An Azure service name is a starting point for study, not a complete answer to an administration scenario. Before choosing a tool, identify the required result, the resource involved and the constraint that makes one option fit better.
Keep the current skills list beside your notes
The official AZ-104 study guide currently identifies the objectives effective April 17, 2026. It covers administration across identity and governance, storage, compute, networking, and monitoring. Recheck that page when planning your exam: Microsoft can update objectives and localized exams on different schedules.
Create a checklist from the current objectives. For each item, record whether you can explain it, carry it out in a suitable environment, and troubleshoot a related scenario. Those are different kinds of evidence; reading an explanation does not prove you have performed the task.
Ask what access is actually needed
For an access scenario, make your notes answer three questions: who needs permission, what action is required, and at which scope? Azure RBAC uses assignments combining a security principal, role and scope. A role with a familiar name is not enough to decide whether the assignment is appropriate.
Try a learning exercise: a colleague needs one task performed on one resource. List the missing details you would request before recommending access. Then ask whether your proposed scope exposes resources that the task does not involve. Validate the actual permissions against the relevant role documentation.
Separate redundancy from recovery requirements
For storage review, write down the failure you are preparing for and the recovery requirement. The Azure Storage redundancy documentation explains replication options and their limitations. Replication choices should not be treated as interchangeable with restoring an earlier data state.
Compare two study scenarios: service continuity after an infrastructure failure, and recovering data after an unintended change. Record why they ask different questions. Before selecting a design, check the storage service, account support and recovery features involved rather than assuming one setting handles every failure.
Rehearse a task, then inspect a changed condition
Choose one objective you can practise safely. Write a small task, predict the expected result, perform it in a suitable environment, and compare the actual result with the prediction. Check possible costs before provisioning cloud resources and remove only resources you deliberately created for the exercise.
Next, change one constraint on paper: a different scope, a stricter network requirement or a different recovery target. Explain whether your original approach still fits. The changed scenario helps reveal which part you understood and which part you followed mechanically.
Use practice questions to target the next review
For each missed or guessed answer, classify the problem: unfamiliar concept, overlooked constraint, permission boundary, or unsupported assumption. Return to the related objective and product documentation. Only then choose a focused set or a timed mock.
The AZ-104 practice course includes its objectives, test structure and a free three-question preview. Use the explanations to assess the learning format. Practice percentages do not convert to Microsoft’s scaled exam score, and this independent course does not include exam registration.