AZ-104 study guide: what to study and in what order

The official AZ-104 study guide

Microsoft describes its study guide as a summary of the topics the exam might cover, with links to additional resources. The current version lists the skills measured as of April 17, 2026. Microsoft updates its exams periodically to reflect the skills a role requires, and when a change is coming the study guide shows both versions of the skills outline, so check which one applies to your exam date.

Two details in the guide are easy to miss. Microsoft always updates the English version of an exam first; localized versions follow approximately eight weeks later. And while most questions cover features that are generally available, Microsoft says the exam may contain questions on preview features if those features are commonly used.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Study guide for Exam AZ-104. Checked 9 October 2026.

Looking for an Azure AZ-104 study guide PDF?

The authoritative version is the web page on Microsoft Learn. If you save or print it for offline reading, compare the “skills measured as of” date with the live page before you rely on it — an outdated copy is the most common reason people study topics that have been reworded, renamed or dropped.

The same check applies to any third-party summary sold as a study guide. If it does not mention Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Container Apps or Bicep files, all of which appear in the current outline, it was written for an older version of the exam.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Study guide for Exam AZ-104. Checked 9 October 2026.

The five skill areas and what they contain

Microsoft weights the exam across five skill areas. The ranges tell you roughly how much of the exam each area represents, which is the most useful number for planning study time:

• Manage Azure identities and governance (20–25%): Microsoft Entra users and groups, licences, external users and self-service password reset; built-in Azure roles and role assignments at different scopes; Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, resource groups, subscriptions, management groups, and cost management with alerts, budgets and Azure Advisor.
• Implement and manage storage (15–20%): storage firewalls and virtual networks, SAS tokens, stored access policies and access keys; redundancy, object replication and encryption; Azure Files and Blob Storage including tiers, soft delete, snapshots, lifecycle management and versioning; Azure Storage Explorer and AzCopy.
• Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%): reading and modifying ARM templates and Bicep files; virtual machines, disks, sizes, availability zones and sets, and scale sets; Azure Container Registry, Container Instances and Container Apps; App Service plans, scaling, TLS, custom domains, backup, networking and deployment slots.
• Implement and manage virtual networking (15–20%): virtual networks, subnets, peering, public IP addresses and user-defined routes; network security groups, application security groups, Azure Bastion, service endpoints and private endpoints; Azure DNS and internal or public load balancers.
• Monitor and maintain Azure resources (10–15%): metrics, logs, queries and alert rules in Azure Monitor, Azure Monitor Insights, Network Watcher and Connection monitor; Recovery Services and Backup vaults, backup policies, Azure Site Recovery and failover to a secondary region.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Study guide for Exam AZ-104. Checked 9 October 2026.

How to write AZ-104 study notes that actually help

Good AZ-104 study notes follow the structure of the study guide, one page per sub-objective, rather than the order of a video or a book. That way every note maps back to something Microsoft says it can test, and gaps become visible: an empty page for “configure object replication” is a clear signal.

For an administration exam, the most valuable notes record decisions rather than definitions. Write down at which scope a role assignment or policy applies, which storage redundancy option survives which failure, and when a service endpoint is enough versus when you need a private endpoint. Questions often offer several options that would all work somewhere — your notes should capture why only one of them works in the scenario given.

Keep a separate list of commands and template snippets you have actually run. The study guide expects you to interpret and modify ARM templates and Bicep files, which is much easier if you have deployed a few yourself.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Study guide for Exam AZ-104. Checked 9 October 2026.

An AZ-104 exam prep sequence

A simple order works for most candidates: read the skills outline to see the scope, learn each area through Microsoft’s self-paced learning paths or an instructor-led course, practise every objective in an Azure subscription, then switch to practice questions and close the gaps they reveal.

Microsoft offers a free AZ-104 practice assessment on Microsoft Learn that can be attempted as many times as you like. Microsoft is clear that its questions are not the same as those on the exam and do not illustrate the exam’s length or complexity, so treat it as a check of style and wording. The exam sandbox, linked from the study guide, lets you try the question interface before exam day.

Certsqill’s AZ-104 practice questions are expert-developed against the same five skill areas. Every question explains each answer option, and your results build a readiness score per domain, so you can see whether storage or networking still costs you points before you book. Access comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Practice assessments for Microsoft Certifications. Checked 9 October 2026.

What the study guide does not tell you

The study guide does not give a question count. Microsoft’s general guidance is that most certification exams contain between 40 and 60 questions, but that the number can vary by exam and changes as exams are updated. It also does not announce question types in advance; Microsoft says it does not identify specific exam formats or question types before the exam, to protect exam security.

Microsoft does publish the timing for associate role-based exams: 100 minutes of exam time and 120 minutes of seat time for exams without labs. Exams that may contain labs get 120 minutes, with 140 minutes of seat time, and Microsoft does not publish a list of which exams include labs.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Exam duration and exam experience. Checked 9 October 2026.

Why practice scores are not exam scores

Microsoft reports technical exam scores on a scale of 1 to 1,000, with 700 or greater as a pass. Because it is a scaled score, Microsoft notes that 700 may not equal 70% of the points, and some questions on the exam may not count towards your score at all.

So no practice percentage translates directly into an exam result. What practice can show you is which skill areas are weak — the same thing Microsoft’s own score report shows as a bar chart per skill area after the exam.

Source: Microsoft Learn — Exam scoring and score reports. Checked 9 October 2026.

AZ-104 study guide: questions people ask

Where can I find the official AZ-104 study guide?

On Microsoft Learn, under the AZ-104 study guide page linked from the Azure Administrator Associate certification. The current version lists skills measured as of April 17, 2026. Checked 9 October 2026.

How long should I study for AZ-104?

Microsoft sets no study-hours figure. It expects hands-on experience with Azure administration, PowerShell, the Azure CLI, the Azure portal, ARM templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID, so your starting point matters more than any fixed schedule.

Is the Microsoft practice assessment enough for AZ-104 exam prep?

It is a useful, free check of question style, but Microsoft states that its questions are not the same as the exam and do not reflect its length or complexity. Use it alongside hands-on practice and a second bank of explained practice questions.

Do AZ-104 study notes replace hands-on practice?

No. The exam measures administration tasks such as deploying resources from templates, configuring networking and setting up backup. Notes help you remember decisions; practising in an Azure subscription is what makes them stick.