Azure Mastery Download
Azure Mastery

Microsoft Certification AZ-305

Predict your score. Pass with proof.

On-device AI scores your readiness, builds an adaptive study plan, and flags topics fading from memory — before they cost you the exam.

304 practice questions AI score prediction 100% offline
Download free iPhone & iPad · Free to start

AZ-305 Study App for iOS — Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Get exam-ready for AZ-305 (Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions) — the single exam that earns the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential — on iPhone or iPad. Azure Mastery uses on-device AI to predict your readiness across all four design domains, surface case-study patterns, and target the topics most likely to trip you up.

The exam

What is the AZ-305 exam?

AZ-305 is the single exam required to earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential — Microsoft's senior architecture certification for the Azure platform. (The predecessor pair AZ-303 and AZ-304 were retired in March 2022 in favour of a single AZ-305 exam.) The Expert tier sits above the Associate-level AZ-104 and below specialty certs like Cybersecurity Architect (SC-100).

Unlike AZ-104, AZ-305 doesn't test your ability to configure Azure — it tests your ability to design Azure solutions that satisfy a brief. You'll be given a multi-paragraph scenario (RTO/RPO targets, throughput requirements, compliance constraints, geographic spread) and asked which combination of Azure services best meets it. The exam aligns to the Azure Well-Architected Framework and the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure — the same patterns Microsoft expects architects to apply on the job.

Microsoft updated the AZ-305 skills outline on 17 April 2026. Every question in Azure Mastery's AZ-305 bank is mapped to the current outline — no leftover questions on retired services. Read the official outline at learn.microsoft.com.

Skills measured · April 2026

AZ-305 exam objectives

Four design domains, with weights set by Microsoft's April 2026 update. Every domain summary below is paraphrased from the official skills outline. AZ-305 questions test design judgement — picking the right Azure service for a given requirement — rather than configuration recall. Bullet-level objectives in Azure Mastery are tagged so you always know which domain you're being tested on.

Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions25–30%

Recommend authentication and identity-management solutions (Microsoft Entra ID, B2B/B2C, Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management); recommend solutions for authorising access to Azure resources and on-premises resources; recommend a solution to manage secrets, certificates, and keys (typically Azure Key Vault). Design governance — management group / subscription / resource group hierarchies, resource tagging strategy, compliance via Azure Policy and Microsoft Purview, identity governance. Plus design solutions for logging and monitoring across the Azure estate. Around 10–18 questions per sitting.

Design data storage solutions20–25%

Pick the right database service for relational data (SQL Database, SQL Managed Instance, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Synapse SQL pools) — including service tier, compute tier, scalability strategy, and protection. For semi-structured and unstructured data, balance Blob Storage, Azure Files, Disk Storage, and Cosmos DB across features, performance, and cost. Recommend solutions for data integration (Azure Data Factory, Synapse pipelines, Event Hubs, Stream Analytics) and analysis (Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric). AZ-305 questions in this domain frequently take the form "cheapest option that meets X RTO/RPO/throughput". Around 8–15 questions.

Design business continuity solutions15–20%

Recommend recovery solutions for Azure and hybrid workloads that meet specific recovery objectives (RTO, RPO, recovery-point granularity). Backup and recovery design for compute (VMs, containers), databases, and unstructured data — Azure Backup, Recovery Services vaults, point-in-time restore, geo-redundant backups, Azure Site Recovery for failover. High-availability designs across compute (zone-redundant scale sets, regional pairs) and data (read replicas, active geo-replication, multi-region writes for Cosmos DB). Around 6–12 questions.

Design infrastructure solutions30–35%

The largest domain. Compute solutions — VMs vs containers (AKS, ACI, ACA) vs serverless (Functions, Logic Apps) vs batch processing — with the trade-offs that matter at design time. Application architecture — messaging (Service Bus, Storage Queues), event-driven (Event Grid, Event Hubs), API integration (API Management), caching (Azure Cache for Redis), application configuration management (App Configuration), automated deployment patterns. Migrations evaluated through the Cloud Adoption Framework, including IaaS/PaaS migrations and database migrations. Network solutions — internet connectivity, hybrid connectivity (ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, Virtual WAN), performance optimisation, network security (NSGs, Application Gateway, Azure Firewall, Web Application Firewall), and load balancing/routing. Around 12–20 questions.

Designed for AZ-305

How Azure Mastery helps you pass AZ-305

Azure Mastery ships with 304 AZ-305 practice questions mapped to the current (April 2026) skills outline. Each question is tagged to one of the four design domains, so you always know which area you're being tested on. AZ-305 questions are scenario-driven by design — you'll see multi-paragraph case studies asking you to choose between competing services. Azure Mastery's case-study mode bundles linked questions so you practise the same multi-question pattern you'll meet in the exam.

The on-device Exam IQ engine predicts your AZ-305 score before you sit the exam. After roughly 30 questions it has enough signal to give a confidence-scored prediction (e.g. "708 ±60, 68% confidence") — and tells you the specific topics that are dragging your readiness down. No vague "study more" advice; just a ranked list of objectives where improvement would move your score the furthest.

The adaptive study plan rebuilds itself from your answer history. Get a "choose the right Azure SQL family" scenario wrong? You'll see another data-platform-design question in the next session. Master "geo-redundancy vs zone-redundancy" three sessions running and the engine backs off, surfacing fresh identity-design or business-continuity scenarios. The plan optimises for the gap between where you are and the 700 pass score, not for blind volume.

Knowledge decay tracking is critical for an 8–12 week AZ-305 study window. Service-pricing details, RTO/RPO targets, and licensing nuances you mastered in week 2 are exactly what you'll forget by week 8 if you don't revisit them. Azure Mastery tracks every topic's decay curve and flags topics approaching expiry. The padlock icon on the Today screen is your "revisit before you forget" cue, and weak-spot drills automatically pull from decayed topics first.

Real exam simulation mode runs at AZ-305's actual length and pressure: a randomised set drawn from the full 304-question bank, weighted by April 2026 domain percentages, plus case studies, with the 100-minute timer running and no jumping back to flag-and-review. It's the closest you can get to the live Pearson VUE / online-proctored experience without sitting the exam.

Everything runs on-device. Your answer history, your readiness gauge, your decay alerts — none of it leaves your iPhone or iPad. No account required to start, no tracking, no sync server. Privacy-first by design.

8-week study plan

Suggested AZ-305 study plan

Plan eight to twelve weeks for AZ-305, even if you already hold AZ-104. The eight-week plan below maps onto the four design domains, Azure Mastery's case-study mode, and the in-app exam simulator. AZ-305 rewards judgement over recall — most of the work is internalising "which Azure service for which requirement", not memorising commands.

  1. Identity, governance, monitoring

    • Days 1–4: Authentication and authorisation design — Microsoft Entra ID, B2B/B2C, Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management; authorising access to Azure and on-premises resources; managing secrets, certificates, and keys with Azure Key Vault.
    • Days 5–9: Governance design — management group / subscription / resource group hierarchies, tagging strategy, Azure Policy, Microsoft Purview for compliance, identity governance.
    • Days 10–14: Logging and monitoring solution design — Azure Monitor, Log Analytics workspaces, log routing, monitoring at the estate level.

  2. Data storage

    • Days 15–21: Relational data — SQL Database, SQL Managed Instance, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Synapse SQL — service tier and compute tier selection, scalability, data protection.
    • Days 22–28: Semi-structured + unstructured — Cosmos DB, Blob, Files, Disks. Balance features, performance, cost. Plus data integration (Data Factory, Synapse pipelines, Event Hubs, Stream Analytics) and data analysis (Synapse, Microsoft Fabric).

  3. Business continuity + infrastructure

    • Days 29–35: Backup and disaster recovery — recovery solutions for Azure and hybrid workloads against specific RTO/RPO targets, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, multi-region failover. High-availability design across compute and data tiers.
    • Days 36–42: The largest domain — infrastructure design. Compute solutions (VMs vs containers vs serverless vs batch), application architecture (messaging, event-driven, API integration, caching, configuration management, automated deployment), migrations via the Cloud Adoption Framework, and network solutions (connectivity, performance, security, load balancing, Azure Firewall, WAF).

  4. Case studies and simulator

    • Days 43–49: Case-study mode every day. AZ-305 leans heavily on multi-paragraph scenarios — practise reading them quickly, identifying the constraints, and ruling out wrong answers.
    • Days 50–54: Two end-to-end Exam Simulator runs at full 100-minute length, with full case-study sets. Review carefully after each.
    • Days 55–56: Focus Weak Spots only. Light review. Sleep. Sit the exam if your readiness gauge is 730+ with confidence — AZ-305's borderline range is unforgiving.

Inside the app

Every Microsoft question type, on iPhone

AZ-305's question bank uses the same formats Microsoft puts on the live exam — not just multiple choice. Each visualisation below is a faithful mock of how the type renders inside Azure Mastery on iPhone and iPad. Exam-simulator mode runs all of them at full 100-minute length with no flag-and-review jumps, mirroring Pearson VUE.

Multiple choice

One correct answer from four to six options. The most common type on every Azure exam — practical recall of services, settings, and limits.

~50% of questions

Multi-select

Pick two or more correct answers from a list. Microsoft tells you exactly how many to choose. Partial credit not awarded — you need every selection right.

All-or-nothing

Drag-and-drop

Arrange items into the correct sequence — deployment steps, the order operations occur in a pipeline, troubleshooting flows. Long-press to drag on touch.

Order matters

Hotspot

Tap the correct area of an image — the right setting in a portal screenshot, the right resource in a topology diagram. Practical visual recall under time pressure.

Tap target

Case studies

A multi-paragraph scenario followed by 4–6 linked questions. Common on AZ-305 in the storage and identity domains; dominant on AZ-305 and AZ-400.

Multi-question

Why Wrong AI

An Azure Mastery exclusive. When you answer incorrectly, an on-device Apple Foundation Model writes a targeted explanation grounded in the correct rationale. Never leaves your device.

App exclusive

Frequently asked

AZ-305 FAQs

How much does the AZ-305 exam cost?

The AZ-305 voucher is USD $165 in the United States. Pricing varies by region — in the UK it's typically around £128. AZ-305 is the single exam required for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification — the predecessor pair AZ-303 and AZ-304 were retired in March 2022. The Expert-tier certification also requires annual renewal (free, online via Microsoft Learn).

Does the AZ-305 certification expire?

Yes. Microsoft Expert certifications — including Azure Solutions Architect Expert (which AZ-305 unlocks) — expire annually. Renewal is free: a 25–30 question online assessment on Microsoft Learn within the six-month window before your expiration date. The renewal targets recent skills outline updates, so staying current is straightforward if you remain active in solution-architect work.

What is the AZ-305 retake policy if I fail?

The first retake is allowed after 24 hours. Second and third retakes each require a 14-day wait. Microsoft caps retakes at five attempts per 12-month rolling period. Each attempt requires a new voucher purchase. AZ-305 has a higher fail rate than AZ-104 because it tests design judgement (which service for which requirement) over recall — many candidates need a second attempt.

How long should I study for AZ-305?

Plan eight to twelve weeks of focused study, even if you have already passed AZ-104. AZ-305 tests judgement more than recall — you're given a scenario and asked which combination of Azure services satisfies it. That style takes longer to internalise than the AZ-104 "how do I configure X" style. Azure Mastery's readiness gauge tells you when you're at exam-ready — don't book until it shows roughly 730 or higher with reasonable confidence; AZ-305 is unforgiving of borderline scores.

AZ-305 vs AZ-104 — which should I take first?

AZ-104 first, almost always. AZ-104 is the Associate-level operational cert; AZ-305 is the Expert-level design cert that assumes you already know Azure operations. Most architects sit AZ-305 a year or more after AZ-104, with practical solution-design experience in between. Microsoft formally requires an Associate-level prerequisite (typically AZ-104) for the Solutions Architect Expert certification anyway.

Do I need other exams alongside AZ-305?

No — AZ-305 is the only exam needed for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential. (The predecessor exams AZ-303 and AZ-304 were retired in March 2022 in favour of a single AZ-305 exam.) You do, however, need an Associate-level prerequisite — typically AZ-104 — to earn the Expert tier. Without AZ-104, passing AZ-305 alone does not award the Solutions Architect Expert certification.

Where AZ-305 fits

Certification path that includes AZ-305

AZ-305 is the single exam required for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential. The Expert tier requires an Associate-level prerequisite — most candidates pass AZ-104, though AZ-204 works as well for developers moving into architecture.

Ready to pass AZ-305?

Download Azure Mastery free. 304 AZ-305 practice questions across all four design domains, plus case-study mode, AI score prediction, full-length exam simulator, and a study plan that adapts to your weak spots. iPhone & iPad.

Download Azure Mastery — free iPhone & iPad · Free to start · No account required