Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900): Exam Guide and Study Plan

Introduction

AZ-900 is Microsoft's entry-level cloud exam. It is designed for anyone who needs to talk confidently about cloud and Azure: students, sales and project roles, and engineers starting their Azure path.

What is the Azure Fundamentals certification?

It validates foundational knowledge of cloud concepts and of core Azure services, security, governance and pricing. There are no prerequisites, and the certification does not expire.

Exam structure

Expect roughly 40 to 60 questions in about 45 minutes, in formats such as multiple choice, drag-and-drop and yes/no statements. The passing score is 700 on a scale of 1,000. The skills measured are grouped into three areas:

• Describe cloud concepts (about 25–30%): IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public, private and hybrid cloud, shared responsibility.
• Describe Azure architecture and services (about 35–40%): regions, availability zones, compute, networking, storage, identity.
• Describe Azure management and governance (about 30–35%): cost management, Azure Policy, resource locks, monitoring tools.

Concepts beginners often confuse

• Availability zones (separate datacenters within a region) versus region pairs (two regions for disaster recovery).
• Azure Policy (enforces rules on resources) versus RBAC (controls who can do what).
• Microsoft Entra ID (identity) versus the subscription and management group hierarchy (organisation and billing).
• Capital expenditure (CapEx) versus operational expenditure (OpEx).

Study tips to pass the exam

Two focused weeks are enough for most beginners. Follow the free Microsoft Learn path, create a free Azure account to click through the portal, and turn every module into a short quiz. Write down each pair of confusing terms as a flashcard and review it daily.

Career opportunities

AZ-900 alone will not land an engineering job, but it is a recognised foundation for AZ-104 (administrator), AZ-204 (developer) and the data and AI fundamentals exams, and it helps non-technical professionals work with cloud teams.

Practice quiz

Try the free AZ-900 practice quiz on this page, then generate unlimited new questions from the Microsoft Learn modules with Quizvela.

Conclusion

Learn the vocabulary precisely, understand the governance tools and practise until the distinctions feel obvious.

Exam formats, fees and objectives are updated regularly. Always confirm the current details on the official exam page before you book.