2026 Exam Guide
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert Study Guide
Current exam coverage, candidate guidance, important topics, and practical preparation advice for the AZ-305 exam.
What Is Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert?
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert is an advanced architecture credential centered on AZ-305. It validates the ability to design Azure solutions for identity, governance, monitoring, compute, data, business continuity, migration, networking, and security. The exam emphasizes choosing the right architecture for business and technical requirements.
In 2026, Azure architects should understand landing zones, management groups, policy, Entra ID, private networking, application hosting options, data platforms, integration patterns, migration waves, resilience, backup, observability, and cost optimization. The exam expects candidates to compare options and explain why one design fits better than another.
Who Should Take This Exam?
AZ-305 is for solution architects, senior Azure engineers, consultants, technical leads, and platform engineers who design Azure environments and guide implementation teams.
Candidates should have strong Azure administration knowledge before taking AZ-305. The exam is less about clicking through settings and more about selecting architecture patterns that satisfy constraints.
Exam Domains
Identity, Governance, and Monitoring
Guide areaLanding zones, policy, RBAC, monitoring, logging, and operational visibility.
Data Storage
Guide areaRelational, non-relational, analytics, availability, and data protection design.
Business Continuity
Guide areaBackup, disaster recovery, availability zones, regions, RTO, and RPO.
Infrastructure
Guide areaCompute, networking, migration, integration, security, and cost design.
Common Topics Covered
- Azure landing zones
- Management groups
- Azure Policy
- Private Link
- Cosmos DB
- Azure SQL
- Service Bus
- Application Gateway
- Azure Monitor
- Migration planning
Study Tips
Study by design decision. Compare App Service, AKS, Container Apps, Functions, VMs, SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Service Bus, Event Grid, and networking patterns.
Practice identifying RTO, RPO, regulatory boundaries, latency needs, and operational constraints. These small phrases often decide the correct architecture.
Practice Questions Overview
Certoga's AZ-305 practice questions are original architecture scenarios. They help you compare Azure services, reason about tradeoffs, and prepare for design-style exam decisions.