AZ-305 practice exam: Azure Solutions Architect Expert exam guide
Domains, format, cost, and study strategy for the AZ-305. How to practice design scenarios with the Brains4Cloud guide, deep dive, and practice exam.
The AZ-305 (Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert) certifies that you can design complete solutions in Azure — identity, data, business continuity, and infrastructure — not just manage them. It's the most sought-after expert-level exam in the Microsoft ecosystem, and in practice it usually requires the AZ-104 (or equivalent experience) as a foundation, even though it isn't a formal prerequisite.
What you need to know about the exam
| Questions | ~40-60, many of them long scenarios with business requirements |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Reference cost | USD 165 |
| Passing score | 700 out of 1000 (scaled) |
| Validity | 1 year (free annual renewal) |
| Prerequisites | None formally; real experience designing in Azure is recommended |
Official domains and their weight
| Domain | Approximate weight | Main content |
|---|---|---|
| Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions | 25-30% | Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC, Azure Policy, landing zones |
| Design data storage solutions | 20-25% | Relational and non-relational databases, data protection |
| Design business continuity solutions | 15-20% | High availability, backup, disaster recovery, RTO/RPO |
| Design infrastructure solutions | 30-35% | Compute, containers, networking, API integration |
Weights from Microsoft's public blueprint. The most recent update, on April 17, 2026, was a minor change to the candidate profile and didn't modify the weights. Infrastructure is still the largest domain. Confirm the current version before your exam.
Unlike the AZ-104, this exam doesn't assess "how to execute" but "which design to choose given a set of constraints" (cost, compliance, SLA, RTO/RPO). It's the exam that most punishes studying service by service instead of by decision criteria.
Common mistakes that make people fail
- ▸Answering with the "most elegant" solution instead of the one the question asks for. If the case calls for minimum cost, the right answer is rarely the most sophisticated architecture.
- ▸Not mastering RTO/RPO. Business continuity questions usually give concrete recovery-time figures and expect you to choose the right backup/DR strategy based on those numbers.
- ▸Ignoring landing zones and governance at scale. The AZ-305 assumes you're designing for an organization, not a single resource — Management Groups, Azure Policy, and governed deployments with Deployment Stacks come up constantly (Azure Blueprints was retired in July 2026).
How to prepare with Brains4Cloud
- ▸Complete AZ-305 guide — a summary of the four domains with applied decision criteria.
- ▸AZ-305 Deep Dive — each topic with comparison tables (multi-AZ vs multi-region, backup vs geo-replication, etc.) designed for design scenarios, not just definitions.
- ▸Practice exam — original long-scenario questions, with an explanation of why each option does or doesn't meet the case's requirements. Create your free account and practice with the real format.
If you don't have the AZ-104 yet, it's best to start there — check out our AZ-104 guide before jumping to the expert level.
Frequently asked questions
Is it harder than the AZ-104? Yes, generally. It doesn't assess your memory of services but your architectural judgment under constraints — it takes more scenario practice than isolated facts.
How long should I study? With a recent AZ-104 and hands-on experience, 6-8 weeks. Without that foundation, consider finishing the AZ-104 first.
Does it replace the AZ-104 on your résumé? No — they complement each other. The AZ-104 shows execution, the AZ-305 shows design; together they're the strongest combination for senior Azure architecture roles.
Put what you learned to the test
Original practice exams with detailed explanations. No brain dumps.