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AZ-305Azure Solutions Architect Expert
AZ-305 · 30 days left ›
PREDICTED786 ±37✓ Exam Ready · 87% confidence
AZ-305 Practice Questions & Exam Prep — 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 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.
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.
Questions40–60 + case studies
Duration100 minutes (120 min seat)
Pass score700 / 1000
CostUSD $165 (≈ £128 UK)
ValidityRenew annually (Expert)
PrerequisiteAZ-104 (required for the credential)
Skills measured · 17 April 2026
AZ-305 exam objectives
Four design domains, with weights set by Microsoft's April 2026 update. Below, each domain's skill groups are lifted verbatim from Microsoft's official outline, so you can see precisely where a given topic is scored and where your gaps sit. AZ-305 questions test design judgement — picking the right Azure service for a given requirement — rather than configuration recall.
Azure skill mapIdentityComputeNetworkOperations
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutionsPublished weight 25–30%
108 exam-scoped practice questions in the app
Explore Identity topics
Design solutions for logging and monitoring
Design authentication and authorization solutions
Design governance
Tests recommending an identity, governance, or monitoring design, not configuring any one Azure resource yourself.
Candidates apply an Azure-only control where the scenario actually needs an on-premises or hybrid authorisation tool.
Check whether the requirement covers Azure resources, on-premises resources, or both before naming a control.
Design data storage solutionsPublished weight 20–25%
86 exam-scoped practice questions in the app
Explore Storage topics
Design data storage solutions for relational data
Design data storage solutions for semi-structured and unstructured data
Design data integration
Clearing a stated RTO, RPO, or throughput number at the lowest cost is the judgement this domain checks.
The most feature-rich data service tends to win out over the one that simply meets the stated constraint.
Read the numeric requirement first; it usually rules out half the storage options immediately.
Design business continuity solutionsPublished weight 15–20%
80 exam-scoped practice questions in the app
Explore Continuity topics
Design solutions for backup and disaster recovery
Design for high availability
Tests telling a backup and disaster-recovery design apart from a high-availability design for the same workload.
Candidates treat backup and high availability as interchangeable even though they solve different problems.
Ask whether the scenario wants recovery after an outage or continuous uptime during one.
Compute, application-architecture, migration, and network choices all get weighed against a single stated business requirement.
A weak spot in one of the four infrastructure sub-areas shows up here first, since it's the largest domain.
Place migration and modernisation work inside the Cloud Adoption Framework's Adopt methodology, then distinguish the workload-onboarding activity the scenario describes.
Common traps
Where AZ-305 candidates slip
Four recurring misconceptions that trip up otherwise well-prepared AZ-305 candidates, grounded in the current skills outline.
"Cheapest" and "best" are not the same correct answer
AZ-305 stems name a constraint like an RTO or throughput figure and ask for the option that meets it at lowest cost.
The exam is testing whether you can stop at the option that clears the bar, not the most feature-complete one.
Read the numeric constraint first; it usually eliminates half the options before you weigh cost.
Backup and high availability solve different problems
A backup design answers how you recover after a loss, while a high-availability design answers how you avoid the outage itself.
The exam is testing whether you'd choose zone-redundant compute over a Recovery Services vault for continuous uptime.
Ask whether the scenario wants recovery after failure or continuity during it before naming a service.
The Cloud Adoption Framework separates methodologies from workload-onboarding activities
Strategy, Plan, Ready, Adopt, Govern, Secure, and Manage are the core methodologies. Migrate and Modernize are workload-onboarding approaches within Adopt, while assessment informs the plan.
First identify the methodology, then match the workload activity the scenario actually describes.
Do not treat assess, migrate, and modernise as peer phases in the framework.
Authorising Azure resources and on-premises resources use different tools
Azure RBAC authorises actions on Azure resources, while Conditional Access uses identity, device, location, and risk signals to grant or block access. Hybrid join and federation integrate identities; they are not substitute authorisation systems.
Separate identity integration, access-policy evaluation, and resource authorisation before choosing a control.
Check which resource and trust boundary the requirement names before answering.
Designed for AZ-305
How Azure Mastery helps you pass AZ-305
Exam-specific practice
419 AZ-305 practice questions, each mapped to the 17 April 2026 outline across all four design domains.
Coverage follows identity and governance, storage, continuity, and infrastructure, tagged so weak spots surface fast.
Questions rehearse design judgement, picking the option that meets a stated constraint, the exam's actual style.
Predicted score
Exam IQ predicts your AZ-305 score on-device after roughly 30 questions, with a confidence range attached.
Infrastructure design carries nearly a third of the exam, so early predictions lean on how you handle it.
See exactly which domain, identity, storage, continuity, or infrastructure, is holding your score back.
Adaptive study plan
Miss a cost-versus-capability question and a similar design scenario returns in your next session.
Hold a domain steady across three sessions and the plan shifts weight to the next weak spot.
The plan targets the 700 pass score directly, not the number of questions you've answered.
Knowledge decay
AZ-305's four domains lean on shared judgement skills, so a forgotten pattern shows up across several of them.
A padlock icon flags a domain approaching decay before exam day catches you out.
Focus Weak Spots pulls from decayed domains first, ahead of anything new.
Exam rehearsal
Practise a full 100-minute session with flag-and-review switched off, matching the real Expert-tier clock.
The question mix follows the domain weights from the 17 April 2026 outline.
Every rehearsal question is original material written to the outline, not a copy of Microsoft's paper.
Answer Coach
Names the exact design trade-off behind a missed answer: cheapest versus most complete, backup versus high availability.
Explains why a Cloud Adoption Framework phase or an identity control was the wrong pick, and the rule to remember.
On supported devices, a note can be reworded locally, always validated against the authored answer first.
Aura guidance
Aura shifts focus toward whichever design domain is dragging as your first week of sessions plays out.
Each session ends with a plain-language recap of what improved and what to tackle next.
Private by design
Your AZ-305 answer history, readiness gauge, and Answer Coach notes never leave your device by default.
Architecture decisions stay confidential too: no Azure Mastery account or server ever sees your study data.
Turn iCloud sync on only if you want your notes backed up across devices.
8-week study plan
Suggested AZ-305 study plan
Practise architectural choices across identity, data, resilience and infrastructure. Use the final two weeks of this eight-week route for case studies and timed rehearsal.
Identity and access design
Review Entra identities, external access, Conditional Access and PIM.
Design access to Azure and on-premises resources.
Choose Key Vault approaches for secrets, certificates and keys.
Governance design
Design management group, subscription and resource group hierarchies.
Plan tags and Azure Policy.
Review Purview compliance and identity governance.
Monitoring design
Design Azure Monitor coverage across an estate.
Choose Log Analytics workspace arrangements.
Plan log routing.
Relational data design
Compare Azure SQL, Managed Instance, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Synapse SQL.
Select service and compute tiers.
Balance scalability and data protection.
Data storage and integration
Compare Cosmos DB, Blob, Files and Disks for cost and performance.
Review Data Factory, Synapse pipelines, Event Hubs and Stream Analytics.
Explore analysis with Synapse and Microsoft Fabric.
Resilience and recovery
Translate RTO and RPO requirements into recovery designs.
Compare Azure Backup, Site Recovery and multi-region failover.
Design high availability across compute and data tiers.
Infrastructure design
Choose compute and application patterns, including messaging, APIs and caching.
Plan migration, configuration and automated deployment.
Design connectivity, performance, load balancing and network security.
Case-study practice
Practise reading longer scenarios.
Identify requirements and constraints.
Explain why each alternative fits or fails.
Timed rehearsal
Complete two 100-minute simulator sessions with case studies.
Review each run carefully.
Track recurring design mistakes.
Consolidate and rest
Use Focus Weak Spots for remaining gaps.
Keep final review light and allow time to rest.
Decide whether your practice results support moving ahead.
Inside the app
Nine interactive practice formats, on iPhone
Azure Mastery has nine interactive formats for exam practice. The examples below show original AZ-305 practice questions in Azure Mastery on iPhone and iPad. The exam simulator uses timed sessions with the published domain weights. Microsoft's live interface and question mix may differ.
Which policy effect should the region restriction use to satisfy the regulator?
Deny
Audit
AuditIfNotExists
Modify
Multiple choice
An original AZ-305 practice question with one correct answer. The app explains every option after you answer.
Exam-specific sample
An architect must design phishing-resistant authentication for administrators. Which two methods satisfy that requirement? Select two.
FIDO2 security keys
Windows Hello for Business
SMS one-time passcodes
Voice call approval
Email one-time passcodes
Multi-select
An original AZ-305 multi-select question. Select all the correct options to earn the mark.
All-or-nothing
Arrange the Azure SQL deployment options from most managed (lowest administrative overhead) to least managed (highest administrative overhead).
⋮⋮1Azure SQL Database (PaaS) — Microsoft manages OS, SQL engine,…
⋮⋮2Azure SQL Managed Instance (PaaS) — Microsoft manages OS/SQL but…
⋮⋮3SQL Server on Azure VM (IaaS) — customer manages OS, SQL engine,…
Drag-and-drop
An original AZ-305 ordering question you can answer by touch on iPhone and iPad.
Interactive item
A team needs native SQL Server Agent support while still minimizing infrastructure management. Select the Azure data platform option that best fits.
Hotspot
An original AZ-305 question with a visual prompt, designed for touch on iPhone and iPad.
Tap target
Data Storage Platform Selection Relecloud must match four distinct e-commerce workloads to purpose-built Azure data services. The 500,000-item product catalog with nested, localized attributes and…
1Which Azure service should you use for the product catalog datastore?
2Which Azure service should you use for the shopping cart session store?
3Which Azure service should you use for the order history workload?
Case studies
An original AZ-305 case study with several questions about the same requirements and environment.
Multi-question
✕Your answer: Audit
✨ Answer Coach:This effect lets the deployment succeed and records the breach afterwards, which is the report-after-the-fact behaviour the regulator explicitly ruled out.
— grounded in authored certification guidance
Answer Coach
Answer Coach explains why the answer is correct and, where available, why each option is right or wrong. It helps you understand a mistake and remember the distinction. Read explanations after each question or at the end of a practice test. On supported devices, optional AI can reword a note on your device after checking it against the written guidance.
App exclusive
Frequently asked
AZ-305 FAQs
Do I need AZ-104 before AZ-305?
Not to book it — Microsoft lets anyone sit AZ-305 directly. But the Solutions Architect Expert credential is only awarded once you also hold Azure Administrator Associate, earned through AZ-104. Pass AZ-305 first and you're just waiting on AZ-104 to unlock it. AZ-204 isn't an accepted alternative.
What does the AZ-305 exam format actually look like?
Microsoft's general guidance is 40–60 questions plus case studies, with formats varying by sitting. Azure Mastery's bank weights single-answer, scenario-based, and multi-select items heaviest, then adds case-study sets, drag-and-drop, and hotspot questions — all original practice content, not a copy of Microsoft's live item mix.
Why does AZ-305 feel harder than AZ-104 even with the same pass mark?
AZ-104 mostly checks whether you can configure a service; AZ-305 gives you a business constraint and asks which combination of services satisfies it, with rarely one "correct config" to recall. That judgement style takes longer to internalise, which is why AZ-305 has a higher first-attempt fail rate.
Which AZ-305 domain catches candidates most off guard?
Business continuity, despite being the smallest domain by weight. Candidates who've only configured single VMs or databases under-prepare for scenarios mixing backup, disaster recovery, and high-availability requirements across compute, relational data, and unstructured data at once.
What's the current AZ-305 exam voucher price?
The AZ-305 voucher is USD $165 in the United States, or around £128 in the UK — pricing varies by region. The Expert-tier certification it unlocks also needs annual renewal, free and online via Microsoft Learn.
Does the Solutions Architect Expert badge need renewing?
Yes. Expert certifications including Azure Solutions Architect Expert expire annually. Renewal is a free, short online assessment on Microsoft Learn within six months of your expiry date, targeting recent outline updates.
I didn't pass AZ-305 — how soon can I try again?
Not immediately, and each sitting needs its own voucher.
First retake: after 24 hours.
Second and third retakes: a 14-day wait each.
Cap: five attempts per rolling 12 months.
Realistically, how many weeks does AZ-305 prep take?
Plan eight to twelve weeks of focused study, even after passing AZ-104. AZ-305 tests judgement more than recall — you're given a scenario and asked which services satisfy it. Don't book until the readiness gauge holds around 730 or higher; AZ-305 is unforgiving of borderline scores.
Can I try Azure Mastery's AZ-305 content before paying?
Yes. The app is free to download, with a free allowance of AZ-305 questions so you can try every feature. The full bank of 419 AZ-305 practice questions unlocks with a one-time exam-pack purchase, or unlock every exam with a subscription or lifetime upgrade.
Free study guides
Free guides that pair with AZ-305
Where AZ-305 fits
Certification path that includes AZ-305
AZ-305 is the single expert-level exam required for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential. To earn the credential, you must also hold Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104); AZ-204 is not an alternative prerequisite.
Download Azure Mastery free. 419 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.
