Microsoft AZ-305: Azure Solutions Architect Expert Practice Exam
Cover all four AZ-305 design areas — infrastructure; identity, governance & monitoring; data storage; and business continuity — with design-judgment scenario questions, immediate feedback in Learn mode, and full timed simulation in Exam mode.
Start 24-hour free trial →AZ-305 exam at a glance
- Vendor
- Microsoft (Azure)
- Exam code
- AZ-305 (Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions)
- Certification
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- Level
- Expert (role-based; design-focused)
- Blueprint
- Skills measured as of April 17, 2026 (current edition)
- Format
- Typically 40–60 questions; multiple choice, multiple response, drag-and-drop, and case studies
- Duration
- About 100–120 minutes
- Passing score
- 700 of 1000 (scaled, not a raw percentage)
- Delivery
- Pearson VUE test center or online proctored
- Recommended experience
- Advanced Azure operations experience across compute, networking, storage, identity, security, and governance; Azure administration background (the AZ-104 route is the usual on-ramp)
- Cost (USD)
- $165 USD list price (expert tier; varies by region)
- Validity
- Valid one year; renewed free via an online assessment on Microsoft Learn
Source: Microsoft Learn — AZ-305 study guide (skills measured) and the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification page. Verify current details with Microsoft before scheduling.
About the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification
AZ-305 is an expert-level exam that validates your ability to design cloud and hybrid solutions on Azure — not just implement them. The single exam earns the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. Where AZ-104 (Administrator) and AZ-204 (Developer) test what you build, AZ-305 tests the design judgment behind it: choosing services under real constraints of cost, security, resilience, compliance, and performance, aligned to the Azure Well-Architected Framework and the Cloud Adoption Framework. Nearly every question is a “recommend the best design” scenario with plausible alternatives, so memorizing product names is not enough — you have to reason about trade-offs.
AZ-305 is an active exam (current edition dated April 17, 2026, with only minor changes from the prior version). It is not an entry point: Microsoft expects advanced Azure operations experience, and the usual on-ramp is the AZ-104 Azure Administrator route. If you are brand new to Azure, start with AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals first.
Every PowerKram practice question maps to one of the four AZ-305 design areas and links to the specific Microsoft Learn page it was derived from, so your weak spots become a focused reading list rather than a guess.
AZ-305 design areas and weights
Four design areas, with infrastructure solutions the single heaviest at 30–35%. Microsoft published each area as a weighting range rather than an exact percentage; the ranges below are reproduced as Microsoft stated them in the current edition.
Design compute solutions (VM-based, container-based, serverless, and batch); design application architecture (messaging, event-driven, API integration, caching, configuration, and automated deployment); design migrations using the Cloud Adoption Framework; and design network solutions (connectivity, performance, security, and load balancing).
Design logging and monitoring solutions; design authentication and authorization (identity management, access to Azure and on-premises resources, and secrets, certificates, and keys); and design governance (management-group, subscription, and resource-group structure, tagging strategy, compliance, and identity governance).
Design storage for relational data (service and compute tiers, scalability, and data protection); design storage for semi-structured and unstructured data (balancing features, performance, cost, and durability); and design data integration and analysis solutions.
Design backup and disaster-recovery solutions that meet recovery objectives across compute, databases, and unstructured data; and design for high availability across compute, relational data, and semi-structured and unstructured data.
Source: Microsoft Learn — AZ-305 study guide (skills measured, as of April 17, 2026). Microsoft published weightings as ranges; infrastructure solutions is the heaviest area.
Who AZ-305 is for
Azure Solutions Architect Expert is aimed at experienced practitioners who design, not just operate, Azure solutions:
- Solutions architects and cloud architects translating business requirements into Azure and hybrid designs.
- Senior administrators and engineers moving from implementation into design and advisory work.
- Technical leads and consultants who own service-selection and trade-off decisions across identity, storage, resilience, and infrastructure.
- Experienced Azure practitioners with advanced knowledge of networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, data platforms, and governance.
AZ-305 is an expert exam, not an entry point. Microsoft expects Azure administration and development experience; the standard on-ramp is the AZ-104 Azure Administrator route, and newcomers should take AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals first. For the roles this credential supports — with skills, tools, and salary ranges — see the Solution Architect career path.
What this AZ-305 practice exam delivers
Learn mode
Get the recommended design, the reasoning, and a direct link to the exact Microsoft Learn page each question was derived from — immediately after each question. Built for the trade-off scenarios AZ-305 tests, where more than one option “works” but one is best.
Exam mode
A timed run in the AZ-305 shape — roughly 40 to 60 questions in about 100 to 120 minutes, including case studies — so you build pacing for the exam’s design-scenario format.
Source-linked explanations
Every answer cites the exact Microsoft Learn documentation or Architecture Center page it was built from — so you can verify the design guidance and dig deeper, not just memorize.
Score by design area
Results break down by the four AZ-305 areas — infrastructure, identity/governance/monitoring, storage, and business continuity — so practice tells you exactly which area to revisit.
Sample AZ-305 practice questions
Ten free questions across the four AZ-305 design areas, with full explanations and source links to the Microsoft Learn pages each is derived from. The complete bank is available with the 24-hour trial.
You must design compute for a workload that runs unpredictably, spikes to zero between events, and should incur no cost when idle, with minimal operational overhead.
Which compute approach should you recommend?
- A fixed fleet of always-on virtual machines
- A dedicated Azure VMware Solution cluster
- A reserved-instance VM scale set at fixed capacity
- A serverless solution such as Azure Functions on the Consumption plan
Show answer & explanation
Correct: D — a serverless solution (Azure Functions Consumption plan). Serverless scales to zero and bills only for execution, with no server management — the best fit for spiky, event-driven workloads that should cost nothing when idle. AZ-305 rewards matching the compute model to the workload profile.
Why not the others: always-on VMs (A) and reserved-capacity scale sets (C) incur cost while idle and add management overhead; Azure VMware Solution (B) is for lift-and-shift VMware estates, not event-driven code.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Architecture Center → Further reading: PowerKram — AZ-104 Azure Administrator →You are planning to move a large on-premises server estate to Azure and need to first discover the servers, assess readiness and right-sizing, and estimate costs before migrating.
Which Azure service should you recommend for this discovery-and-assessment phase?
- Azure Migrate
- Azure Monitor
- Azure Policy
- Azure Front Door
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — Azure Migrate. Azure Migrate is the hub for discovering, assessing (readiness, right-sizing, and cost), and migrating on-premises servers, databases, and data to Azure — exactly the migration-planning phase described, aligned to the Cloud Adoption Framework.
Why not the others: Azure Monitor (B) observes running resources; Azure Policy (C) enforces governance rules; Azure Front Door (D) is a global entry point for web apps. None handles migration discovery and assessment.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Migrate → Further reading: PowerKram — AZ-104 Azure Administrator →A public-facing web application needs inbound traffic distributed across backend servers within a single region, operating at the transport layer (TCP/UDP) with high throughput and low latency.
Which load-balancing solution should you recommend?
- Azure Traffic Manager
- Azure Application Gateway
- Azure Load Balancer
- Azure Content Delivery Network
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — Azure Load Balancer. Azure Load Balancer is the layer-4 (TCP/UDP) regional load balancer for high-throughput, low-latency distribution across backend instances — exactly the transport-layer, single-region need described.
Why not the others: Traffic Manager (A) is DNS-based global routing; Application Gateway (B) is layer-7 (HTTP/S) with WAF, not pure transport-layer; CDN (D) caches content at the edge, not load balancing across servers.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Load Balancer → Further reading: PowerKram — AZ-700 Azure Network Engineer →You must restrict outbound and inbound traffic between subnets in a virtual network using simple, stateful allow/deny rules based on IP, port, and protocol, at no additional service cost.
Which solution should you recommend for this subnet-level filtering?
- Azure DDoS Protection
- Azure Bastion
- ExpressRoute
- Network security groups (NSGs)
Show answer & explanation
Correct: D — network security groups (NSGs). NSGs provide free, stateful allow/deny rules by IP, port, and protocol at the subnet or NIC level — exactly the lightweight segmentation described. AZ-305 expects NSGs for basic filtering and Azure Firewall for centralized, richer control.
Why not the others: DDoS Protection (A) mitigates volumetric attacks; Azure Bastion (B) provides secure VM access; ExpressRoute (C) is private on-premises connectivity. None is subnet-level rule filtering.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Network security groups →A large enterprise needs to apply consistent policy and cost controls across dozens of subscriptions, organized by business unit and environment, from a single hierarchy.
Which governance structure should you recommend?
- A flat set of independent subscriptions with per-subscription policies
- A single subscription containing all resources
- Management groups organizing subscriptions into a hierarchy
- Resource tags applied manually to each resource
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — management groups organizing subscriptions into a hierarchy. Management groups let you apply Azure Policy and access controls across many subscriptions through an inheritance hierarchy that mirrors business units and environments — exactly the enterprise-scale governance described.
Why not the others: flat per-subscription policies (A) do not scale and drift apart; a single subscription (B) hits limits and mixes blast radius; tags alone (D) support cost tracking but do not enforce policy.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure management groups → Further reading: PowerKram — AZ-104 Azure Administrator →You must design authentication so that employees sign in once and reach both Microsoft 365 and custom Azure-hosted apps, with centralized MFA and Conditional Access.
Which identity solution should you recommend?
- Standalone local accounts per application
- Microsoft Entra ID as the central identity provider
- A separate Active Directory forest for each app
- Shared access signatures for user sign-in
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — Microsoft Entra ID as the central identity provider. Entra ID provides single sign-on across Microsoft 365 and custom apps, with centralized MFA and Conditional Access — exactly the unified identity design described, and the AZ-305 default for authentication and authorization.
Why not the others: per-app local accounts (A) fragment identity; a forest per app (C) is unmanageable and not cloud-native; shared access signatures (D) grant scoped resource access, not user sign-in.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Microsoft Entra →A global application needs a NoSQL database with turnkey multi-region writes, single-digit-millisecond latency worldwide, and tunable consistency.
Which Azure data service should you recommend?
- Azure SQL Database (single database)
- Azure Cosmos DB
- Azure Table Storage
- Azure Cache for Redis
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — Azure Cosmos DB. Cosmos DB is the globally distributed NoSQL database offering turnkey multi-region writes, low-latency global reads and writes, and five tunable consistency levels — exactly the global-scale requirements described.
Why not the others: Azure SQL single database (A) is relational and regionally scoped; Table Storage (C) is basic key-value without global write distribution or tunable consistency; Cache for Redis (D) is an in-memory cache, not a primary global datastore.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Cosmos DB →A design must balance features, performance, and cost for large volumes of unstructured files — images and logs — with automated tiering to cheaper storage as data ages.
Which storage solution should you recommend?
- Azure Blob Storage with access tiers and lifecycle policies
- Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL
- Azure Files Premium shares
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — Azure Blob Storage with access tiers and lifecycle policies. Blob Storage is the cost-effective home for large volumes of unstructured objects, and hot/cool/cold/archive tiers with lifecycle policies automate aging data to cheaper storage — exactly the cost-and-durability balance described.
Why not the others: SQL Managed Instance (B) and Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL (C) are databases for structured data; Azure Files Premium (D) is high-cost SMB file shares, not cost-optimized object storage.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Architecture Center (storage) →You must design disaster recovery for Azure VMs so that, if the primary region fails, the workload can fail over to a secondary region with minimal data loss and a low recovery-time objective.
Which Azure service should you recommend?
- Azure Backup
- Azure Site Recovery
- Azure Archive Storage
- Availability zones alone
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — Azure Site Recovery. Site Recovery continuously replicates VMs to a secondary region and orchestrates regional failover with a low RPO and RTO — exactly the cross-region DR described. AZ-305 distinguishes DR (Site Recovery) from point-in-time backup (Azure Backup).
Why not the others: Azure Backup (A) restores point-in-time data but is not real-time regional failover; Archive Storage (C) is cold retention; availability zones alone (D) protect within a single region, not against full regional loss.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Site Recovery → Further reading: PowerKram — AZ-400 DevOps Engineer Expert →You need centralized, policy-driven backup with long-term retention for Azure VMs and databases, so recovery points are managed and restorable from a single vault.
Which Azure service should you recommend?
- Azure Load Balancer
- Azure Front Door
- Azure Backup (Recovery Services vault)
- Azure Traffic Manager
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — Azure Backup (Recovery Services vault). Azure Backup provides centralized, policy-driven backup with configurable retention for VMs and databases, managed and restored from a Recovery Services vault — exactly the backup-and-retention design described.
Why not the others: Load Balancer (A), Front Door (B), and Traffic Manager (D) are traffic-distribution services with no backup or recovery-point capability.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Backup →Keep going: study & career resources
AZ-305 sits at the top of the Azure role-based track. Below it, the administrator route builds the base; alongside it, DevOps and networking deepen specific areas — and the architect career track shows where these skills lead.
Deep dive: AZ-305 format, the design-first approach, renewal, and study path
Exam format and scoring
AZ-305 delivers roughly 40 to 60 questions in about 100 to 120 minutes, with a passing score of 700 out of 1000 (scaled). It includes multiple choice, multiple response, drag-and-drop ordering, and one or more case studies where you design a solution against a detailed scenario. There is no penalty for wrong answers. Because it is a design exam, expect “recommend the best solution” questions where several options are technically valid but only one best fits the stated constraints. See the AZ-400 DevOps Engineer path →
Design-first, not implementation
AZ-305 replaced the older AZ-303/AZ-304 pair with a single design-focused exam. The distinction matters: it tests judgment aligned to the Azure Well-Architected Framework (reliability, security, cost optimization, operational excellence, performance) and the Cloud Adoption Framework, not step-by-step configuration. A candidate who knows every service but cannot weigh cost against resilience against complexity will struggle. Practice by reasoning through trade-offs, not memorizing feature lists. See the AZ-700 Azure Network path →
The four design areas
Infrastructure is the heaviest area (compute selection, application architecture, migrations, and networking). Identity, governance, and monitoring covers Entra ID authentication, management-group governance, and logging. Data storage covers relational and non-relational choices and data integration. Business continuity covers backup, disaster recovery, and high availability. Across all four, the recurring skill is choosing the right Azure service for a stated set of requirements and constraints. See the AZ-104 Administrator path →
Realistic study path
Most candidates come to AZ-305 with Azure administration experience (often AZ-104) and need six to eight weeks of design-focused study. Work through the official Microsoft Learn AZ-305 learning path, read the Azure Architecture Center reference architectures and the Well-Architected Framework, then drill scenario questions in PowerKram’s Learn mode and finish with timed Exam-mode runs including case studies. Spend the most time on infrastructure design, since it is the largest area. See the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals path →
Cost, renewal, and scheduling
List price is $165 USD (expert tier; regional pricing varies). The Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification is valid for one year and is renewed free through an online assessment on Microsoft Learn during the six months before it expires. The exam is delivered through Pearson VUE at a test center or online with a proctor. Microsoft sometimes offers discounted or free vouchers through Virtual Training Day events. Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification page →
Career outlook and next steps
AZ-305 is one of Microsoft’s flagship expert credentials and maps directly to solutions-architect and cloud-architect roles. It pairs naturally with AZ-400 (DevOps Engineer Expert) for delivery-focused architects and with deeper specialties like AZ-700 (networking) or security architecture. Developers on the Azure track sometimes reach it via AZ-204, though that developer exam is itself changing — the architect path is best entered through administration experience. For architecture roles and salary ranges, see the Career Hub. Career Hub — Solution Architect →
Microsoft AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert) exam FAQ
What are the AZ-305 design areas and weights?
Is AZ-305 still active?
Does AZ-305 have prerequisites?
What is the AZ-305 passing score and format?
Does the certification expire?
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