What has changed in AZ-900, and how to spot outdated material before you pay for it

Many AZ-900 courses still teach Azure Active Directory. Microsoft renamed it Microsoft Entra ID, and the exam uses the new name. You can drill an old course for weeks, feel ready and still hesitate on questions about services you know under another name. Here is what has moved and how to check your material first.

Which skills list is current?

The current list is the AZ-900 study guide's skills measured as of 20 July 2026. The study guide is Microsoft's official description of what the exam tests.

The headline is reassuring. The three skill groups and their weights did not change.

The format has not moved either. You still have 45 minutes of exam time and a pass mark of 700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000. Microsoft states that most of its exams have 40 to 60 questions.

So the shape is stable. The detail inside three skill areas is what changed.

Which skill areas did the update touch?

Microsoft marked minor changes in three of the 11 skill areas. Each one is a place where outdated material is most likely to drift from the exam.

Two of the three sit in the management and governance group, which carries 30 to 35 per cent of the exam. Many candidates pour their hours into cloud concepts instead. That leaves them short exactly where the material has moved.

The exam code stayed AZ-900 through the update. A course labelled "AZ-900" can therefore still teach an older list. The only reliable marker is the "skills measured as of" date. Names are the next thing to check.

Which product names have changed?

Product names have changed more than the skills. Material written before these renames teaches names the exam no longer uses.

In plain words, Microsoft Entra ID is Microsoft's cloud identity and sign-in service. Entra Domain Services provides managed domain features for older applications. Conditional Access sets sign-in rules, such as asking for a second check from outside the office.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud assesses and protects resources against threats. Microsoft Purview governs and protects data. Candidates often confuse the two, so learn them as a pair.

For the exam, you only need to recognise what each service does. Relabelling old notes is quick once you know the list.

Which other Fundamentals exams have moved?

Changes around AZ-900 matter if you are still choosing a first credential. Microsoft retired Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS-900) on 31 March 2026. It also replaced AI-900 with Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901).

Older career guides may recommend MS-900 beside AZ-900, or AI-900 as a next step. Neither is current advice. If AI work on Azure is your goal, look at AI-901.

Microsoft replaces exams regularly, so check current codes on Microsoft Learn before you plan your next step. Your exam language raises a quieter timing issue.

What if you sit the exam in another language?

The exam is offered in 13 languages, including Arabic. Microsoft updates the English version first. Other languages usually follow about eight weeks later.

A candidate sitting in Arabic or another language may therefore briefly see the previous version. That rarely changes how you study, because the skill groups and weights stayed the same. It does mean you should check the change log date against your exam date.

If the exam is not offered in your preferred language, the study guide states that you can request an additional 30 minutes. Request it before you schedule, because processing can take up to 20 days.

How to spot outdated material in two minutes

Run this test on every course, book and question bank before you pay or study further:

• It names AZ-900 and the skills measured as of 20 July 2026
• Its weights read 25 to 30, 35 to 40 and 30 to 35 per cent
• It follows the three skill groups and 11 skill areas
• It uses Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Purview
• It does not recommend MS-900 or AI-900 as a current exam

Before you pay, also check that the refund policy is set out in writing.

A resource that fails on names is not worthless. Rasha kept a popular question bank whose answers still said Azure Active Directory. She translated each old name with the table above and used Microsoft's free practice assessment for a final check.

A resource that fails on the skills date needs more care. Compare its lessons with the three skill areas above before you trust it.

What to do this week

Open the AZ-900 study guide on Microsoft Learn. Check the "skills measured as of" date, then compare the service names in your material with it, line by line. Decide what to keep and what to replace, and stop buying.

The changes will not stop at July 2026. Set a yearly reminder to read the study guide's change log. Follow Microsoft's regular credentials roundups on its Tech Community blog. Repeat the free practice assessment once a year as a quick check.

If you have not seen the whole exam in plain English yet, the AZ-900 exam map sets out all 11 skill areas with their weights. The Azure services candidates confuse then turns the hardest ones into clear contrasts.

Every fact here was checked against Microsoft Learn's documents in October 2026. Chapter 5 of CredenTrek For Microsoft AZ-900 maps every skill area with its current service names, ready to rate. Chapter 6 gives you the four-point check for any material you are about to buy.