STUDY PLAN · AZ-305

AZ-305 study plan

A week-by-week way through Ultra Transcenders AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, chapter by chapter, with the free study notes and the exam skill areas each week covers. Pick a pace; tick weeks off as you go (your ticks stay in this browser).

Amazon.co.ukKindlePaperback
Amazon.comKindlePaperback

Free to read with Kindle Unlimited. Opens Amazon in a new tab.

4 weeks8 weeks

3 weeks of reading, about 4–5 hours a week with the book, then a review week.

Week 1chapters 1–4 · about 5 hours

  • Read these chapters:
    • 1. Identity and access with Microsoft Entra ID
    • 2. Governance, policy and cost management
    • 3. Keys, secrets and API protection
    • 4. Monitoring and observability
  • After each chapter, cover its key takeaways and explain each one out loud. Re-read any you can’t.
  • Free study notes for this week: Managed identities and workload credentials in Azure.
  • Look up any unfamiliar term in the AZ-305 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions · 25–30%Design data storage solutions · 20–25%Design infrastructure solutions · 30–35%

Week 2chapters 5–8 · about 4 hours

Exam skill areas this week: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions · 25–30%Design data storage solutions · 20–25%Design business continuity solutions · 15–20%

Week 3chapters 9–14 · about 5 hours

Exam skill areas this week: Design business continuity solutions · 15–20%Design infrastructure solutions · 30–35%

Week 4review

  • Go back through every chapter’s key takeaways. Anything you can’t explain without looking, re-read that section.
  • Re-read the common-trap callouts: they mark the answers that look right but aren’t.
  • Check the exam coverage map against Microsoft’s own outline, in case it has changed since the book was checked.
  • Take Microsoft’s free practice assessment, if your exam has one, from the official AZ-305 study guide page. Revisit the chapters behind any weak area.
  • Try the exam sandbox to get used to the exam’s screens and question formats.
  • Get the free exam-day checklist and work through it a few days before your exam.

7 weeks of reading, about 1–3 hours a week with the book, then a review week.

Week 1chapter 1 · about 2 hours

Exam skill areas this week: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions · 25–30%

Week 2chapters 2–3 · about 2 hours

  • Read these chapters:
    • 2. Governance, policy and cost management
    • 3. Keys, secrets and API protection
  • After each chapter, cover its key takeaways and explain each one out loud. Re-read any you can’t.
  • Look up any unfamiliar term in the AZ-305 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions · 25–30%Design data storage solutions · 20–25%Design infrastructure solutions · 30–35%

Week 3chapter 4 · about 1 hour

  • Read chapter:
    • 4. Monitoring and observability
  • After each chapter, cover its key takeaways and explain each one out loud. Re-read any you can’t.
  • Look up any unfamiliar term in the AZ-305 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions · 25–30%

Week 4chapter 5 · about 1 hour

Exam skill areas this week: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions · 25–30%Design data storage solutions · 20–25%Design business continuity solutions · 15–20%

Week 5chapters 6–8 · about 3 hours

Exam skill areas this week: Design data storage solutions · 20–25%Design business continuity solutions · 15–20%

Week 6chapters 9–11 · about 3 hours

  • Read these chapters:
    • 9. Compute: virtual machines, App Service, Functions and HPC
    • 10. Containers
    • 11. Application integration: messaging, APIs and caching
  • After each chapter, cover its key takeaways and explain each one out loud. Re-read any you can’t.
  • Look up any unfamiliar term in the AZ-305 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Design business continuity solutions · 15–20%Design infrastructure solutions · 30–35%

Week 7chapters 12–14 · about 2 hours

Exam skill areas this week: Design business continuity solutions · 15–20%Design infrastructure solutions · 30–35%

Week 8review

  • Go back through every chapter’s key takeaways. Anything you can’t explain without looking, re-read that section.
  • Re-read the common-trap callouts: they mark the answers that look right but aren’t.
  • Check the exam coverage map against Microsoft’s own outline, in case it has changed since the book was checked.
  • Take Microsoft’s free practice assessment, if your exam has one, from the official AZ-305 study guide page. Revisit the chapters behind any weak area.
  • Try the exam sandbox to get used to the exam’s screens and question formats.
  • Get the free exam-day checklist and work through it a few days before your exam.

The hours are a rough guide to reading time with the book. Add hands-on practice as you go: some hands-on time in Azure makes every chapter stick.

About the book · All AZ-305 study notes · Which certification, which book?

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