How to Pass the AZ-305 Exam: Azure Solutions Architect Guide 

Key takeaways

• AZ-305 is the design-focused exam required for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. You also need an active Azure Administrator Associate certification to earn the credential.
• The passing score is 700 on Microsoft’s scaled scoring system. Infrastructure design is the largest exam domain, accounting for 30–35% of the questions.
• We recommend four to six weeks of focused preparation if you already have substantial Azure experience, combining hands-on exercises, architecture scenarios, and practice questions.
• The certification is valid for one year and can be renewed for free through an online Microsoft Learn assessment.

To pass the AZ-305 exam, you need more than familiarity with Azure services. You must understand how to design secure, scalable, reliable, and cost-effective solutions based on business requirements.

This guide covers the latest exam objectives, certification requirements, exam format, and a practical study plan to help you prepare.

What is the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification?

The Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification validates your ability to design cloud and hybrid solutions running on Azure.

To earn it, you must:

1. Hold an active Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification, typically earned by passing AZ-104. This exam emphasizes implementing and managing Azure resources. 
2. Pass AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions. This exam focuses on designing solutions and recommending the best services for specific requirements.

You can take AZ-305 before AZ-104, but Microsoft will not award the expert certification until you meet both requirements.¹

Microsoft expects AZ-305 candidates to have advanced knowledge of networking, virtualization, security, identity, business continuity, data platforms, and governance, along with experience in Azure administration, development, and DevOps.

Learn more: Microsoft Azure Certification Path: Which One is Right for You?

AZ-305 exam details for 2026 

Microsoft updated the English-language AZ-305 exam on April 17, 2026. The current exam assesses four major skill domains, with infrastructure accounting for the largest share.²

Exam detail	What to expect
Exam	AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Level	Expert
Passing score	700. This doesn’t mean answering 70% of questions correctly, as Microsoft uses scaled scoring to account for question difficulty.3
Questions	Variable; most Microsoft certification exams contain approximately 40–60
Duration	Typically 100 minutes without labs, or 120 minutes when labs are included. Confirm your exact duration during registration.4
Question formats	May include multiple-choice, scenario-based questions, and case studies
Cost	Varies by country or region. USD $1651
Certification validity	One year

What topics are covered on AZ-305?

According to Microsoft’s April 2026 study guide, the exam includes four domains.²

Skills measured	Exam weight
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions	25–30%
Design data storage solutions	20–25%
Design business continuity solutions	15–20%
Design infrastructure solutions	30–35%

Let’s look at what you should know about each area.

1. Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%)

Identity and security are essential to any Azure architecture. You should understand Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), including authentication, authorization, identity management, and securing access to cloud and on-premises resources.

Focus on designing solutions for:

• Authentication and role-based access control.
• Identity governance and access management.
• Secrets, certificates, and key management.
• Azure management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups.
• Compliance, logging, and monitoring.

You should also understand how Azure Monitor and related monitoring services help organizations detect problems and maintain operational visibility.

The key is knowing when and why to recommend a particular solution, rather than simply memorizing configuration steps.

2. Design data storage solutions (20–25%)

Azure offers multiple ways to store and process data. As an architect, you must determine which approach best fits the workload. Prepare to compare relational databases such as Azure SQL Database with non-relational services such as Azure Cosmos DB.

You should also understand Azure Storage options for structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.

Important considerations include:

• Data consistency and scalability.
• Performance and service tiers.
• Storage durability and protection.
• Backup and recovery requirements.
• Data integration and analytics.
• Cost and operational complexity.

For example, when would you recommend a relational database instead of a globally distributed NoSQL database? These decisions depend on application requirements, data relationships, expected traffic, and acceptable trade-offs.

3. Design business continuity solutions (15–20%)

Business continuity is about keeping services available and recovering when something goes wrong. You should understand two important concepts:

• Recovery Time Objective (RTO): How quickly a service must be restored after an outage.
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data loss, measured in time, the business can tolerate.

Prepare to recommend backup, disaster recovery, and high-availability solutions for compute, databases, and storage.

Understand the differences between availability zones, regional redundancy, and recovery strategies. For example, a business-critical application may require rapid recovery and minimal data loss, while a less critical workload may prioritize lower costs.

An architect must balance these requirements with the organization’s budget and operational capabilities.

4. Design infrastructure solutions (30–35%)

Infrastructure is the largest AZ-305 domain, so we recommend dedicating a substantial part of your study time to it. You will need to evaluate compute, networking, application architecture, and migration options.

Compute and application architecture

Understand when to recommend:

• Azure Virtual Machines.
• Azure App Service.
• Container-based solutions.
• Serverless computing.
• Messaging and event-driven architectures.
• API integration, caching, and automated deployments.

For example, why choose a VM instead of App Service? A VM offers greater operating-system control, while App Service reduces infrastructure management for supported web applications.

Neither is universally better. The correct recommendation depends on the workload.

Networking and migrations

You should also understand Azure networking approaches, including virtual network peering, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute, and Azure Virtual WAN.

Evaluate connectivity, security, cost, performance, and operational requirements.

For migrations, learn how to assess existing applications and recommend suitable Azure infrastructure-as-a-service or platform-as-a-service solutions.

Microsoft’s Azure Well-Architected Framework and Cloud Adoption Framework are valuable study resources because they connect technical decisions to reliability, security, cost, operations, and business strategy.

How to pass AZ-305: A step-by-step study plan

Even experienced Azure professionals should prepare specifically for this exam. We recommend preparing approximately four to six weeks if you’re already comfortable working in Azure. If you’re newer to cloud architecture, you may need considerably longer.

Step 1: Review the latest objectives

Start with Microsoft’s official AZ-305 study guide. Check the current skills-measured date and compare the objectives against what you already know. Microsoft updates certification exams periodically, so older courses and practice questions may not cover everything.

Step 2: Strengthen your Azure foundations

If you haven’t earned AZ-104 yet, consider preparing for it first. Its administrative foundations will help you understand how Azure services behave in real environments.

If you’re completely new to Azure, AZ-900 is a useful starting point.

Step 3: Enroll in a structured AZ-305 course

A structured course helps you follow a clear learning path, stay focused on exam objectives, and reinforce concepts through practical demonstrations rather than studying Azure services in isolation.

The AZ-305: Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert course on Udemy covers key exam topics, including identity and governance, monitoring, data storage, backup and disaster recovery, high availability, networking, compute, and application architecture.

With guided lessons and hands-on demonstrations, you can build the technical knowledge and design judgment needed for the exam.

Step 4: Practice architecture decisions

Hands-on experience is one of the most effective ways to reinforce your knowledge.

Use an Azure sandbox or controlled test environment to compare services, configure sample workloads, and evaluate design options. Monitor costs if you’re using a paid subscription.

For every exercise, ask:

• Why would I recommend this service?
• What alternatives exist?
• What are the security, availability, and cost implications?
• How would the solution change if business requirements changed?

Step 5: Use practice assessments

Microsoft provides a free AZ-305 Practice Assessment through AI Skills Navigator, accessible from its certification page. Sign-in is required.⁵

Use practice questions to identify weak areas rather than memorizing answers. Review incorrect responses and understand why the other options are less suitable.

Step 6: Prepare for the exam experience

Before scheduling your exam, try Microsoft’s exam sandbox to familiarize yourself with the interface and question formats.

Book through the official AZ-305 exam page and review your appointment details, identification requirements, and testing options.

We also recommend checking that your Microsoft Learn certification profile uses an account you’ll retain long term.

AZ-305 exam-day tips

The exam tests your ability to evaluate technical choices against business requirements.

A few habits can help:

• Identify the scenario’s key requirements before reviewing the answer options.
• Look for constraints involving security, availability, performance, compliance, and cost.
• Eliminate solutions that violate a stated requirement, even if they could technically work.
• Manage your time carefully, especially during case studies.
• Review answers before leaving a section that cannot be revisited. Microsoft notes that once you leave a case study, you cannot return to its questions. 
• You can use Microsoft Learn during the exam. However, access is restricted to supported Microsoft Learn content. You can’t freely browse external websites, and the exam timer continues running while you search, so use this feature for occasional reference checks, not as a substitute for preparation. 

Pro tip: keep in mind that the best architecture isn’t always the most sophisticated one, but the one that meets the requirements with appropriate trade-offs.

FAQ

Is the AZ-305 exam difficult?

Yes. AZ-305 is an expert-level exam that requires broad Azure knowledge and strong design judgment. Candidates must compare services and recommend solutions based on real-world constraints.

How does AZ-305 compare to AZ-104?

AZ-104 focuses on administering Azure resources, while AZ-305 focuses on designing architectures and making technical recommendations. Both contribute to earning the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.

What is the passing score for AZ-305?

You need a scaled score of 700 or higher. This does not necessarily correspond to 70% correct answers. 

Is AZ-104 a prerequisite for AZ-305?

You can take AZ-305 before AZ-104. However, an active Azure Administrator Associate certification is required to earn the Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential. 

How long is the AZ-305 certification valid?

The certification is valid for one year. You can renew it for free by passing an online, unproctored assessment during the six months before expiration. Successful renewal extends it by one year.