MS-102 Deploy and manage a Microsoft 365 tenant Practice Question
Your organization is planning to migrate from on-premises Exchange to Exchange Online. You need to choose a migration strategy. Which TWO statements about migration methods are correct?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'minimal hybrid' with 'no synchronization,' but Microsoft requires directory synchronization for any hybrid deployment, and they may also incorrectly assume IMAP migration can handle calendar and contact data, which it cannot.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
A minimal hybrid deployment allows you to manage mailboxes in both on-premises and Exchange Online.
A minimal hybrid deployment uses Microsoft Entra Connect to synchronize on-premises Active Directory with Microsoft Entra ID, enabling centralized management of mailboxes across both environments. This allows administrators to manage on-premises and Exchange Online mailboxes from a single Exchange admin center, making option B correct.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A hybrid migration requires that you do not synchronize on-premises Active Directory with Microsoft Entra ID.
Why it's wrong here
Directory synchronization is a mandatory prerequisite for any hybrid deployment, not something that is bypassed. The Hybrid Configuration Wizard requires Microsoft Entra ID Connect (or the newer Microsoft Entra Connect) to sync on-premises identities, enabling a unified address book, free/busy sharing, and proper routing between Exchange Online and your on-premises Exchange servers. Without synchronization, hybrid coexistence is technically impossible, so the statement inverts the actual requirement.
- ✓
A minimal hybrid deployment allows you to manage mailboxes in both on-premises and Exchange Online.
Why this is correct
A minimal hybrid deployment deliberately configures just enough coexistence to support mailbox management across both environments. Even at this baseline, the Hybrid Configuration Wizard creates a management relationship so administrators can view and move mailboxes from the on-premises Exchange admin center or the Exchange Online admin center, and mail flow works between the two. This makes it a valid and lightweight method for both coexistence and migration, so the statement is correct.
- ✗
A staged migration can be used to migrate mailboxes from Exchange 2019 to Exchange Online.
Why it's wrong here
Staged migration is a legacy batch-style migration method that only supports older on-premises Exchange versions—specifically Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007. For Exchange 2019, Microsoft does not support staged migration because the method depends on an Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) endpoint that those modern servers handle differently. To migrate Exchange 2019 mailboxes, you would use cutover migration (if under 2000 mailboxes) or a hybrid deployment, making the claim incorrect.
- ✓
A cutover migration is suitable for organizations with fewer than 2000 mailboxes.
Why this is correct
Cutover migration is designed for smaller organizations that can migrate all mailboxes in a single operation, and Microsoft's documented limit for this method is 2000 mailboxes. It synchronizes each mailbox to Microsoft 365 and then cuts over after a final sync, which is impractical for larger user populations because the process would be too slow and would require a single, organization-wide switch-over. Therefore the statement accurately describes when cutover migration is appropriate.
- ✗
An IMAP migration migrates email, contacts, and calendar data.
Why it's wrong here
IMAP migration is a protocol-based approach that only copies email messages from an on-premises or third-party IMAP server to Exchange Online mailboxes. It does not import contacts, calendar items, tasks, folders, or other mailbox data, and it even loses some message properties such as sent/flagged states. Thus, the claim that it migrates contacts and calendar data is false; use a hybrid or other migration method for full fidelity.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for Admins
Key term
Exchange Online
Exchange Online is Microsoft's cloud-based email, calendar, and contact hosting service that is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, allowing organizations to manage corporate messaging without maintaining their own mail servers.
Key term
Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based identity and access management service that lets employees sign in and access resources both inside and outside of your organization.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MS-102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the MS-102 exam.