Certification guide
AZ-305Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert: the honest guide
AZ-305 is the design exam. Where AZ-104 asks you to configure Azure, AZ-305 asks you to recommend: which storage tier fits a workload, which identity topology fits an organization, which failover approach fits a recovery target. The questions describe requirements and constraints and you choose the design, and you are marked as an architect rather than an operator.
The part people get wrong before they start is the credential itself. Passing AZ-305 does not make you an Azure Solutions Architect Expert. The expert certification is awarded for two things together: an AZ-305 pass and the Azure Administrator Associate that AZ-104 grants. You need both, so AZ-305 is the second exam of a pair, not a single step.
The exam is 40 to 60 questions in 120 minutes, the pass mark is 700 on a 1000 point scale, and it includes case studies alongside multiple choice, drag-and-drop and hot area items. The case studies are the format that catches people: several questions hang off one long scenario, and the clock does not stop while you read it. The voucher is $165.
Who Azure Solutions Architect is for
A good fit if
- You already hold AZ-104, or are close to it, and you design Azure solutions rather than only running them.
- You are a working Azure administrator moving toward an architect role and want the credential that names the job.
- You lead or advise on Azure design decisions and need to prove the reasoning, not just the button clicks.
- You are on a cloud team where someone has to own identity topology, storage strategy and disaster recovery design.
- You want the expert badge and understand it is two exams, AZ-104 and AZ-305, on two annual renewal clocks.
Probably not, if
- You have never administered Azure. AZ-305 assumes the operational fluency AZ-104 proves, and it does not teach it. Do AZ-104 first, both for the credential and for the background.
- You want to configure rather than design. AZ-104 is the exam about running the platform. AZ-305 is about choosing what to build, and the two test different skills.
- You expected one exam to earn the expert title. It does not. Without the Azure Administrator Associate from AZ-104, an AZ-305 pass leaves you uncertified at expert level.
- You build applications on Azure rather than architect infrastructure. AZ-204 is the developer exam and maps far more directly to writing for the platform.
Is Azure Solutions Architect worth it?
For a working administrator moving into design, yes. AZ-305 is the exam behind the Azure Solutions Architect Expert title, which appears by name in senior Azure job descriptions and in internal promotion frameworks. The study also maps onto real decisions, which is not true of every certification.
For someone who does not yet hold AZ-104, the honest answer is sequence, not skip. AZ-305 is worth taking, but it is the second exam of two, and passing it before you hold the associate certification means you have paid $165 for a result that does not certify you at expert level yet. Take AZ-104 first, then this.
For someone who administers Azure but has never designed it, treat the gap seriously before you book. The questions are written to separate people who recommend architectures from people who follow runbooks. If your job is to execute designs others make, budget more time on the reasoning, because that is what the case studies test.
For a career changer with no Azure operations behind them, no, not yet. The credential expects an administrator underneath the architect, and the whole two-exam structure assumes you can already run the platform you are being asked to design.
What the exam actually asks you to do
Multiple choice and multiple response, plus drag-and-drop ordering, hot area items where you click a region of a screenshot, and case studies that hold one scenario across several linked questions.
Item formats
- Multiple choice
- Multiple response
- Drag and drop
- Hot area
- Case study
The highlighted formats are the ones you cannot answer from memory alone. Microsoft Learn, exam duration and question types ↗
Domain breakdown and official weightings
From the official Microsoft Learn study guides. Design infrastructure solutions is the heaviest domain at 33 percent, followed by Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions at 28 percent.
- Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions28%
- Design data storage solutions22%
- Design business continuity solutions17%
- Design infrastructure solutions33%
Study plans by experience level
Hold AZ-104, designing Azure solutions already
4 to 6 weeksat 6 hours
- 1Read the skills outline line by line and mark every design decision you make by instinct at work but could not defend against a stated requirement. That list is your syllabus, not the whole document.
- 2Weeks 1 to 2: infrastructure solutions, the largest domain at 33 percent. Compute selection, application architecture, networking topology and migration approach, each framed as a recommendation against constraints rather than a configuration task.
- 3Week 3: identity, governance and monitoring at 28 percent. Design the identity topology, the governance model with management groups and policy, and the logging and monitoring strategy, rather than clicking through the portal you already know.
- 4Week 4: data storage at 22 percent and business continuity at 17 percent. Which storage service and tier for which access pattern, and which backup, replication and failover design meets a stated recovery point and recovery time.
- 5Weeks 5 to 6: full case studies under time. The format, not the content, is where prepared administrators lose marks, so rehearse reading a long scenario and answering several linked questions against the clock.
Hold AZ-104, an operator rather than a designer
8 to 10 weeksat 8 hours
- 1Weeks 1 to 3: infrastructure design. Work each area as a decision: given these requirements, which compute, which network topology, which migration path, and why not the alternatives. This is 33 percent of the exam and the largest shift from operator thinking.
- 2Weeks 4 to 5: identity, governance and monitoring. Move from managing role assignments to designing an access and governance model for an organization, including where management groups sit and what policy prevents versus what a lock prevents.
- 3Weeks 6 to 7: data storage design. Match storage services and redundancy options to access patterns and durability requirements, rather than the storage account you happen to have built before.
- 4Week 8: business continuity. Recovery point and recovery time objectives drive the design here, so learn to read a stated target and choose the backup, geo-replication or Site Recovery approach that meets it.
- 5Weeks 9 to 10: timed case-study practice and the free Microsoft practice assessment. Rehearse the linked-question format until the reading load stops costing you time.
Experienced architect elsewhere, new to Azure specifics
6 to 8 weeksat 8 hours
- 1First, confirm the prerequisite. The expert credential needs the Azure Administrator Associate from AZ-104, so if you do not hold it, plan that exam alongside this one rather than assuming architecture experience substitutes for it.
- 2Weeks 1 to 3: map your existing design instincts onto Azure services. You know what a load balancer, an identity provider and a replication strategy are; the work is learning which Azure service plays each role and what its limits are.
- 3Weeks 4 to 5: the two heaviest domains, infrastructure at 33 percent and identity, governance and monitoring at 28 percent, in Microsoft's terms. Entra ID topology, management groups, Azure Policy and the networking building blocks are where general architecture knowledge needs Azure-specific detail.
- 4Week 6: data storage and business continuity, focusing on the Azure service names and the numbers that decide a design, such as which redundancy option survives a region loss.
- 5Weeks 7 to 8: case studies under time. The reasoning transfers from your background; the service catalog and the exam format are what you rehearse.
Common mistakes
- Preparing for it like AZ-104
- AZ-104 asks what you would configure and in what order. AZ-305 asks which design you would recommend against a set of constraints. Studying portal steps and PowerShell produces someone who can build a thing and cannot choose between three things that all work, which is the actual question.
- Thinking an AZ-305 pass is the whole credential
- The Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification requires the Azure Administrator Associate from AZ-104 as well. Passing AZ-305 without holding AZ-104 earns you an exam result, not the expert badge. Confirm your associate certification is current before you sit this one.
- Meeting the case studies for the first time in the exam
- Several questions hang off one long scenario, and the 120 minutes does not pause while you read. Candidates who have not rehearsed the format read each case study two or three times and run out of time on questions they knew. Practice the linked-question shape under a clock.
- Memorizing services instead of matching them to requirements
- The exam rarely asks what a service is. It states a requirement, a constraint and a budget, and asks which design fits. Knowing that Azure Front Door exists is worth nothing; knowing when it is the right answer over Application Gateway or Traffic Manager is the whole skill.
- Underweighting the smaller domains
- Business continuity is 17 percent and data storage is 22 percent, and they are the domains people skim because infrastructure looks bigger. Recovery point and recovery time objectives, and which storage tier and redundancy option meets a stated requirement, decide questions that are cheaper to prepare for than the large infrastructure domain.
What comes after passing
If you already held the Azure Administrator Associate from AZ-104, passing AZ-305 is the moment you become an Azure Solutions Architect Expert. If you passed AZ-305 first, you are not certified at expert level until AZ-104 is passed as well, so that exam is the next thing to book rather than a later option.
Both certifications last one year and renew free through an unproctored online assessment on Microsoft Learn, available in the six months before each expiry date. The expert badge sits on two annual clocks, so keep both AZ-104 and AZ-305 current, each with its own free yearly assessment.
The usual next directions are the specialist role-based exams: AZ-500 for Azure security design, and the data or AI architect paths if your work leans that way. Each carries its own annual renewal, so plan the cycle rather than collecting exams.
Use the design content at work while it is fresh. Most Azure estates have at least one thing AZ-305 covers in a weak state: a disaster recovery plan nobody has tested against its recovery target, an identity topology that grew rather than was designed, storage tiers chosen once and never revisited. Fixing one of those is a stronger argument at a review than the certificate is.
Costs across the full renewal cycle are on the Azure Solutions Architect cost page.
Frequently asked questions
Does passing AZ-305 make me an Azure Solutions Architect Expert?
No. The expert certification is awarded for two things together: a pass on AZ-305 and the Azure Administrator Associate certification that AZ-104 grants. You need both. Passing AZ-305 without holding AZ-104 gives you an exam result, not the expert credential.
How is AZ-305 different from AZ-104?
AZ-104 configures; AZ-305 recommends. AZ-104 asks what you would set up and in what order. AZ-305 describes requirements and constraints and asks which design you would propose: which storage tier, which identity topology, which failover approach. One tests operating the platform, the other tests designing for it.
Do I need AZ-104 before AZ-305?
For the credential, yes, though not as an exam-ordering rule. You can sit AZ-305 first, but the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification is not awarded until you also hold the Azure Administrator Associate from AZ-104. Most people take AZ-104 first, because the design exam assumes the operational fluency it proves.
How much does AZ-305 cost?
$165 for the exam in the United States, and pricing varies by country. The study material is free on Microsoft Learn. Because the expert credential also requires AZ-104, the full cost of the badge is two exams, $330, if you do not already hold the Azure Administrator Associate. A retake is another $165 at full price.
How hard is AZ-305?
It is an advanced exam, and the difficulty is design judgement and pacing rather than recall. The case studies are long, several questions hang off each one, and 120 minutes goes quickly if you have not rehearsed the format. Candidates who administer Azure but have never designed it tend to find the recommendation questions the real gap.
How long does AZ-305 take to study for?
Four to six weeks at around 6 hours a week if you hold AZ-104 and already design Azure solutions. Eight to ten weeks if you hold AZ-104 but work as an operator rather than a designer. Six to eight weeks if you are an experienced architect learning Azure specifics, with AZ-104 planned alongside it.
Does AZ-305 expire?
Yes, after one year. Microsoft's role-based certifications renew free through an online assessment on Microsoft Learn, available in the six months before your expiry date. It is unproctored and open book, so the only cost is your time. The Azure Administrator Associate from AZ-104 renews the same way, so the expert badge sits on two annual clocks.
What is the passing score for AZ-305?
700 on a scale of 1 to 1000. Microsoft uses scaled scoring, so it is not a straight 70 percent of the questions, and harder items carry more weight. The score report breaks your result down by skills area, which tells you which design domain to work on if you need to retake it.
Keep reading
- Azure Solutions Architect practice questions
Free sample questions with the full explanation on every answer.
- Free Azure Solutions Architect practice test
10 original questions, playable now. No account, no card.
- Azure Solutions Architect exam format
How many questions, how long, what the items look like, and how long it stays valid.
- Azure Solutions Architect passing score
The exact cut score, what kind of number it is, and the retake terms.
- How hard is Azure Solutions Architect?
An honest difficulty read from the format, the clock and the weights.
- What Azure Solutions Architect costs
The voucher price, the retake, and what renewal costs across the cycle.
Compared with
Side by side on cost, difficulty, and which one to take first.
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