SQL Server Training Videos

I figure that just studying a certification prep might not be enough to pass the actual Microsoft test. So I am watching a series of training videos from Udemy geared toward helping you pass exam 70-461. The course has 7 sessions with around 50 hours of video. The author says you need to spend at least 5 days of full time study to be ready to pass the exam. Yikes.

Part of the training is to install SQL Server on your own machine. I am running Windows 7. So the latest I can install is SQL Server 2014. If I had Windows 10, I could put SQL Server 2019 on my machine. In general, I don't think I need the latest version of the database. However I am gunning for exam 70-761, and there are certain features like JSON support that requires at least SQL Server 2016.

The good thing is that I have SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) installed with the database. Luckily this software is free. The videos say this, plus the DB, are the only tools I need to prep for the exam. And I could probably just keep this version of SSMS even if the back end database get upgraded. Then again, why not run with the latest and greatest version?