AZ-900 2026: test dates, format, how to book and free Azure Fundamentals practice
Exam AZ-900 earns the Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals certification, a beginner credential for people who can describe cloud concepts, core Azure services, and how Azure is secured, governed and managed. There is no fixed AZ-900 exam date in 2026: you schedule a proctored slot through Pearson VUE (at a test centre or online), or through Certiport if you are a student or educator. The skills measured were last updated on 20 July 2026, so check that your study material matches that version. This guide covers booking, the exam pattern, the syllabus, the pass mark and a three-week plan.
AZ-900 at a glance
| Conducting body | Microsoft |
| What it is for | Beginner Azure certification; a common starting point toward Azure roles |
| Mode | Proctored, at a test centre or online, through Pearson VUE or Certiport |
| Questions | Not published; Microsoft says most exams have 40 to 60 |
| Time | 45 minutes of exam time, about 65 minutes in the seat |
| Marking | Scaled 1–1,000; 700 to pass; no penalty for a wrong answer |
| Fee | Set by the country where you test |
| Languages | English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Korean, Spanish, German, French, Indonesian, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian |
| Official website | learn.microsoft.com |
Test dates and booking
You choose the date. The Azure Fundamentals page (checked 20 October 2026) says the exam is proctored, offers "Schedule through Pearson Vue", and a separate Certiport route for students and educators. The price is "based on the country or region in which the exam is proctored", so it is shown when you book.
Microsoft strongly recommends registering with a personal Microsoft account rather than a work or school account, because exam records tied to an organisational account can be lost if you leave.
If you fail, you can retake the exam 24 hours later; later retakes follow Microsoft's retake policy.
The study guide says the English exam is updated first and other languages follow about eight weeks later. If the exam is not offered in your preferred language, you can request an extra 30 minutes.
How to book
- Open the Azure Fundamentals certification page and sign in with a personal Microsoft account.
- Under "Take the exam", choose Pearson VUE (or Certiport if you are a student or educator).
- Pick test centre or online, language, and a slot.
- Pay the price shown for your country.
- Try the free exam sandbox to see the question types before the day.
Keep ready: a government photo ID matching your profile name; for online testing, a private room and a computer that passes the system check.
Exam pattern
| Exam time | 45 minutes on one clock; skill areas are not timed separately |
| Seat time | About 65 minutes, including instructions, agreement and optional comments |
| Breaks | Five minutes of exam time are set aside for unscheduled breaks; the clock keeps running, and questions seen before the break cannot be reopened |
| Question types | May include multiple choice, drag and drop, build list, hot area and case study items |
| Marking | No deduction for wrong answers; most multi-part questions give a point per correct part |
| Unscored items | Some questions may be unscored and are not marked |
| Result | 700 or more out of 1,000 passes; this is not the same as 70% of the points |
| Microsoft Learn during exam | Not available for fundamentals exams |
Syllabus (skills measured as of 20 July 2026)
| Skill area | Weight | Main topics |
|---|---|---|
| Describe cloud concepts | 25–30% | Shared responsibility, public, private and hybrid cloud, consumption-based pricing, serverless, benefits of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and SaaS |
| Describe Azure architecture and services | 35–40% | Regions, availability zones, resource groups, subscriptions and management groups; VMs, containers and functions; virtual networks, VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute; storage tiers and redundancy; Microsoft Entra ID, Conditional Access, RBAC, Zero Trust, Defender for Cloud |
| Describe Azure management and governance | 30–35% | Cost factors, pricing calculator, tags; Microsoft Purview, Azure Policy, resource locks; portal, Cloud Shell, CLI, PowerShell, Azure Arc, ARM templates; Advisor, Service Health, Azure Monitor |
The change log for the July 2026 update shows minor changes in compute and networking, managing and deploying resources, and monitoring tools. See our AZ-900 syllabus page and the official AZ-900 study guide.
A three-week plan
Week 1: cloud concepts and the architecture. Learn the service models and shared responsibility, then how Azure is organised: management groups, subscriptions, resource groups, regions and zones. Sit a full AZ-900 mock test at the end of the week.
Week 2: services and identity. The largest area. For each service, know one sentence on what it is for: VM versus App Service versus Functions versus containers; the storage redundancy options; VPN Gateway versus ExpressRoute; Entra ID, Conditional Access and RBAC.
Week 3: governance, cost and tools, then mocks. Azure Policy versus resource locks versus RBAC is a classic confusion; learn the difference. Then the cost tools and monitoring services. Sit two more timed mocks and review every wrong answer by skill area; our article on analysing a mock test explains how. Microsoft's own free practice assessment, linked from the certification page, is worth one sitting too.
Pace: in 45 minutes with 40 to 60 questions, plan on under a minute per question.
Useful links
- Azure Fundamentals certification page: schedule the exam
- AZ-900 study guide (skills measured)
- Exam duration and exam experience
- Free AZ-900 mock test
- AZ-900 syllabus
- AZ-900 exam dates
- AWS Cloud Practitioner 2026: format and how to book
Frequently asked questions
What is the AZ-900 pass mark?
700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000. Microsoft says this may not equal 70% of the points, because the pass mark reflects question difficulty, and it does not publish a conversion table.
How many questions are in AZ-900?
Microsoft does not publish a count for AZ-900. Its exam-duration page says most certification exams have 40 to 60 questions, and the number can change.
Is there negative marking in AZ-900?
No. A wrong answer earns nothing for that question but does not take marks away. Answer everything.
Can I take AZ-900 online from home?
Yes. Through Pearson VUE you can choose an online proctored exam or a test centre.
How soon can I retake AZ-900?
24 hours after a first failed attempt. Later retakes follow the waiting times in Microsoft's retake policy.
Does AZ-900 count toward other Azure certifications?
Microsoft describes it as a common starting point toward a career in Azure. Check each role-based certification's own page for what it requires.