Exam tips & strategy
The AZ-305 tests your ability to make design decisions. Unlike AZ-104, there's rarely a single "correct" CLI command. Instead, you'll evaluate scenarios and choose the best solution from several valid options.
Exam format
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | ~40-60 questions |
| Duration | 100-120 minutes |
| Passing score | 700 out of 1000 |
| Question types | Multiple choice, multiple answer, drag-and-drop, case study |
| Penalty for wrong answers | None, always answer every question |
| Can you go back? | Yes, within a section. No, between sections. |
| Labs? | No active labs (unlike AZ-104). Pure scenario-based questions. |
Question types you'll see
Scenario-Based multiple choice
The most common type. A 2-3 paragraph business scenario followed by "which solution meets the requirements?" Read the requirements carefully. Often one word (like "minimize cost" vs "minimize downtime") changes the correct answer.
Multiple answer ("Select two/three")
Pick exactly the number specified. Common for questions like "which TWO services should you include in your design?"
Case study
A multi-page scenario (company profile, existing architecture, requirements) with 4-7 questions. You cannot return to the case study after moving to the next section.
Read the requirements tab first, then the existing environment. Most questions only test a specific requirement. Don't waste time memorizing the entire scenario.
Drag-and-Drop / ordering
Match services to requirements, or order deployment steps. Common for migration planning and architecture layering.
How AZ-305 differs from AZ-104
The mental model is completely different:
| AZ-104 Thinking | AZ-305 Thinking |
|---|---|
| "How do I create a VNet?" | "Should I use hub-spoke or Virtual WAN?" |
| "Which CLI command deploys an App Service?" | "Should this be App Service, Container Apps, or Functions?" |
| "How do I configure NSG rules?" | "Should I use NSG, Azure Firewall, or WAF here?" |
The exam tests WHY, not HOW.
Study strategy
Weeks 1-2: infrastructure solutions (30-35%)
This is the largest domain. Focus on compute selection (VM vs container vs serverless), networking (VPN vs ExpressRoute, load balancing decision tree), and application architecture (messaging, events, caching).
Weeks 3-4: identity, governance & monitoring (25-30%)
Know authentication/authorization patterns, Key Vault design, management group hierarchies, and Azure Policy. Monitoring (Log Analytics, App Insights) connects to every other domain.
Week 5: Data Storage + Business continuity (35-45% combined)
Relational vs non-relational selection, tier/compute decisions, redundancy options, backup/DR strategies, HA patterns. These two domains overlap heavily.
Week 6: review + practice
- Take the Free Practice Assessment
- Review the Coverage Matrix for any gaps
- Redo the capstone challenges (13, 24, 33, 50)
Common exam gotchas
- Cosmos DB consistency levels: Strong consistency gives you reads-after-writes but costs 2x RUs and limits multi-region writes. Eventual is cheap but stale. Know the 5 levels and trade-offs.
- SQL Database tiers: Business Critical includes built-in HA (read replicas), General Purpose doesn't. Hyperscale is for databases larger than 4TB.
- SLA composition: Two services at 99.9% each give you 99.8% composite (0.999 x 0.999). Adding redundancy INCREASES the composite SLA.
- ExpressRoute vs VPN Gateway: ExpressRoute doesn't go over the public internet. But it requires a connectivity provider. Know when each is appropriate.
- Event Grid vs Event Hubs vs Service Bus: Event Grid = reactive (events happened), Event Hubs = streaming (high throughput telemetry), Service Bus = enterprise messaging (guaranteed delivery, ordering).
- Azure Front Door vs Traffic Manager: Front Door operates at Layer 7 (HTTP), Traffic Manager at DNS level. Front Door is preferred for web workloads.
- Private Endpoints vs Service Endpoints: Private Endpoints give you a private IP in your VNet. Service Endpoints route over the Microsoft backbone but the service still has a public IP.
- Managed Identity vs Service Principal: Always prefer managed identity when the source is an Azure resource. Service principals are for non-Azure sources.
- Premium SSD v2 vs Ultra Disk: Premium SSD v2 lets you independently scale IOPS/throughput without changing disk size. Ultra Disk is for extreme sub-ms workloads.
- Azure Batch vs Functions with queues: Batch is for massive parallel compute (thousands of nodes). Functions with queue triggers are for message-driven processing at moderate scale.
Decision frameworks to memorize
Compute decision tree
- Need full OS control? VM
- Containerized workloads with orchestration? AKS
- Simple containerized HTTP services? Container Apps
- Event-driven, short-running? Functions
- Workflow orchestration? Logic Apps or Durable Functions
- Batch processing (thousands of cores)? Azure Batch
Load balancing decision tree
- Global HTTP/HTTPS? Azure Front Door
- Global non-HTTP (DNS-based)? Traffic Manager
- Regional HTTP with WAF? Application Gateway
- Regional non-HTTP (Layer 4)? Azure Load Balancer
Storage decision tree
- Relational + high compatibility? SQL Managed Instance
- Relational + cost-optimized PaaS? Azure SQL Database
- NoSQL document + global distribution? Cosmos DB for NoSQL
- Key-value simple lookups? Table Storage or Cosmos DB for Table
- Unstructured blobs? Blob Storage
- Big data analytics? Data Lake Storage Gen2
- SMB file shares? Azure Files
Useful links
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| Try the exam interface | Exam Sandbox |
| Free practice questions | Practice Assessment |
| Schedule the exam | Pearson VUE |
| Azure Architecture Center | Reference Architectures |
| Well-Architected Framework | WAF Documentation |
| Certification renewal | Renew for free |
After you pass
- Your certification appears on your Microsoft Learn profile within 24 hours
- You earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert title
- You get a digital badge via Credly to share on LinkedIn
- The certification is valid for 1 year (renew for free via online assessment)
- Consider your next step: AZ-400 (DevOps) or AZ-500 (Security)
Ready to start? Head to Challenge 01: Design a Centralized Logging Solution.