AZ-104 practice-first study plan

This plan turns the official blueprint into a repeatable cycle: diagnose, learn, practise, explain, and retest. It is CloudCert learning guidance, not an official Microsoft schedule.

Set up before day one

1. Read the current AZ-104 blueprint and save its five domain headings.
2. Choose an exam date or a review date.
3. Create an error log with four fields: objective, misconception, correct rule, and next review date.
4. Use an Azure sandbox or your own controlled subscription for hands-on work. Set a budget alert and remove resources after each lab.

A six-week route

Week 1 — Baseline and governance

• Take a mixed diagnostic without looking up answers.
• Study users, groups, licenses, external identities, SSPR, Azure RBAC scopes, Policy, locks, tags, budgets, and management groups.
• Practise choosing the narrowest RBAC scope and distinguishing Policy, RBAC, locks, and tags.

Week 2 — Storage

• Work through storage networking, authorization, SAS, access keys, redundancy, encryption, replication, and data movement.
• Configure a storage account, private access, a blob lifecycle rule, soft delete, and an Azure file share.
• Practise scenarios where several answers are technically possible but only one meets least privilege or recovery requirements.

Week 3 — Compute and deployment

• Review virtual machines, disks, availability, scale sets, ARM templates, Bicep, containers, and App Service.
• Deploy one small Bicep file, inspect the generated deployment, and change a parameter safely.
• Compare Container Instances, Container Apps, App Service, and VMs using operational effort, scaling, networking, and persistence constraints.

Week 4 — Networking

• Build subnets, NSGs, peering, routes, DNS, private endpoints, service endpoints, Bastion, and a load balancer in a lab or diagram.
• Trace packet flow from source to destination before selecting an answer.
• Use Network Watcher tools to validate your diagnosis instead of guessing from a single NSG rule.

Week 5 — Monitoring, backup, and recovery

• Practise Azure Monitor metrics versus logs, KQL queries, diagnostic settings, alerts, action groups, Insights, and Connection Monitor.
• Configure a backup policy and walk through restore and Site Recovery decisions.
• Focus on retention, vault scope and region, recovery sequence, and the difference between backup and disaster recovery.

Week 6 — Simulations and repair

• Take two or three timed, mixed simulations under exam-like conditions.
• Review every answer, including correct guesses.
• Rebuild weak areas with short labs and targeted sets rather than repeating the same simulation.
• Finish with Microsoft's Practice Assessment and exam sandbox so the interface is familiar.

How to practise questions well

Before reading the options, identify:

• The resource and administrative task.
• The exact constraints: scope, region, identity, downtime, cost, least privilege, or recovery target.
• Whether the question asks for one answer, several answers, or an ordered process.
• Which published AZ-104 objective the scenario tests.

After answering, write one sentence for the correct choice and one sentence for each rejected choice. If you cannot reject the distractors precisely, the concept is not secure yet.

Exam simulations

Use simulations to test decision-making, not to memorize stems.

• Use the current domain weights when creating a mixed set.
• Reserve 100 uninterrupted minutes and disable notes and documentation.
• Mark uncertain items and move on; do not let one scenario consume the session.
• Score by domain after the attempt. A high total can hide a serious weakness in storage or networking.
• Do not repeat an unchanged simulation immediately. Repair the weakness first, then use fresh questions.

Use AI as a tutor

AI is most helpful when it makes you retrieve, compare, and explain. It should not replace Microsoft Learn or provide unverified product facts.

Diagnostic tutor

I am preparing for AZ-104 using the skills measured from 17 April 2026. Ask me five medium-to-hard scenarios about [objective], one at a time. Do not reveal the answer until I commit. After each answer, explain every option and link to the relevant official Microsoft Learn page.

Socratic explanation

Help me understand [concept]. Ask short questions that expose my assumptions. Use one Azure scenario and make me predict the result before explaining it. Distinguish current behavior from retired or renamed features.

Architecture comparison

Compare [service A] and [service B] for an AZ-104 administrator. Build a decision table around identity, networking, scaling, availability, cost, and operational effort. Then give me three scenarios without answers.

Error-log repair

Here is a misconception from my error log: [paste it]. Do not simply correct it. Ask me to identify the violated Azure rule, then give a nearby counterexample and a fresh scenario to test transfer.

AI safety checks

• Require official Microsoft Learn links for product claims.
• Verify portal steps, limits, retirement dates, and licensing details in current documentation.
• Never paste secrets, tenant data, customer data, access tokens, or production configurations.
• Ask the AI to state uncertainty and separate current facts from assumptions.
• Treat generated questions as drafts until their answer and every distractor are technically verified.

Readiness checklist

You are approaching readiness when you can:

• Explain why each distractor is wrong without relying on remembered wording.
• Score consistently across all five domains on fresh mixed sets.
• Complete a full simulation within the time limit with review time remaining.
• Perform common administrative tasks in the portal and recognize equivalent CLI, PowerShell, ARM, or Bicep concepts.
• Spot stale terminology without letting it change the underlying technical decision.

Return to the current AZ-104 exam guide.