Azure Administrator Associate certification (AZ-104)
RequiredYou must earn AZ-104 to become an Azure Solutions Architect Expert. You can take AZ-305 before or after it.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) Exam Guide
Validates knowledge of designing Azure solutions for identity, governance, monitoring, data, business continuity and infrastructure.
AZ-305 tests design judgment. Most questions give requirements such as cost, availability, security or effort, and several answers would work; you choose the one that fits best. Build on hands-on AZ-104 knowledge, learn when to choose each service over its neighbours, and practise case studies under time.
Understand the exam
Syllabus
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions25–30%
- Design solutions for logging and monitoring
- Design authentication and authorization solutions
- Design governance
Example scenario: A company with 40 subscriptions wants one set of policies for all production workloads and another for development. How would you structure management groups?
Design data storage solutions20–25%
- Design data storage solutions for relational data
- Design data storage solutions for semi-structured and unstructured data
- Design data integration
Example scenario: An app stores product catalog documents with varied fields and needs single-digit millisecond reads worldwide. Which data store would you recommend, and why not Azure SQL?
Design business continuity solutions15–20%
- Design solutions for backup and disaster recovery
- Design for high availability
Example scenario: A database must lose no more than five minutes of data and recover within an hour if a region fails. Which options meet both targets at the lowest cost?
Design infrastructure solutions30–35%
- Design compute solutions
- Design an application architecture
- Design migrations
- Design network solutions
Example scenario: Orders arrive in bursts and each must be processed exactly once, even if the processing service is down for an hour. Which messaging service fits?
AZ-305 study guide · Skills measured as of April 17, 2026
Format
- Questions
- 40–60
- Duration
- 2h
- Passing score
- 700 / 1000
- Delivery
- Test centre or online
- Languages
- English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
Question types
Choose the best answer from the options, or the stated number of answers when a question asks for more than one.
CertUp example
An application needs to process each order exactly once, even if the processor is down for an hour. Which service should you recommend?
Show answer
A. A Service Bus queue holds messages until they are processed and supports duplicate detection and locking.
Drag items from a list into the matching places; an item can be used once, more than once or not at all.
CertUp example
Drag each requirement to the data store that fits it. The requirements are relational data with SQL Server compatibility, globally distributed JSON documents, and low-cost unstructured files.
Show answer
Relational with SQL Server compatibility → Azure SQL Managed Instance, globally distributed JSON documents → Azure Cosmos DB, low-cost unstructured files → Azure Blob Storage.
Pick one value from each drop-down list in a block of text or a diagram to complete it.
CertUp example
Select the correct value in each list. To survive the loss of a datacenter inside a region, deploy across [availability zones / availability sets]. To survive the loss of a whole region, add [a paired-region failover / a second resource group].
Show answer
Availability zones, and a paired-region failover. Zones are separate datacenters, and a second region covers a regional outage.
Read a description of a fictional company, then answer several questions that share the same background.
CertUp example
Contoso must keep a customer database available if an Azure region fails, losing no more than five minutes of data. Which design meets that target at the lowest cost?
Show answer
A. Geo-replication copies changes continuously, so data loss is seconds, and the failover group handles the switch.
Eligibility and booking
Schedule AZ-305 with Pearson VUE from the exam page, using a personal Microsoft account. The Expert credential is issued once you also hold AZ-104.
Make a study plan
Take the free practice assessment to find your weakest area, then study the design trade-offs for each service family.
Most candidates spend 40–80 hours. Plan for the low end if you already design or run Azure solutions and recently passed AZ-104; plan for the high end if development, data or DevOps topics are new to you.
- 1Understand the examRead the syllabus and format, check you’re eligible and pick a target date.3 h
- 3Learn the core conceptsWork through one main course or book, topic by topic.36 h
- 4Practice with mock examsTake timed practice tests and review every mistake.18 h
- 5Prepare for exam dayBook the exam and check the ID and delivery rules.3 h
Learn the core concepts
Use Microsoft's free learning paths and the Azure Architecture Center for depth, and one video course for structure.
Best official courseDesign Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions (AZ-305T00)
Best free video seriesAZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Best short video courseAZ-305 Azure Architect Design Exam PrepLearn the deciding requirement. For every pair of similar services, such as Service Bus and Event Grid or Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance, note the one requirement that makes you pick one over the other.
Practice with mock exams
Start with Microsoft's free practice assessment. Then use a timed question bank and treat every wrong answer as a missing comparison in your notes.
AZ-305 Practice Assessment
Practice Test AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
AZ-305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions Practice ExamsAre you ready?
- You can name the requirement that separates similar services in each skill area.
- You can design for a stated recovery time and recovery point objective and explain the cost.
- You finish a timed practice exam with time left for the case studies.
Prepare for exam day
Choose the checklist for your test-centre or online appointment.
Before going to the test centre
Before testing from home
- Bring a current government-issued ID whose name matches your Microsoft certification profile exactly.
- Arrive early enough to check in and store your belongings.
- Allow extra seat time on top of the 120 minutes for instructions and the closing survey.
- Run the OnVUE system test on the same computer, network and room you will use. A personal computer works better than a work laptop.
- Use a walled room with a closed door. Clear the desk of notes, pens and extra screens, and keep your phone out of reach.
- Check in from 30 minutes before your appointment. You photograph your ID and workspace with your phone.
- Case studies can come as a separate section. Once you leave it, you cannot go back.
- You can take a break, but the clock keeps running and you cannot return to questions you saw before it.
- You see your score and a skill-area chart within minutes. If you fail, you can retake after 24 hours.
Advice from exam takers
Pick the best fit, not just a working answer.
Candidates describe AZ-305 as a trade-off exam where several options meet the requirement. They eliminate answers using the constraint in the scenario, such as cost, scale, security or operational effort.
Study comparisons, not feature lists.
Several 2026 candidates failed more than once after months of study, some after scoring well on practice exams. People who later passed switched to comparison tables, service limits and when-to-use-what guidance, and read beyond Microsoft Learn modules.
Take it while AZ-104 is fresh.
People who sat AZ-305 soon after AZ-104 report needing much less study time. One experienced architect passed after about 15 hours over four days.