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Study Timeline

How Long to Study for Azure Administrator (AZ-104)

A complete week-by-week study plan for the Azure Administrator (AZ-104) (Medium difficulty, ~70% pass rate).

12

Weeks

9

Hrs/Week

106

Total Hours

~70%

Pass Rate

Blueprint, environment, and Microsoft Entra ID
Week 1

8-10 hours this week

  • Read the AZ-104 study guide on Microsoft Learn in full, including the change log showing what moved on 17 April 2026.
  • Take the free AZ-104 Practice Assessment on Microsoft Learn cold, to get a baseline before studying.
  • Set up an Azure free account or a pay-as-you-go subscription and add a cost budget alert immediately.
  • Create users, groups, and dynamic group rules in Microsoft Entra ID, and assign licenses.
  • Configure self-service password reset and add an external guest user, then observe what the guest can and cannot see.
Role-based access control and governance
Week 2

8-10 hours this week

  • Assign built-in roles at management group, subscription, resource group, and resource scope and watch inheritance behave.
  • Practise interpreting overlapping assignments where a deny assignment or a narrower scope changes the effective permission.
  • Create an Azure Policy definition and an initiative, assign it, and read the compliance report.
  • Apply a CanNotDelete lock and a ReadOnly lock and test what each actually blocks.
  • Build a tagging scheme and use Azure Advisor cost recommendations on your own subscription.
Storage accounts and access control
Week 3

8-10 hours this week

  • Create storage accounts with different redundancy options and compare LRS, ZRS, GRS, and RA-GRS on failure scope.
  • Generate a service SAS and an account SAS, then constrain one with a stored access policy and revoke it.
  • Configure a storage account firewall and add a virtual network rule, then test access from inside and outside.
  • Enable identity-based access for Azure Files and join the storage account to a domain service.
  • Move a large folder into Blob Storage with AzCopy and then inspect it with Azure Storage Explorer.
Blob and file data management
Week 4

8-10 hours this week

  • Configure hot, cool, cold, and archive tiers and note the rehydration behaviour of archive.
  • Write a blob lifecycle management rule that moves blobs between tiers and then deletes them.
  • Enable blob versioning and soft delete for blobs and containers, then delete something and recover it.
  • Configure snapshots and soft delete for an Azure Files share and restore a file.
  • Set up object replication between two storage accounts in different regions.
Virtual machines and availability
Week 5

8-10 hours this week

  • Deploy virtual machines into availability sets and into availability zones and articulate the difference in failure domain.
  • Resize a running VM, attach and expand a managed disk, and enable encryption at host.
  • Move a VM between resource groups, then between subscriptions, and note which operation needs Azure Resource Mover.
  • Deploy a Virtual Machine Scale Set with autoscale rules based on CPU metrics.
  • Practise VM extension deployment and the Run Command feature for post-deployment configuration.
ARM templates, Bicep, and automation
Week 6

8-10 hours this week

  • Read an existing ARM template and identify parameters, variables, resources, and outputs without help.
  • Export a deployed resource group as an ARM template and study what the export gets wrong.
  • Convert that ARM template to Bicep using the Bicep CLI decompile command and compare readability.
  • Modify a Bicep file to add a parameter and redeploy it in incremental mode, then in complete mode.
  • Run the equivalent deployment through both Azure PowerShell and the Azure CLI so both syntaxes are familiar.
Containers and App Service
Week 7

8-10 hours this week

  • Create an Azure Container Registry, push an image, and run it in Azure Container Instances.
  • Deploy the same image to Azure Container Apps and configure scaling rules.
  • Provision an App Service plan, scale it up and out, and note which operation changes cost and which changes capacity.
  • Add a custom domain and a TLS certificate to an App Service, then configure deployment slots and swap them.
  • Configure App Service networking, including VNet integration and access restrictions.
Virtual networking fundamentals
Week 8

8-10 hours this week

  • Build two virtual networks with multiple subnets and configure peering, including gateway transit settings.
  • Create network security groups and application security groups, then use the effective security rules view to debug a blocked flow.
  • Configure a user-defined route to force traffic through a network virtual appliance.
  • Deploy Azure Bastion and connect to a VM with no public IP address.
  • Compare service endpoints against private endpoints for an Azure Storage account and explain the DNS difference.
Load balancing and name resolution
Week 9

8-10 hours this week

  • Configure an Azure Load Balancer with a backend pool, health probe, and load balancing rule, then break the probe deliberately and observe the result.
  • Compare internal and public load balancer behaviour and the Basic and Standard SKU differences.
  • Configure Azure DNS with a public zone and a private zone, and link the private zone to a virtual network.
  • Troubleshoot a broken load balancing configuration using Network Watcher.
  • Study where Application Gateway and Azure Front Door sit relative to Load Balancer, since the study guide lists Application Gateway under study resources.
Monitoring, backup, and site recovery
Week 10

8-10 hours this week

  • Configure diagnostic settings to send platform logs to a Log Analytics workspace.
  • Write three Kusto queries against those logs, since the study guide requires querying and analysing logs.
  • Create alert rules with action groups and an alert processing rule, and trigger one deliberately.
  • Create a Recovery Services vault, back up a VM, and perform a file-level restore and a full VM restore.
  • Enable Azure Site Recovery for a VM and run a test failover to a secondary region.
Timed practice and gap repair
Week 11

8-10 hours this week

  • Retake the Microsoft Learn Practice Assessment and compare each skill area against your week 1 baseline.
  • Work through the Microsoft exam sandbox so drag and drop, hot area, build list, and case study interfaces are familiar.
  • Rehearse using the in-exam Microsoft Learn window: pick five topics and time how long a lookup actually takes.
  • Rebuild any lab that you could not complete without documentation, then do it again from memory.
  • Rank your weak skill areas by published weight range and spend the remaining time in that order.
Final review and booking logistics
Week 12

6-8 hours this week

  • Book the exam through Pearson VUE from your Microsoft Learn certification profile and confirm the price for your region.
  • Decide between a test center and online proctoring, and if online, run the OnVUE system check on the exact machine you will use.
  • Do a final pass on PowerShell and Azure CLI command patterns for the highest-frequency tasks.
  • Re-read the study guide bullet list one final time and mark any bullet you cannot demonstrate in the portal.
  • Plan your break strategy: five minutes are built into the 100 minutes, and you cannot return to any question you saw before the break.
Working Full-Time Schedule

Duration: 18 weeks

Hours/week: 6 hours

Daily: ~1 hours on weeknights

Weekends: 3-4 hours Saturday + Sunday

Study during lunch breaks and commute time. Use weekends for deeper study sessions and practice tests.

Weekend-Only Schedule

Duration: 24 weeks

Hours/week: 5 hours

Saturday: 4-5 hours of focused study

Sunday: 3-4 hours of practice tests

Longer timeline but sustainable. Review flashcards on weeknights for 15-20 minutes to maintain retention.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to study for the Azure Administrator (AZ-104)?

Plan for 12 weeks of dedicated study at 9 hours per week (106 total hours). If studying while working full-time, extend to 18 weeks.

Can I pass the Azure Administrator (AZ-104) in 2 weeks?

It's unlikely for most candidates. The Azure Administrator (AZ-104) is rated "Medium" difficulty and typically requires 12 weeks of preparation. Rushing increases your risk of failing and paying the exam fee again.

How many hours a day should I study for Azure Administrator (AZ-104)?

Aim for 2-2 hours per day on weekdays. Quality matters more than quantity, use active recall and practice tests rather than passive reading.

Is Azure Administrator (AZ-104) hard to pass?

The Azure Administrator (AZ-104) is rated "Medium" difficulty with a pass rate of ~70%. With proper study, most candidates pass on their first attempt.

Ready to start your Azure Administrator (AZ-104) journey?

Get the complete exam guide with tips, resources, and practice questions.

View Azure Administrator (AZ-104) Guide