Who is the exam for?
The exam is for anyone who has already successfully completed the AZ-104 (Azure Administrator) exam and wants to obtain the Azure Solutions Architect certification. Unlike before, you don’t need to pass two exams (if you have already passed the Azure Administrator exam) but only the AZ-305 exam. If you have successfully passed the exam, then you have earned the following badge :
My Personal Experience
I recently renewed the AZ-305 for another year. In general, Microsoft exams – except for some foundation exams – are valid for one year. After that, you have to do a renewal. This means you must retake the exam online in a slimmed-down form. The topics are the same as in the full exam. (Click on the link at the bottom of this article to view the topics covered by this exam).
As mentioned, I recently renewed the exam again, and without going into the details (and breaking the NDA), I can give tips to assist you with extra careful preparation for the exam. I did not find it a difficult exam to take. The questions were straightforward, and I found very few tricky questions. In the previous exams, I found relatively many questions more appropriate for the Azure Administrator exam, but that was not the case with AZ-305.
I received relatively many questions about databases (Azure SQL and Cosmos DB). Think of questions related to sizing, performance, different types of databases, etc. Don’t expect to make in-depth SQL queries or labs, but you must know how to name the various components and their dependencies.
Most of the questions I received were about Azure Storage. Think about the different types of storage, when to use which variant, how to manage it, and the various limitations. I think it can be handy to take the topics for the DP-900 exam as preparation. Things like Azure Data Factory and Azure Stream Analytics should be familiar. You don’t need to configure them in detail but be able to name what they are suitable for and when you can best use them.
Important Tips..
I then immediately arrive with – in my opinion – the most important tip. Know which Azure Services will be covered during the AZ-305 exam. Make sure you know how to name them all and what they are suitable for. For example, when do you use a Load Balancer, when do you use an Azure Front Door, and when do you start working with Azure Event hubs? Make sure you can name all the services and at least know what they do. I did once tip someone to remember them. Take a blank sheet of paper, sit a big plus in the middle (so you divide the sheet into four equal areas), and name the areas as follows :
- Identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
- Data storage solutions
- Business Continuity solutions
- Infrastructure solutions
While studying for the exam, write down all the Azure services you come across and place them in 1 of the four boxes. Then, right before the exam, you walk through them all and know how to name what they do, their benefits/limitations and when to use them.
As with the AZ-104 exam (see my post about it), I was given some questions about Azure Kubernetes. There are fewer questions than in the AZ-104 exam but still essential to avoid surprises. Know how to name the different AKS components and what you use them for.
For all the services you encounter, know how to make them redundant or highly available. So whether it’s data from a storage account, a database, or any other Azure PaaS service, learn how to make it highly available. Think about the redundancy of data but also services.
Microsoft Learn AZ-305 Exam information page
The official information page from Microsoft, with all the necessary information about the exam, can be found here
Useful links for study and reference
I found the following links helpful in preparing for the exam :
- AZ-305 Study Cram
- AZ-305 Pluralsight
- Microsoft Learn AZ-305 training videos
- Cloud Adoption Framework
- Microsoft Learn AZ-305 Labs
The exam can be booked here
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