The Capstone Challenge features applied data problems that require students to synthesize their learnings and demonstrate their readiness to employ the skills they learned as part of the Microsoft Professional Program.

Each capstone features a real-world dataset that focuses on an important issue in the social sector. These problems highlight areas that can be of great value to society but are in need of attention from deeper technical talent. Through addressing these problems, students can learn, contribute, and hone skills that are applicable across industries.

For each problem, students have the opportunity to try different approaches with the tools of their choosing, while a live leaderboard provides ongoing feedback on how well their solution performs. In the end, scores on the capstone will be determined by how well students demonstrate understanding of core concepts learned throughout the course track and can apply them in practice to a real-world data challenge.