How to Pass AZ-900 in Two Weeks

AZ-900 is achievable in 1–2 weeks for anyone with general IT background — faster if you already hold AWS CLF-C02 (the cloud-concepts domain overlaps heavily). The trap is assuming 'fundamentals' means 'easy pass': the management/governance domain tests specific Azure tools that require actual memorization. Plan ~1–1.5 hours/day for two weeks.

Week 1 — Cloud concepts + Azure architecture (days 1–7)

• Days 1–2: cloud models, CapEx/OpEx, shared responsibility, IaaS/PaaS/SaaS — mostly transferable vocabulary
• Days 3–4: infrastructure hierarchy — regions, availability zones, region pairs; then management groups → subscriptions → resource groups → resources
• Day 5: compute (VMs vs App Service vs Functions vs AKS vs ACI) + storage tiers and LRS/ZRS/GRS
• Day 6: networking — VNet, VPN Gateway vs ExpressRoute, Load Balancer vs Front Door vs CDN
• Day 7: first practice set — expect architecture/service questions to be the weak spot

Week 2 — Identity, governance, and monitoring (days 8–14)

• Day 8: Microsoft Entra ID — AuthN vs AuthZ, MFA factors, SSO, conditional access basics
• Day 9: RBAC scopes + Zero Trust principles + defense-in-depth layers
• Day 10: cost tools — Pricing Calculator vs TCO Calculator vs Cost Management vs tags (memorize the mapping)
• Day 11: governance — Azure Policy vs resource locks vs tags; what each one can and cannot do
• Day 12: monitoring trio — Azure Monitor vs Advisor vs Service Health (the most-tested tool distinction)
• Day 13: deployment methods — portal/CLI/PowerShell + ARM templates/Bicep; then full timed mock
• Day 14: mock exam + mistake review — AZ-900 wrong answers are almost always tool-confusion, not concept gaps

If you're coming from AWS

The cloud-concepts material transfers directly — skip-review it and spend your time on Azure naming. The concepts that feel 'same but different': Entra ID ≈ IAM (but identity-only, not policy documents); management groups ≈ AWS Organizations OUs; Azure Policy ≈ SCPs + Config rules combined; Cost Management ≈ Cost Explorer; Advisor ≈ Trusted Advisor; Service Health ≈ AWS Health Dashboard/Personal Health Dashboard; ARM/Bicep ≈ CloudFormation. Learn the mapping — the exam tests the Azure names.

The concepts that trip people up

• Availability zones protect against DATACENTER failure within a region; region pairs against REGIONAL failure — different scopes
• Resource group = exactly one per resource, lifecycle container; management group = governance above subscriptions — different levels
• RBAC controls WHO can do WHAT; Policy controls WHICH configurations are allowed; locks prevent delete/modify — three different mechanisms
• Pricing Calculator ≠ TCO Calculator ≠ Cost Management — before-build / compare / after-build
• Advisor (your resources' recommendations) vs Service Health (Microsoft's platform status) — reversed constantly in questions
• ExpressRoute = private dedicated, VPN Gateway = encrypted over internet — the 'does it touch the internet' test
• Entra ID is the new name for Azure AD — questions may use either

What 'ready' looks like

You're ready when you can consistently place tools into their category ('which service does X') at 80%+ on timed sets. AZ-900 rarely tests deep architecture — it tests whether the Azure vocabulary is solid. If your wrong answers cluster in governance/monitoring (Domain 3), one more review pass on that section is the highest-ROI hour available.