I finally passed the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert exam - and learnt that patience is a virtue!

Achieving Azure Solutions Architect Expert has always been on my hit-list, and I’ve been working towards it for a while.

Late last year, I passed the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate exam, primarily because it was the prerequisite for AZ-305.

At the time. AZ-305 was still in beta, with AZ-303 and AZ-304 were the required exams to achieve the fabled Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

There was no way of knowing when AZ-305 would come out of beta. As AZ-303 and AZ-304 were due to retire March 31, 2022, I (wrongly) presumed that’s when AZ-305 would become globally available. I was reluctant to take the beta exam as I knew I wouldn’t get the results until the beta ended.

I became impatient!

I made the decision to take AZ-303 (Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies) with a view that having passed that, I would tackle AZ-304 and achieve Solutions Architect Expert that way. I felt as if I’d done a good enough amount of study, and so I decided to have a go.

I failed!

671 was a close score (with 700 needed to pass), but not good enough! Looking at the score report, I’d achieved 100% in some areas and <50% in others.

Thankfully, the score report showed weakness is specific areas, so I knew exactly what I needed to brush up on. I hit the study hard and re-booked the exam.

One hour later, AZ-305 came out of beta!

I was able to cancel AZ-303, book AZ-305, and I’m pleased to say I passed with a score of 753!

I still need to brush up in some areas, but still… RESULT!

Study

I followed a very similar study routine to how I studied for the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate exam.

The Microsoft Learn resources at the bottom of the exam page were incredibly helpful.

Note the Microsoft Learn sections on ‘Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure’ and the ‘Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework’. I nearly got caught out by these, as they were not referenced in AZ-303 or AZ-304.

I also did the Azure Solutions Architect Cloud Skills Challenge, which made it fun, and gave me an exam discount!

The Study Cram video from John Savill is a MUST for this exam (in my opinion):

There is also a AZ-305 playlist which goes into more detail (also from John Savill).

I used the WhizLabs course for AZ-305, but note this currently only includes practice tests, but were well worth it. I also used the WhizLabs courses on AZ-303 and AZ-304, but again only for the practice exam questions. These were good to get my head “in the zone” on the morning of the exam.