP-800 "Microsoft SQL Server AI Developer".

It also will help with the current exams DP-300 (Azure Database Administrator Associate) and DP-600 (Implementing Analytics Solutions Using Microsoft Fabric)

Please note: This course is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft.


Session 1

The basics presented are: how to install SQL Server, and how to create and drop tables.

We then try to create a more advanced table, but find that we need to know more about data types - so we go into some detail about data types and data functions, the foundation of T-SQL.

Session 2

We'll create tables which use these, and then INSERT some data into them. Then we'll write queries which will retrieve and summary this data, using SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING and ORDER BY.

We'll then JOIN these tables together to find where we are missing data and where we have inconsistent data. We'll then UPDATE and DELETE data from the tables.

Session 3

We'll now use that data to create views, which enable us to store these SELECT queries for future use, and triggers, which allow for code to be automatically run when INSERTing, DELETEing or UPDATEing data.

We'll look at the database that we developed in session 2, and see what is wrong with it. We'll add some constraints, such as UNIQUE, CHECK, PRIMARY KEY and FOREIGN KEY constraints, to stop erroneous data from being added some data.

Session 4

We will further encapsulate our routines by creating procedures, allowing us to EXECUTE parameterised commands with just one statement, and we'll add some error handling with TRY, CATCH and THROW.

We'll also combine datasets together, by looking at UNION and UNION ALL, INTERSECT and EXCEPT, CASE, ISNULL and Coalesce, and the mighty MERGE statement.

Session 5

We'll will now be creating aggregate queries. We'll be reviewing the ranking functions ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK and NTILE. We'll look at the 8 analytic functions news to SQL Server 2012, such as LAG, LEAD, FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE.

We'll look at alternative ways of grouping and adding totals, using ROLLUP, CUBE, GROUPING SETS and GROUPING_ID. We'll also look at the geometry and geography data types, plotting locations on a grid, together with functions and aggregates.

Session 6

We'll will now be creating sub-queries and correlated subqueries, where the results of the subquery depend on the main query. We'll be looking at Common Table Expressions using the WITH statement, and we'll be using what we have learned to solve a common business problem.

We'll be looking at functions, including the three different types of User Defined Functions (UDF): scalar functions, inline table functions, and multi-statement table functions. We'll then look at synonyms and dynamic SQL, and the use of GUIDs. We'll also look at sequences.

We'll have a look at XML and, for SQL Server 2016 and later, we'll examine JSON and Temporal Tables.

Session 7

In this session we'll be looking at transactions, seeing how to explicitly start and end them, and finding out how they can block other users in the database. Then we'll see about how to indexes and their role in optimising queries. 

We'll also see how we can use Dynamic Management Views to see how we can improve our use of indexes. We'll then look at how to write a cursor, and when to use this row-based operation, and the impact of using scalar UDFs.

No prior knowledge is required - I'll even show you how to install SQL Server on your computer for free!

There are regular quizzes to help you remember the information.

Once finished, you will know what how to manipulate numbers, strings and dates, and create database and tables, create tables, insert data and create analyses, and have an appreciation of how they can all be used in T-SQL.

Read More Beginner Beginner Level product length iconTime: 28.7h

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Instructor Details

Phillip Burton

Hi. I'm Phillip, and I'm proud to Teach with Udemy as a Udemy Instructor Partner. I have been teaching on Udemy since 2015, and I have over 1,000,000 students and more than 60 video courses, including over a dozen Bestseller courses.

My courses include Microsoft Power BI and Fabric, Tableau, SQL Server, Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, etc.), Azure, Microsoft Office, and more. The majority of my courses align with the requirements for official certifications from Microsoft, Oracle, and Tableau - so with a bit of practice, you could enter the exam or assessment and put it on your CV or resume.

I have been a Computing Consultant providing expert services in the development of computer systems and data analysis. I am one of 9 award winning Experts for Experts Exchange's 11th Annual Expert Awards. My interests are working with data, including Microsoft Power BI, Excel, Access, SQL Server, and the Power Platform.

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Reviews

4.6

18,624 ratings on Udemy

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Write a review

By Italcom S.p.A on 3/6/2026

The course is perfect for someone who is approaching SQL because it starts from the basics. The teacher explains everything really well. There is a lack of exercise after the 3rd section which is shame, having a little bit more exercise could be very helpfull. The quiz are not really usefull in any way.

By Carlos Eduardo Salinas Montiel on 11/28/2023

This is one of the best SQL courses that I've taken so far. Teacher Phillip is rather responsive; all of my questions were replied with a solid and comprehensive answer. The course did not only serve me as a refresher but also as an introduction to new concepts that I hadn't learned before. Some sections can be somewhat hard to follow. Therefore, if you encounter such difficult sections, I suggest you to search different SQL tutorials where you can scrutinize the subject in question at your own pace.

By Karim Niang on 9/9/2023

This is a really comprehensive course on T-SQL. It will take you from absolute beginner to an advanced level. The Teacher will start from variables to how to deal with JSON variables or import/export data with the command prompt etc. In the meanwhile of course it explains the Big SIX, JOINS, MERGE, CTEs, SUBQUERIES, Indexes etc. I highly recommend it. The teacher has replied to all my questions within 24-48 hours. I've done other 3 courses before this, but I can say that this is the most comprehensive. Going back I would have not started with this course because I think that having prior knowledge has helped me the amount of details the teacher gave during the course. I really appreciate how it shows you the type of errors you would come across during your SQL coding. I plan to revisit the course to absorb as much as possible.

By Lukas Kucinski on 9/7/2021

Liked -Very structured approach to the subject -Instructor clearly has a deep understanding of T-SQL and a lot of experience teaching it -Instructor will stop and ask listener to pause the vid and try and understand the code on their own before proceeding with an explanation -Provides lecture code in downloadable documents along with the data as sql queries for easy reproducibility--makes following along easy and reduces the inconvenience of writing out all the code oneself (especially later on as queries become more complex) Didn't like -Dated (exam the course is taught for no longer exists) -Quizzes generally do not enhance understanding of the material in a meaningful way--they are short, simple and geared towards a rote understanding of TSQL to simply pass the exam -Some sections are not well explained--E.g. Triggers are not well covered -Audio quality of the course is inconsistent and generally subpar (volume too low, frequent background noise, instructor cell phone ringing along with other distractions) -Some videos are cut off at the end -Personal quibble, but I had a difficult time understanding the instructors pronunciation of some words and generally didn't like his intonation (maybe this is just an American problem) Recommendation -Inclusion of more exercises would improve the course -At the end of each section a series of questions that show results with queries missing, so that the learner can write their own code to mimic what was taught (can be optional, ) -For each lecture I'd advise testing the code yourself and saving it for later reference

By Guangfan Xu on 3/3/2021

The course is excellent. I have been working on Oracle many years but now I also need to work on SQL servers as a developer. I turned to Udemy to find a SQL server crash course with details. I believe this is the right one for me. Nice to know DDL statements in SQL server can be a part of a transaction. The quizzes in the course are good but it would be perfect if they were supplemented by a few online tests for submission for each session. Thank you, Philip!

By Lorak Robmaj on 1/9/2021

Loved this course, it helped my to improve my T-SQL skills and my exam score was improved a lot as well. Even the exam 70-641 is retired now, this course is still the best option for learn the in-depth T-SQL querying. You can still do a training version of the exam on https://www.measureup.com (although it's paid) if you need to know your skill level. Eventually, if you need the certification you can try exam 98-364 >it's similar to the 70-641, but it doesn't go in such great detail and some topics aren't covered (JSON/XML shredding, Temporal tables, isolation levels etc.) If there is only one thing I'm missing in this course, then it's lack of practice activities (like in 98-364 course from Phillip) on the end of each section.

By Sushil Kumar Shrestha on 11/21/2020

Awesome course

By Fernando Salle on 11/21/2020

Excellent
I am very pleased.

By Oren Shaham on 11/21/2020

Actually, it is getting more efficient. Sorry for my previous rating ;-)

By Akhil Aggarwal on 11/14/2020

Sound clarity is not there.It could have been lot better

By Jon-Paul Edwards on 11/14/2020

The course learning curve is great, and the instructor is really clear and easy to understand. I am really learning a lot!

By Jonas Hansson on 11/14/2020

The course has red line that it follows. And the teacher is calm and teaches in a very adequate way. I would love to have Swedish subtitles for my kids.. :)

Showing 12 of 358 reviews

70-461, 761: Querying Microsoft SQL Server with T-SQL course
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 28.7h
  • Price: $22.99
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon September 2026
  • Level: Beginner Beginner
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon Yes
  • Lectures:270 in 51 sections
  • Practice:74 quizzes, 12 coding exercises
  • Students:98,200
  • Subtitles:30 languages
  • Udemy badge:Bestseller
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