45 minutes, three skill groups, 11 skill areas: the AZ-900 exam in plain English
AZ-900 gives you 45 minutes of exam time, and Microsoft advises allowing 65 minutes in the seat. Microsoft states that most exams have 40 to 60 questions. You pass with 700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000. Three skill groups carry the marks: cloud concepts 25 to 30 per cent, architecture and services 35 to 40 per cent, and management and governance 30 to 35 per cent.
AZ-900 has a reputation as the easiest Microsoft exam, so candidates spend their weeks memorising cloud definitions. Then the questions ask them to choose a service, a tool or a model, mostly from the part they skimmed. Here is the whole map, before you give a month to the wrong half.
How is the AZ-900 exam set up?
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam | AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals |
| Credential | Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Time | 45 minutes of exam time; allow 65 minutes in the seat |
| Questions | Microsoft states that most exams have 40 to 60 |
| Passing score | 700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000 |
| Skills measured | As of 20 July 2026: three skill groups, 11 skill areas |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE test centre or online; Certiport for students |
The extra 20 minutes in the seat cover the instructions and the candidate agreement.
How are the three skill groups weighted?
| Skill group | Weight | Skill areas |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Describe cloud concepts | 25–30% | 3 |
| 2 · Describe Azure architecture and services | 35–40% | 4 |
| 3 · Describe Azure management and governance | 30–35% | 4 |
Architecture and services and management and governance together carry at least 65 per cent of the exam. Cloud concepts, where most candidates feel safest, is the smallest group.
The 20 July 2026 update left the groups and weights unchanged. It made minor changes in three skill areas: compute and networking, managing and deploying resources, and monitoring tools. What has changed in AZ-900 shows how to spot outdated material.
The 11 skill areas in plain English
Skill names follow the AZ-900 study guide, slightly shortened.
Group 1 · Describe cloud concepts (25 to 30 per cent)
| Skill area | Skills Microsoft lists | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Describe cloud computing | Cloud computing, shared responsibility, public, private and hybrid models and their uses, consumption-based model, pricing models, serverless | What the cloud is, who secures what, and how you pay only for what you use |
| Describe the benefits of using cloud services | High availability and scalability, reliability and predictability, security and governance, manageability | Why organisations move, in business terms |
| Describe cloud service types | IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and the use cases for each | How much you manage yourself in each type of service |
IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are infrastructure, platform and software as a service. The more managed the service, the less you are responsible for.
Group 2 · Describe Azure architecture and services (35 to 40 per cent)
| Skill area | Skills Microsoft lists | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Describe the core architectural components of Azure | Regions, region pairs, sovereign regions, availability zones, datacentres, resources, resource groups, subscriptions, management groups and their hierarchy | Where Azure runs, and how resources are organised from the top down |
| Describe Azure compute and networking services | Containers, virtual machines and functions; Virtual Machine Scale Sets, availability sets, Azure Virtual Desktop; resources a virtual machine needs; app hosting; virtual networks, subnets, peering, Azure DNS, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute; public and private endpoints | Which way to run a workload, and how it connects |
| Describe Azure storage services | Storage services, tiers, redundancy options, account types; AzCopy, Storage Explorer, Azure File Sync; Azure Migrate and Azure Data Box | Where data lives, how many copies are kept and how to move it in |
| Describe Azure identity, access, and security | Microsoft Entra ID and Entra Domain Services; SSO, MFA and passwordless; external identities; Conditional Access; Azure RBAC; Zero Trust; defence in depth; Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Who can sign in, what they may do and how Azure is protected in layers |
A region is a geographic area containing one or more datacentres. A subscription is a billing and access boundary for Azure resources. A resource group is a container for related resources that share a life cycle.
Learn the hierarchy as a picture. Management groups contain subscriptions, subscriptions contain resource groups, and resource groups contain resources. Policies and access set at a higher level flow down to everything beneath.
Group 3 · Describe Azure management and governance (30 to 35 per cent)
| Skill area | Skills Microsoft lists | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Describe cost management in Azure | Factors that affect cost, the pricing calculator, cost management capabilities, tags | Estimate before you build, track after, and label resources so costs can be allocated |
| Describe features and tools for governance and compliance | Microsoft Purview, Azure Policy, resource locks | Keep data and resources within the rules, and stop accidental changes |
| Describe features and tools for managing and deploying resources | Azure portal, Cloud Shell, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, Azure Arc, infrastructure as code, Azure Resource Manager and ARM templates | The ways people and scripts manage Azure, including servers outside it |
| Describe monitoring tools in Azure | Azure Advisor, Azure Service Health, Azure Monitor with Log Analytics, alerts and Application Insights | How Azure recommends improvements and tells you about problems |
A tag is a name and value label, such as "department: finance", attached to a resource. Infrastructure as code means describing resources in a file, so the same set can be deployed again exactly.
How is the exam scored, and what formats will you see?
The score is scaled, so 700 does not mean 70 per cent of the points. Some questions may be unscored trial items, and you cannot tell which ones. Answer every question as if it counts.
There is no penalty for guessing. Multi-part questions usually give a point for each correct part, so a partly right answer still earns marks. Never leave a question blank. If one question stalls you, mark it for review, answer the rest and return.
| Format | What you do |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | Choose one or more correct answers, as the question states |
| Active screen | Change settings on a simulated screen, such as choosing from a drop-down list |
| Drag and drop | Match services or terms to descriptions |
| Hot area | Select the correct option in a diagram or table |
| Build list | Put steps or items in the correct order |
Microsoft names these types and demonstrates them in its free exam sandbox. It does not say in advance which types each exam uses, so try the sandbox before exam day.
Nearly every skill on the list begins with "describe", "define", "compare" or "identify". You will not deploy or fix anything. Most questions describe a short need and ask for the best fit. Read the last line first, so you know whether you are choosing a service, a tool or a model.
How do the weights turn into study hours?
Microsoft publishes no study-hour figure. The book works on 20 to 40 hours: nearer 20 if you already work with IT or Microsoft 365, nearer 40 if the cloud is new to you. Split those hours by weight, then move time towards your lowest-rated skill areas.
| Skill group | Hours in a 30-hour plan | Study first |
|---|---|---|
| Azure architecture and services | 12 | Core architecture, identity and security |
| Azure management and governance | 10 | Governance tools, monitoring tools |
| Cloud concepts | 8 | Shared responsibility, service types |
How to build your AZ-900 study plan turns those hours into weeks, stages and a practice subscription that cannot surprise you with a bill.
What to do with this map
Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on every skill area in the three tables. Your three lowest scores become the first targets in your plan.
Then check any paid course against the map. It should list skills as of 20 July 2026 and use current names, such as Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Many wrong answers come from services with similar purposes rather than from gaps in the map. The Azure services candidates confuse sets those out as contrasts. When you want to test yourself, the AZ-900 practice questions give you ten new scenarios weighted by skill group.
Every figure here was checked against Microsoft Learn's documents in October 2026. Chapter 5 of the book sets out all 11 skill areas ready to rate, and Chapter 7 and Appendix B turn the weights into a dated weekly plan. Appendix G adds 17 practice questions, each mapped to a skill group and skill area.
- Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on each of the 11 skill areas below and circle your three lowest scores.
- Open the AZ-900 study guide on Microsoft Learn and check that your course lists skills as of 20 July 2026.
- Try Microsoft's free exam sandbox once, so the question screens are familiar before exam day.
- Split your planned study hours by the three skill group weights and write the figures in your diary.
Questions readers ask
Do I need IT experience before I book?
Can I look things up on Microsoft Learn during the exam?
Is the exam the same in every language?
What will my score report show?
- Azure Fundamentals certification page (Microsoft Learn)
- AZ-900 study guide
- Exam duration and exam experience page
- Exam scoring and score reports page
This guide is independent and is not endorsed by Microsoft. Facts change: confirm them on the official page before you act.