AZ-900 is the exam most people take first when they want an Azure credential on their CV, and it is genuinely achievable from a standing start — it is a fundamentals exam, not an engineering one. The trap is that most of the free study material floating around was written for an older version of the objectives. Microsoft last refreshed what AZ-900 measures on 20 July 2026, and several topics people still revise (detailed SLA arithmetic, the old support-plan tiers) were dropped from the exam years ago. This guide covers what is actually on it now, how the exam works, and how to prepare in a couple of focused weeks.
The short answer
AZ-900 (Microsoft Azure Fundamentals) is a beginner-level, proctored exam booked through Pearson VUE. You get 45 minutes, and you need a scaled score of 700 out of 1000 to pass. It measures three areas: cloud concepts, Azure architecture and services, and Azure management and governance. There are no prerequisites and no hands-on lab component — it tests whether you can describe Azure, not whether you can build in it.
- Exam code AZ-900 — Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
- Level Beginner, no prerequisites
- Time 45 minutes
- Pass score 700 out of 1000 (scaled)
- Domains Cloud concepts 25–30% · Azure architecture and services 35–40% · Azure management and governance 30–35%
- Objectives last updated 20 July 2026
- Booked through Pearson VUE (or Certiport for students and educators)
Microsoft does not publish a fixed question count for AZ-900, and it varies between sittings. Anyone quoting an exact number is guessing. Plan around the 45-minute clock instead.
The three domains, and what sits inside them
1. Describe cloud concepts (25–30%)
The vendor-neutral half of the exam. It is worth roughly a quarter of your marks and it is the easiest quarter to secure, because none of it depends on remembering Azure product names.
- The shared responsibility model — who secures what, and how that shifts between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. Expect at least one question that hands you a scenario and asks whose responsibility something is.
- Cloud models — public, private, hybrid, and the use case that suits each.
- The consumption-based model — capital expenditure versus operational expenditure, and why paying for what you use changes how you plan.
- Benefits — high availability, scalability, elasticity, reliability, predictability, security, governance, manageability. Know the difference between scalability (capacity you can add) and elasticity (capacity that adds itself).
- Service types — IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and serverless, with the appropriate use case for each.
2. Describe Azure architecture and services (35–40%)
The biggest domain, and where the product names live.
- Core architecture — regions, region pairs, sovereign regions, availability zones, datacentres. Then the management hierarchy: management groups contain subscriptions, subscriptions contain resource groups, resource groups contain resources. That hierarchy comes up repeatedly.
- Compute and networking — virtual machines and scale sets, containers, Azure Functions, Azure Virtual Desktop; virtual networks, subnets, peering, Azure DNS, VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute; public versus private endpoints.
- Storage — the storage services, access tiers, redundancy options, and the tools for moving data (AzCopy, Storage Explorer, Azure File Sync, Azure Migrate, Data Box).
- Identity, access and security — Microsoft Entra ID and Entra Domain Services, SSO, MFA, passwordless, external identities, Conditional Access, Azure RBAC, Zero Trust, defence in depth, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Note that identity and security sit inside this domain in the current objectives — older study plans often treat them as a separate fourth domain, which distorts how much time you give them.
3. Describe Azure management and governance (30–35%)
- Cost management — what drives cost, the Pricing Calculator, the Total Cost of Ownership calculator, Microsoft Cost Management, and the purpose of tags.
- Governance and compliance — Azure Policy, resource locks, and Microsoft Purview.
- Deploying and managing resources — the Azure portal, Cloud Shell, Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell, Azure Arc, infrastructure as code, and ARM templates.
- Monitoring — Azure Advisor, Azure Service Health, and Azure Monitor including Log Analytics, alerts and Application Insights.
A reliable pattern in this domain: several questions boil down to "which tool would you use to…". Azure Policy enforces rules on resources; a resource lock prevents deletion or modification; RBAC controls who can do things; Advisor recommends; Service Health tells you when Azure has a problem; Monitor tells you when your resources do. Keep those separated and the domain becomes straightforward.
Check what you actually know
PassNova's AZ-900 bank has 200 exam-style questions with a clear explanation on every answer. Try the first 15 free — no account, no card.
Things people still revise that are no longer examined
This is where old material costs you time rather than marks. Microsoft has trimmed AZ-900 substantially since its early versions. Content that has been removed from the objectives — and that you will still find in plenty of "free AZ-900 guide" downloads — includes detailed SLA percentage calculations, the named Azure support plan tiers, Azure DevOps and GitHub tooling, and the Azure marketplace specifics.
None of that is wasted knowledge if you plan to work in Azure. It is simply not what this exam asks. If you are studying to a deadline, check anything you are revising against Microsoft's current AZ-900 study guide, which lists the objectives in force and carries a change log at the bottom.
A two-week study plan
AZ-900 does not need months. For most people with some general IT exposure, two focused weeks is enough.
- Days 1–3: cloud concepts. Start here even though it is the smallest domain. It is vendor-neutral, it is the conceptual scaffolding for everything else, and it is quick to secure.
- Days 4–8: architecture and services. The heaviest block. Learn the hierarchy first (management group → subscription → resource group → resource), then attach services to it. Naming is most of the battle: know what each service is for in one sentence.
- Days 9–11: management and governance. Focus on distinguishing the tools from one another rather than learning each in depth.
- Days 12–13: timed mocks. Sit full papers against the clock. Review every wrong answer and every lucky guess.
- Day 14: targeted repair. Go back only to the areas your mocks flagged. Do not re-read what you already know.
Two practical additions. First, spend an hour in the free Azure portal experience — simply seeing a resource group and a subscription in the interface makes the hierarchy stick far faster than reading about it. Second, take Microsoft's free practice assessment on the certification page; it is the closest you will get to the real question style and interface.
Six timed mocks and a 20-page study guide
The full AZ-900 bank, an AI study tutor and a downloadable PDF study guide come with PassNova Premium — £4.99/month, 7-day free trial.
Where AZ-900 leads
AZ-900 is a starting point rather than a destination. The usual next steps depend on the direction you want:
- Azure operations — AZ-104 Azure Administrator, a considerable step up in depth and the first genuinely role-based Azure certification.
- Security — AZ-500 Azure Security Engineer, best attempted after AZ-104 or equivalent experience.
- Data and reporting — PL-300 Power BI Data Analyst, if your work is closer to analytics than infrastructure.
- Multi-cloud breadth — AWS Cloud Practitioner covers the same conceptual ground in AWS terms, and the second one is always much faster than the first.
If your background is general IT support rather than cloud, CompTIA A+ and Network+ pair well with AZ-900 and cover the fundamentals the cloud exams assume you already have.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the AZ-900 exam?
45 minutes. Microsoft's exam-duration policy allows additional time for the seat beyond the assessment itself, so allow longer for your appointment overall — but the assessment clock is 45 minutes.
What is the AZ-900 pass score?
700 on a scale to 1000. That is a scaled score, not a percentage — it does not mean you need 70% of questions correct.
How many questions are on AZ-900?
Microsoft does not publish a fixed number and it varies. Candidates commonly report somewhere in the range of 40–60. Prepare against the clock rather than a question count.
Is AZ-900 hard?
It is the easiest Azure certification and it is designed to be approachable for non-engineers, including people in sales, procurement and project roles. The difficulty is breadth, not depth: a lot of service names, each needing only a one-line understanding.
Does AZ-900 expire?
Microsoft's fundamentals certifications do not expire and do not require annual renewal, unlike the role-based certifications such as AZ-104. Check Microsoft's current renewal policy before relying on that, as certification policies do change.
Do I need Azure experience to pass AZ-900?
No. There are no prerequisites and no hands-on component. That said, an hour clicking around the portal makes the architecture questions considerably easier to picture.
The bottom line
AZ-900 rewards breadth over depth and current material over comprehensive material. Learn the three domains in Microsoft's current proportions, be able to say in one sentence what each service is for, keep the governance tools clearly separated in your head, and sit timed mocks until the clock stops being a factor.
Practise with PassNova's AZ-900 questions — 200 exam-style items and six timed mocks, with an explanation on every answer. The first 15 are free to try without an account, and the full bank plus the downloadable study guide come with Premium.