How long to study for AZ-104? 4–12 weeks, by background

Short answer: if you already work with Azure, or hold AZ-900 or an AWS associate-level cert, most people need about 4–6 weeks of part-time study at roughly 6–8 hours a week for AZ-104. If you're new to Azure administration, plan on about 8–12 weeks. Either way, a real share of that time should be hands-on in an Azure subscription, not just reading.

AZ-104 is Microsoft's associate-level Azure Administrator exam: five skill areas, about 100 minutes, and scenarios that expect you to know the exact setting, scope or command that does the job. The timeline swings with your starting point because the hard part isn't vocabulary, as it is on AZ-900; it's knowing how things behave when you configure them. Here's the timeline by background, how to split your hours across the skill areas, and how to tell when you're ready.

Study time by background

These are typical ranges, not guarantees. The faster group isn't faster because the exam is easier for them; it's because Azure's hierarchy, its identity model and its core services are already familiar, so the time goes into the corners they don't touch every day and into exam-style practice. AZ-900 isn't required first. It's worth it only if you're new to cloud and want the vocabulary at low stakes; our is AZ-104 worth it? post covers who the cert fits.

The exam at a glance

How to split your hours across the skill areas

Weight your time the way Microsoft weights the exam. The right-hand column is our arithmetic: the official weight ranges applied to a 24–48 hour plan, which is what 4–6 weeks at 6–8 hours a week works out to. On the 8–12 week track you'll spend more hours in total; keep the same proportions.

• Identities and governance is tied for the biggest area: Microsoft Entra users and groups (including dynamic membership, B2B guests, SSPR and group-based licensing), Azure RBAC roles and scopes, Azure Policy effects and remediation, resource locks, tags, management groups, and budgets.
• Storage is where details decide answers: the three SAS types and stored access policies, storage firewalls with service endpoints vs private endpoints, redundancy options, access tiers and lifecycle rules, Azure Files snapshots and soft delete, and AzCopy.
• Compute is the other big one: ARM templates and Bicep (including deployment modes), VM disks, sizes and availability sets vs zones, scale sets and autoscale, Container Registry, Container Instances and Container Apps, and App Service plans, slots and custom domains.
• Virtual networking is the most hands-on: address spaces and subnets, peering (not transitive), user-defined routes, NSGs and ASGs, Azure Bastion, Azure DNS and private DNS zones, Azure Load Balancer, and Network Watcher.
• Monitoring and maintenance is the smallest, but easy points if you've done it once: metrics vs logs, KQL in Log Analytics, alert rules and action groups, Azure Backup vaults and policies, and Azure Site Recovery.

Two timeline profiles

Profile A — the 6-week track (you already work in Azure, or hold AZ-900 or an AWS associate cert)

• Week 1 — identities and governance: take a mixed practice set on day 1 to find your gaps, then Entra users and groups, RBAC, Policy, locks, tags and cost management.
• Week 2 — storage: access (SAS, firewalls, keys), account options and redundancy, Azure Files and Blob features.
• Week 3 — compute: ARM and Bicep, VMs, scale sets, containers and App Service.
• Week 4 — virtual networking: VNets, peering, routes, NSGs, Bastion, endpoints, DNS and load balancing.
• Week 5 — monitoring and backup, then a mixed quiz across all five areas.
• Week 6 — mocks: Microsoft's free practice assessment plus full timed mocks; drill what's under 80%, then book.

Profile B — the 10-week track (you're new to Azure administration)

• Weeks 1–2 — identities and governance. Set up your practice subscription and Cloud Shell first; this is where you learn Azure's hierarchy and permission model, which everything else builds on.
• Weeks 3–4 — storage, then ARM templates and Bicep, so you can deploy the rest of your labs from files.
• Weeks 5–6 — compute: VMs, availability, scale sets, containers and App Service.
• Weeks 7–8 — virtual networking. The most hands-on stretch: build it, break it, and use Network Watcher to find out why.
• Week 9 — monitoring, backup and Site Recovery.
• Week 10 — review and mocks: re-drill everything under 80%, take the practice assessment and full timed mocks, then sit the exam.

Want both tracks written out week by week, with a daily routine, four cheat sheets and the Azure CLI commands to know? That's our AZ-104 study plan.

How to use your practice-question scores

• Track accuracy per skill area, not overall. 82% overall with virtual networking at 60% isn't ready; that area is 15–20% of the exam, and its questions tend to build on each other.
• Only count fresh questions. A second pass over questions you've already seen measures memory. Readiness is consistently 80% or higher on questions you haven't seen.
• Read the explanation for every miss, including why each wrong answer is wrong. On AZ-104 the wrong answers are usually real settings or commands that would be right for a slightly different scenario.
• Use Microsoft's free practice assessment as an official check on question style. The new version lives on AI Skills Navigator; the legacy Microsoft Learn version is no longer updated.
• Finish with a full timed mock at 80%+. CrushCert's mock is 50 questions on a 100-minute timer with a 70% pass line that mirrors 700/1000; treat 70% as the floor, not the target.

What makes it take longer (or shorter)

• Skipping hands-on time. Reading about NSG evaluation order is not the same as watching a rule you wrote get overridden. People who only read tend to need more weeks, not fewer.
• Mixing up the lookalikes. Service endpoint vs private endpoint, the three SAS types, Recovery Services vault vs Backup vault, Azure Policy vs RBAC vs locks, Azure RBAC roles vs Microsoft Entra roles. Drill them side by side.
• Studying from outdated material. The outline is from October 26, 2023, but Azure has changed since: Basic Load Balancer and Basic public IPs are retired, the Azure Monitor Agent replaced the Log Analytics agent, and VNet flow logs replaced NSG flow logs. Use current names too: Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
• Already administering Azure? Take a full practice set on day one and spend your time on the areas you don't use at work. That's how the 4-week end of the range happens.

How to study efficiently

• Pair a free course with a question bank. Microsoft Learn's free AZ-104 learning path covers every skill area; practice questions show you where you're actually weak. John Savill's free AZ-104 study cram on YouTube is a popular review once you've done the learning.
• Use adaptive quizzes so your reps go to the topics you miss rather than the ones you already know.
• Type the commands. CrushCert's six Azure CLI labs have you type real az commands in a Cloud Shell-style terminal: build a VNet, lock down a subnet, create a locked-down storage account, grant least-privilege access, deploy and scale VMs, and preview and deploy a Bicep file. They simulate the commands (nothing is deployed), so use them for syntax and a real subscription for the portal.
• Pick your question sources deliberately. Our best AZ-104 practice tests post compares the free and paid options.

Is it worth the time?

For Azure admins and people moving into the role, usually yes: it's the role-based Azure cert employers name in their postings, it costs $165, it renews yearly for free, and it leads toward AZ-305. Non-admin roles and pure developers have better-fitting options. The full take is in is AZ-104 worth it?, and the Azure Administrator practice test page shows exactly what's in the prep.

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