SC-500 study plan

Week 1chapters 1–4 · about 6 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 1. Microsoft Entra ID: Privileged Identity Management, Conditional Access and authentication
  • 2. Application identities, consent and managed identities
  • 3. Azure Key Vault
  • 4. Governance: Azure Policy, roles, locks and backup protection
• 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: Privileged Identity Management: eligible vs active assignments and role settings, Conditional Access policies: assignments, conditions and grant controls, Key Vault access: control plane vs data plane, RBAC vs access policies, Azure Policy effects and remediation tasks.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Manage identity, access, and governance · 20–25%Secure compute · 20–25%

Week 2chapters 5–10 · about 7 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 5. Securing Azure Storage
  • 6. Securing Azure SQL and open-source databases
  • 7. Network security: NSGs, ASGs, Virtual Network Manager and Network Watcher
  • 8. Private and hybrid access: Virtual WAN, VPN, Entra Private Access and Private Link
  • 9. Azure Firewall
  • 10. Securing servers and virtual machines
• 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: Choosing a storage authorisation method: keys, SAS types and Microsoft Entra ID, Always Encrypted, TDE and dynamic data masking compared, Azure Virtual Network Manager security admin rules and NSGs, Just-in-time VM access in Defender for Cloud.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Secure storage, databases, and networking · 25–30%Secure compute · 20–25%Manage and monitor security posture · 20–25%

Week 3chapters 11–16 · about 7 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 11. Securing containers: Defender for Containers, AKS, ACR, ACI and Container Apps
  • 12. Securing App Service, Functions, Logic Apps, WAF and API Management
  • 13. Securing AI workloads and agents
  • 14. Managing security posture with Microsoft Defender for Cloud
  • 15. Microsoft Sentinel: collection, automation and retention
  • 16. Microsoft Security Copilot
• 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 SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Manage identity, access, and governance · 20–25%Secure storage, databases, and networking · 25–30%Secure compute · 20–25%Manage and monitor security posture · 20–25%

Week 4review Done

• 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 SC-500 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.

Week 1chapters 1–2 · about 3 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 1. Microsoft Entra ID: Privileged Identity Management, Conditional Access and authentication
  • 2. Application identities, consent and managed identities
• 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: Privileged Identity Management: eligible vs active assignments and role settings, Conditional Access policies: assignments, conditions and grant controls.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Manage identity, access, and governance · 20–25%

Week 2chapters 3–4 · about 3 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 3. Azure Key Vault
  • 4. Governance: Azure Policy, roles, locks and backup protection
• 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: Key Vault access: control plane vs data plane, RBAC vs access policies, Azure Policy effects and remediation tasks.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Manage identity, access, and governance · 20–25%Secure compute · 20–25%

Week 3chapter 5 · about 1 hour Done

• Read chapter:
  • 5. Securing Azure Storage
• 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: Choosing a storage authorisation method: keys, SAS types and Microsoft Entra ID.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Secure storage, databases, and networking · 25–30%

Week 4chapters 6–7 · about 2 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 6. Securing Azure SQL and open-source databases
  • 7. Network security: NSGs, ASGs, Virtual Network Manager and Network Watcher
• 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: Always Encrypted, TDE and dynamic data masking compared, Azure Virtual Network Manager security admin rules and NSGs.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Secure storage, databases, and networking · 25–30%

Week 5chapters 8–10 · about 3 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 8. Private and hybrid access: Virtual WAN, VPN, Entra Private Access and Private Link
  • 9. Azure Firewall
  • 10. Securing servers and virtual machines
• 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: Just-in-time VM access in Defender for Cloud.
• Look up any unfamiliar term in the SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Secure storage, databases, and networking · 25–30%Secure compute · 20–25%Manage and monitor security posture · 20–25%

Week 6chapters 11–13 · about 3 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 11. Securing containers: Defender for Containers, AKS, ACR, ACI and Container Apps
  • 12. Securing App Service, Functions, Logic Apps, WAF and API Management
  • 13. Securing AI workloads and agents
• 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 SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Secure compute · 20–25%

Week 7chapters 14–16 · about 3 hours Done

• Read these chapters:
  • 14. Managing security posture with Microsoft Defender for Cloud
  • 15. Microsoft Sentinel: collection, automation and retention
  • 16. Microsoft Security Copilot
• 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 SC-500 glossary.

Exam skill areas this week: Manage identity, access, and governance · 20–25%Secure storage, databases, and networking · 25–30%Secure compute · 20–25%Manage and monitor security posture · 20–25%

Week 8review Done

• 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 SC-500 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.