1.2. Understanding the AZ-104 Exam: Purpose & Audience
š” First Principle: Effective exam preparation begins with a clear understanding of the certification's purpose, the audience it targets, and the specific cognitive skills it aims to validate.
The AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate exam validates the skills needed to manage Azure resources and services. It is designed for IT professionals who implement, manage, and monitor identity, governance, storage, compute, and networking in a cloud environment.
What It Is: The AZ-104 exam is an associate-level certification that assesses an IT professional's practical ability to administer Azure environments.
Purpose & Audience:
- Target Audience: AZ-104 targets Azure administrators with hands-on experience.
- Assessed Skills: It assesses practical ability to deploy, manage, and monitor Azure solutions, making it ideal for operational cloud roles.
Exam Format:
- Duration: ~120 minutes
- Number of questions: 40ā60
- Types: Multiple-choice, multi-response, drag-and-drop, case studies, scenario-based
- Passing score: 700/1000
- Delivery: Online or test center
Scoring:
- No penalty for incorrect answers
- Some questions may be worth more than one point
- Unanswered questions receive zero points
Key Domains & Weightage:
| Domain | Weight (%) |
|---|---|
| Manage Azure identities and governance | 15ā20 |
| Implement and manage storage | 15ā20 |
| Deploy and manage Azure compute resources | 20ā25 |
| Configure and manage virtual networking | 20ā25 |
| Monitor and maintain Azure resources | 10ā15 |
Visual: AZ-104 Exam Domain Weightage
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ā ļø Common Pitfall: Underestimating the exam's focus on practical 'implement, manage, and monitor' tasks, and instead focusing only on theoretical definitions.
Key Trade-Offs:
- Breadth of Knowledge vs. Depth of Skill: The exam requires a broad understanding across all domains, but with a specific depth in the practical application of services, not just their theoretical purpose.