AZ-900 study guide: skills measured, format and a 4-week plan

AZ-900, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, checks that you understand cloud concepts in general and can describe the core parts of Microsoft Azure: its architecture, its compute, networking, storage and identity services, and the tools used to manage costs, govern and monitor resources. It is a beginner-level exam and a common first step towards a career in Azure. You have 45 minutes to answer the questions, proctored online or at a Pearson VUE test centre.

AZ-900 at a glance

Details as of September 2026 — confirm on the official exam page before booking.

The skills measured were last updated on 20 July 2026, with minor changes to the compute and networking, management and deployment, and monitoring sections. Microsoft updates the English exam first and localised versions roughly eight weeks later, so if you sit in another language, check the study guide for what has changed. If the exam is not available in your preferred language, you can request an extra 30 minutes.

Microsoft does not name question types in advance, so treat the formats above as what to expect rather than a guarantee. Its free exam sandbox shows every type in the real interface and is worth ten minutes before exam day.

Who this exam is for

Microsoft describes the candidate as a technology professional who wants to show foundational knowledge of cloud concepts and Azure. You should be able to describe Azure's architectural components, its compute, networking and storage services, and the features that secure, govern and administer it. The audience profile also expects some experience in an area of IT, such as infrastructure management, database management or software development.

There is no prerequisite certification. Unlike Microsoft's role-based certifications, fundamentals certifications do not expire, so there is no annual renewal to plan for.

The exam suits people moving into cloud roles, technical sales and project staff who work with Azure teams, and engineers who want a structured first pass over Azure before a role-based exam. If you are still choosing between providers, [AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud certifications](/blog/aws-vs-azure-vs-google-cloud-certifications) compares the three paths. If you already run Azure workloads, the [AZ-104 study guide](/blog/az-104-study-guide) covers the administrator exam that usually comes next.

What the exam covers

The skills measured has three areas. Azure architecture and services is the largest, but the other two together still make up well over half of the exam, so no area can be skipped. Every objective starts with "describe", "define", "compare" or "identify": the exam tests whether you know what something is and when to use it, not how to configure it.

Describe cloud concepts (25–30%)

This area is provider-neutral. You need to define cloud computing, explain the shared responsibility model, and tell public, private and hybrid clouds apart, including which suits a given situation. It also covers the consumption-based model, cloud pricing models and serverless. The benefits section asks you to explain high availability, scalability, reliability, predictability, security, governance and manageability in plain terms. Finally, you must describe IaaS, PaaS and SaaS and match each to a use case. The judgement tested is almost always "who is responsible for what" and "which model fits this scenario".

Describe Azure architecture and services (35–40%)

The heaviest area, in four parts:

• Core architecture: regions, region pairs and sovereign regions, availability zones, datacentres, and the hierarchy of resources, resource groups, subscriptions and management groups.
• Compute and networking: containers, virtual machines and functions compared; virtual machine options such as Virtual Machine Scale Sets, availability sets and Azure Virtual Desktop; what a VM needs to run; application hosting options; and virtual networks, subnets, peering, Azure DNS, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute, and public and private endpoints.
• Storage: the Azure Storage services, access tiers, redundancy options and storage account types, plus tools for moving data (AzCopy, Azure Storage Explorer, Azure File Sync) and migration options (Azure Migrate, Azure Data Box).
• Identity, access and security: Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Entra Domain Services, SSO, MFA and passwordless sign-in, external identities, Conditional Access, Azure RBAC, Zero Trust, defence in depth and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Questions here usually give a requirement and ask which service or option meets it. Knowing the one-line purpose of each service, and how it differs from its nearest neighbour, is what earns the marks.

Describe Azure management and governance (30–35%)

This area covers cost, governance, deployment tools and monitoring. For cost, know the factors that change what you pay, what the pricing calculator is for, the cost management capabilities and the purpose of tags. For governance, know what Microsoft Purview, Azure Policy and resource locks each do. For management, know the Azure portal, Cloud Shell, Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell, Azure Arc, infrastructure as code, and Azure Resource Manager with ARM templates. For monitoring, know Azure Advisor, Azure Service Health, and Azure Monitor with Log Analytics, alerts and Application Insights. Many wrong answers here are real tools doing a different job, so learn them in contrasting pairs.

A 4-week study plan

The plan follows the weights, with the most time on architecture and services. Microsoft's free Learn training path and practice assessment are both linked from the exam page.

Week 1: cloud concepts. Write your own one-line definitions for every term in the first area. Draw the shared responsibility model for IaaS, PaaS and SaaS on one page. Finish with a mixed paper on cloud concepts and read every explanation, including for questions you got right.

Week 2: architecture, compute and networking. Sketch the resource hierarchy from management group down to resource. Make a table of compute and hosting options with a typical use for each, and another for the networking services. If you have an Azure account, create a resource group, a virtual network and a small VM, then delete them, so the names are attached to something you have seen.

Week 3: storage, identity and security. Compare the redundancy options and access tiers side by side. Learn the identity terms as pairs: authentication versus authorisation, Entra ID versus Entra Domain Services, RBAC versus Azure Policy. Take a domain paper on the whole architecture and services area at the end of the week.

Week 4: management and governance, then full mocks. Spend the first half on cost, governance, deployment tools and monitoring. Then sit a full-length timed mock, review every miss by skill, fix the weakest topics and sit a second mock two or three days later.

Common traps

• Overthinking a fundamentals exam. The objectives ask you to describe, not configure. If an answer depends on a detail you would only meet while building something, it is probably a distractor.
• Getting the shared responsibility model backwards. The customer always keeps responsibility for its data, accounts and identities, whatever the service type. What moves to Microsoft changes from IaaS to PaaS to SaaS.
• Confusing high availability, scalability and elasticity. Staying up when something fails is availability; handling more load is scalability. Read which one the scenario actually describes.
• Mixing up governance tools. Azure Policy enforces rules on what can be created, RBAC controls who can do what, resource locks stop deletion or change, and tags label resources for cost and organisation. Distractors often swap these.
• Mixing up monitoring tools. Azure Advisor gives recommendations, Service Health reports Azure-side incidents and planned maintenance that affect you, and Azure Monitor collects metrics and logs from your own resources.
• Old product names. Azure Active Directory is now Microsoft Entra ID, and the exam uses current names such as Microsoft Purview. Study from current material.
• Losing track of time. Forty-five minutes is short. Unscheduled breaks are allowed, but the clock keeps running and you cannot return to questions seen before the break. Fundamentals exams also do not give access to Microsoft Learn during the exam.

How to practise

CertifyCloudx has original AZ-900 practice questions written against the current skills measured, with an explanation for every option. You can read [how CertifyCloudx practice questions are written](/blog/how-certifycloudx-practice-questions-are-written) for the details.

• Domain papers of up to 25 questions each (60 minutes per 25), to drill one skill area at a time
• Full-length timed mock exams with the real exam's 45-minute time limit
• Progress tracked by skill area, so you can see where to spend the next session

The free plan includes practice sets for every certification, up to 10 questions a day, with no card required. For advice on reviewing mocks rather than just re-taking them, see [how to use practice exams effectively](/blog/how-to-use-practice-exams-effectively). Start with the [AZ-900 practice questions](/certifications/azure-fundamentals-az-900).

Frequently asked questions

How difficult is AZ-900?

It is Microsoft's beginner-level Azure exam and needs no hands-on configuration skills. The challenge is breadth: many services and concepts, each tested at the level of what it does and when to use it, in a short 45-minute exam.

How long should I prepare for AZ-900?

With some IT background, two to four weeks of regular study is a realistic range. If cloud terminology is new to you, allow the longer end and spend extra time on the architecture and services area.

Does the Azure Fundamentals certification expire?

No. Microsoft fundamentals certifications do not expire, so there is no renewal assessment. Role-based certifications such as Azure Administrator Associate are valid for one year and must be renewed.

Can I retake AZ-900 if I fail?

Yes. You can retake the exam 24 hours after your first attempt. The waiting period for later retakes varies, so check Microsoft's exam retake policy before booking again.

Are CertifyCloudx questions real AZ-900 exam questions?

No. Every CertifyCloudx question is original and written against Microsoft's public skills measured. Using real exam content breaks the Microsoft Certification Exam Candidate Agreement and can cost you the certification.

CertifyCloudx is independent and not affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals is a trademark of its owner. All CertifyCloudx practice questions are original.