How to Answer AZ-305 Questions
Reading method, pacing, requirement keywords, traps and case studies.
This page is study strategy, not Microsoft guidance. The facts it relies on are in the topic pages and the Exam Guide.
Pacing
| Questions | 100 minutes | Reserve 10 min for review |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 2.5 min each | 2.2 min each |
| 50 | 2.0 min each | 1.8 min each |
| 60 | 1.7 min each | 1.5 min each |
Microsoft's expert exams without labs allow 100 minutes. A 5-minute break allowance is built in, but the clock keeps running. Case studies take longer to read, so bank time on short questions.
A repeatable method for every question
- Read the last sentence first. It tells you what you're choosing (service, tier, setting, order).
- Underline the constraints: cost, administrative effort, region or data residency, RPO and RTO, connection string, existing licenses, no code changes.
- Classify the requirement as availability, disaster recovery, backup, security, cost, performance or governance.
- Eliminate every option that breaks a hard constraint, then every retired or wrong-tier option.
- Choose among the survivors with the tie-breakers: fully managed, then lowest cost, then fewest moving parts.
- Guess if needed. There's no penalty, so mark it for review and move on.
Requirement decoder
| If the question says… | Think… |
|---|---|
| Connection string must not change after failover | SQL failover group (listeners don't change); active geo-replication changes the endpoint |
| No stored credentials / no secrets in code | Managed identity (Azure-hosted) or workload identity federation (outside Azure) |
| Least administrative effort / fully managed | PaaS or serverless: App Service, Container Apps, Flex Consumption, SQL Database, not VMs or AKS |
| Global HTTP(S), WAF, edge caching | Front Door; DNS-based any protocol = Traffic Manager; regional L7 = Application Gateway; L4 = Load Balancer |
| From on-premises, privately, to a PaaS service | Private Endpoint + private DNS (service endpoints don't work from on-prem) |
| Survive a datacenter or zone failure / a regional disaster | Availability zones, ZRS / failover to another region: ASR, failover group, GRS/GZRS |
| Read the secondary during an outage | RA-GRS or RA-GZRS |
| Ordered, exactly once, transactions / telemetry stream / react to a blob upload | Service Bus sessions / Event Hubs / Event Grid |
| Can't be changed or deleted, even by admins / legal case, no end date | Immutable storage with a locked time-based policy / legal hold |
| Rarely read but must open in seconds / compliance archive, hours are fine | Cool or Cold / Archive |
| SQL Agent or cross-database queries / many databases, varying peaks / idle most of the day | Managed Instance / elastic pool / serverless |
| Hide data from DBAs | Always Encrypted (masking doesn't stop privileged users) |
| Risk-based sign-in, PIM, access reviews | Entra ID P2 (Conditional Access alone is P1) |
| Enforce on-prem password policy at sign-in / sign-in must work if on-prem is down | Pass-through authentication / password hash sync |
| Stop a deployment / control who can act / stop accidental delete | Azure Policy deny / RBAC / resource lock |
| Restore deleted or corrupted data / fail over VMs to another region | Azure Backup / Azure Site Recovery |
| No code changes / minimal changes to PaaS / swap for SaaS | Rehost / replatform / replace |
| Interruptible work at the lowest cost | Spot VMs |
Distractor patterns
| Trap | How it shows up | Counter |
|---|---|---|
| Retired or retiring service | An answer uses Basic Load Balancer, App Gateway v1, Blueprints, Azure Cache for Redis, MMA, B2C… | If a current replacement is also offered, pick it (see the Retirement Timeline) |
| Right service, wrong tier | Standard vs Premium, Basic vs Standard, DTU vs vCore, Developer vs Premium | Match every requirement to a tier feature (sessions, zones, VNet injection, WAF rule sets) |
| Scope confusion | Zone vs region, control plane vs data plane, policy vs RBAC vs lock | Ask what failure or who/what is being controlled |
| Meets 3 of 4 requirements | One option fits the headline but misses a constraint (cost, region, connection string) | Check each stated constraint against each option before choosing |
| Works, but isn't the cheapest or simplest | Several options are valid; only one is least effort or lowest cost | Pick the cheapest option that meets every requirement |
| License gating | A feature exists but needs P2, Premium, Business Critical or Enterprise | Know which tier unlocks it |
| Replication is not backup | Geo-replication or ASR offered for a 'restore deleted data' requirement | Replication copies deletes and corruption; backups give restore points |
Special formats
- Choose N: select exactly N. Microsoft awards a point per correctly answered component, so a partly right answer still earns points.
- Problem-solution sets ('Does this meet the goal?'): a problem and a proposed solution that you judge. Microsoft says you can't take a break in the middle of one (before or after is fine). Judge each proposed solution independently against the stated goal and constraints.
- Case studies: read the business requirements, technical requirements and existing environment first, then answer each question against the specific requirement it targets. Don't carry assumptions between questions. You can take a break during a case study, but afterwards you can't return to any question you saw before the break, so answer first.
- Drag-and-drop and ordering: think in sequence (prerequisite first). For recovery plans, groups fail over in order; for migrations, assess before migrate. Place the items you are sure of first, then fill in the rest, because a point can be earned for each item in the right position. On this site you practise by tapping items to number them (filter Ordering / build list only) and by tapping a prompt and then its choice (filter Matching only). For matching, start with the pairs you are certain of: each correct pair earns a point, and a choice you have used cannot be reused unless the question says so, so the remaining choices narrow the rest.
When you're stuck
- Re-read the constraint you skipped (cost? region? effort?).
- Remove retired services and wrong tiers.
- Prefer managed services unless the question demands control (OS access, Kubernetes API, custom drivers).
- Choose and flag; don't burn five minutes on one question.
- If your exam offers the Microsoft Learn panel, use it for one specific fact (a limit, SKU or date), not general reading: the timer keeps running.
Use this site the way the exam works
- Mock exams draw questions weighted by the official domain ranges. Treat anything under 80% in a domain as a study target; the practice page's Study Next panel lists your weakest topics.
- After every wrong answer, read the trap line and the source link, then add the topic to your review list.
- Flashcards are for facts (numbers, tiers, dates); Decision Guides are for choosing between services.
- Our practice bank is deliberately hard and isn't the real exam: use it to find gaps, not to predict your score.
The last 48 hours
- Stop new topics. Review the Cram Sheet, Confused Pairs, Numbers to Memorize and due flashcards.
- Check your ID name against the booking, run the Pearson VUE system test on the exam device and network, clear your desk and room, and decide when you'll eat and sleep.
- On the day: check in early, use the built-in break time deliberately, and keep an eye on the clock at the midpoint.