AZ-900 FAQ — Common Questions About Azure Fundamentals

IaaS / PaaS / SaaS: Infrastructure, platform, and software as a service, the three cloud-service models AZ-900 expects you to distinguish quickly.

RBAC: Role-based access control for Azure resource authorization.

What is AZ-900 and who should take it?

AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals validates core cloud concepts and high-level Azure knowledge. It’s ideal for beginners, students, non-technical stakeholders, and career-switchers who want a recognized Azure baseline.

Are there any prerequisites?

No formal prerequisite exam. Light hands-on exposure to Azure services or Microsoft Learn modules helps.

What’s the exam format and passing score?

Multiple-choice/response and short concept items. The scaled passing score is 700 (0–1000).

How many questions and how long is the exam?

Item count and time vary by form. Plan for roughly 60–90 minutes of seat time and pace accordingly.

Do I need deep hands-on skills?

Not required. AZ-900 focuses on concepts: what services do, when to use them, and basic trade-offs (cost, resiliency, security). Light lab time accelerates learning.

How long should I study?

From near-zero: 1–2 weeks with short daily sprints. If brand-new to cloud, plan 2–3 weeks including labs.

What topics are tested?

• Cloud concepts: IaaS/PaaS/SaaS, elasticity, scalability, shared responsibility
• Global infrastructure: regions, availability zones, region pairs
• Core services: compute, storage, networking, databases (at a conceptual level)
• Identity & security: Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), RBAC, Key Vault basics
• Governance & management: management groups, subscriptions, resource groups, tags, Policy
• Cost & SLA: pricing calculator, budgets/alerts, availability basics

How is AZ-900 different from AZ-104 (Administrator)?

• AZ-900: breadth & concepts; recognize services and principles.
• AZ-104: hands-on administration; implement RBAC/Policy, networking, backup/monitoring.

What’s the best way to practice?

Start with short domain drills, then mixed sets, then a full mock. Aim for ~80% consistently on mixed sets before test day.

Do I need to memorize exact command syntax?

No. Know the purpose of tools: Portal for visual management, CLI for cross-platform scripting, PowerShell in Windows-centric automation.

How should I think about redundancy and SLAs?

Higher redundancy typically raises availability. Quick SLA math:

Downtime (hrs/yr) = (1 − SLA) × 8760

Examples:

• 99.9% → ≈ 8.76 hours/year
• 99.99% → ≈ 0.88 hours/year

Common weak spots to fix before test day

• Distinguishing IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS in scenarios
• Knowing regions vs availability zones vs region pairs
• RBAC vs Policy vs Locks (access vs guardrails vs hard protection)
• Cost basics (pricing calculator, reservations vs pay-as-you-go)

Tips for the exam itself

• First pass fast; flag longer items for review.
• Prefer managed, secure-by-default answers (least privilege, private endpoints where appropriate).
• If two options seem right, choose the one that is simpler and more operationally sound.

What’s next after AZ-900?

Choose a role path: AZ-104 (Administrator), AZ-204 (Developer), AZ-305 (Solutions Architect), or data/security tracks depending on your goals.

Quick glossary (mini)

• Elasticity: auto scale out/in with demand
• Scalability: handle growth (often scale-out)
• Fault tolerance: keep operating despite component failure
• Resiliency: recover quickly from failures
• Private Endpoint: private IP to a PaaS service in your VNet