The AZ-305 measures four design areas, weighted most heavily toward infrastructure (~32%). It is an expert, design-focused exam: you choose architectures that meet requirements, not configuration steps. The percentages are approximate, so confirm the current skills-measured list on Microsoft Learn before booking.
| Design area | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Design infrastructure solutions | ~32% | Compute, networking, application architecture, migration, scale and resilience |
| Design identity, governance and monitoring | ~27% | Microsoft Entra, Azure Policy, RBAC, management groups, logging |
| Design data storage solutions | ~22% | Relational and non-relational data, storage tiers, data integration |
| Design business continuity solutions | ~19% | Backup and recovery, high availability, disaster recovery |
How to read the weights
Infrastructure is the largest area, so compute, networking and application architecture deserve the most study. Identity and governance is close behind and underpins every design, so Microsoft Entra, Policy, RBAC and management groups are essential. Data storage and business continuity are smaller but test specific judgement - choosing the right data service, and meeting recovery objectives (RTO/RPO) - so do not treat them as afterthoughts.
How to study it
Practise designing for requirements rather than memorising features. For each area, ask: what does the scenario actually require - lowest cost, highest availability, tightest security, best performance - and which Azure services satisfy it? Work through case-study questions so the format and time pressure are familiar. This exam assumes real Azure experience and AZ-104-level knowledge, so build that base first. Confirm the current curriculum on Microsoft Learn.