AZ-305 exam format: questions, score and cost
AZ-305 requires a scaled score of 700 out of 1000 to pass, is offered in ten languages, and is priced per country at the booking step. The exam page on Microsoft Learn does not state the duration or the number of questions, so check the exact time allowed in your appointment details when you book. This page lists what Microsoft publishes and what it means for your preparation.
| Exam title | Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions |
| Certification | Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert |
| Level | Expert |
| Duration | Not published on the exam page; confirm when booking |
| Passing score | 700 on a scale of 1–1000 |
| Number of questions | Not published by Microsoft |
| Languages | English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Traditional), Italian |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE, proctored |
| Price | Set per country or region; shown at booking |
| Prerequisite | Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) to earn the certification |
| Renewal | Free online assessment on Microsoft Learn, annually |
| Current outline | Skills measured as of April 17, 2026 |
The four domains
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions | 25–30% |
| Design data storage solutions | 20–25% |
| Design business continuity solutions | 15–20% |
| Design infrastructure solutions | 30–35% |
Infrastructure and identity together can make up well over half of the exam. Infrastructure is also the most crowded domain: compute, application architecture, migrations and networking each contain several objectives. Business continuity is the smallest domain, but its questions share vocabulary (RPO, RTO, zones, regions) with storage and infrastructure, so it is worth more than its weight suggests.
The April 2026 update
Microsoft updated the English version on April 17, 2026. Localised versions follow roughly eight weeks later, so a candidate sitting the exam in another language shortly after an update may still see the previous outline. Check your study material against the current outline, objective by objective. The recommend-style wording of the objectives did not change; the work is in knowing the current service names and tiers.
Prerequisite rule
You can book AZ-305 without holding AZ-104; nothing blocks the booking. But the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification is only awarded once you also hold the Azure Administrator Associate certification. If you already passed AZ-104, you are covered. If not, plan for both exams. The comparison AZ-104 vs AZ-305 explains what carries over and what is new.
The practice assessment exists
AZ-305 has a free official practice assessment on Microsoft Learn. Use it once early to see which domain is weakest, and once near the end. The exam sandbox shows the interface and question types without testing content.
Question types
Microsoft exams mix several formats. Expect:
- single-answer and multiple-answer multiple choice;
- drag-and-drop matching, for example services to requirements;
- yes/no series about one proposed design, where you often cannot go back;
- case studies with a long scenario shared by several questions.
Because this is a design exam, case studies are a good bet. They contain business goals, technical constraints and an existing environment, and each question asks you to recommend a change that fits all three.
The passing score is scaled
700 of 1000 is not 70% correct. Microsoft scales scores and does not publish the conversion. Aim for a consistent 80% or more on realistic practice material rather than trying to calculate a margin.
What the weights mean for revision
- Spend most time on infrastructure. Know when to choose virtual machines, containers or serverless, how messaging and events differ, which network service fits which traffic, and how a migration is planned.
- Do not skip governance and monitoring. Management group structure, policy, Key Vault, managed identities and log routing are tested in many questions that look like something else.
- Learn data services by trade-off. Relational tiers, Cosmos DB, blob tiers and data integration tools are all asked as “which fits this requirement”.
- Practise recovery objectives. If you can read an RPO and RTO and map them to a service, you gain marks in three domains.
Retakes, renewal and extra time
If you fail, a waiting period applies before a retake; see Microsoft’s exam policies for the current rules. Once you pass, the expert certification is valid for one year and renews through a free, unproctored online assessment on Microsoft Learn, which you can take in a six-month window before expiry. If the exam is not available in your preferred language, you can request an additional 30 minutes.
For the day itself, see the exam day guide and certification costs.