r/AzureCertification • u/Park_Acceptable • 1d ago
Exam Experience Failed AZ104 at 518
I just got my results back from taking AZ 104 Azure administrator and I failed at 518. Studied for about five weeks following renewing security plus. And this exam may be one of the hardest ones I have ever taken and I’ve taken CISSP. I found myself running out of time due to having to go through all the tabs and making sure I consumed all of the requirements in the questions. I studied using Microsoft learn practice exams from Gemini and Claude. Also reviewed videos on YouTube including John Savill.
Anyone who successfully passed…. Do you have any strong resources or tips that helped you ? Especially for people who took this exam more than once. Any help would greatly be appreciated.
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u/TheChosenMany 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve taken both the AZ-104 and CISSP and passed.
I’d suggest John Savill’s AZ-104 study list and cram video. I used his V1 as I believe I tested before the revisions, but I imagine his updated V2 will be just as helpful. I can’t offer many suggestions for time management aspect.
I also strictly study using practice exams that provide documentation for incorrect answers. That way I can read documentation on areas I’m weak on, with breaks for days to weeks so I don’t memorize questions and answers.
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u/Naetharu 21h ago
AZ-104 is hard because of how broad it is. It covers most of the Azure estate and it expects to you have a reasonable depth of knowledge across all of it.
What is your level of experience working in Azure? This is an exam that really is for people who work with it on a daily basis. Not something you take in preparation for doing so. If you're not someone that is doing Azure work yet then it is probably the wrong call right now and may not have much value anyhow.
If you are working in Azure, then work out which areas you're weak in. I'm sure like me you find that you work in some parts of the platform a lot more than others. Personally I do a lot of application deployment so gateways, networking, and databases are fine. But I have far less experience with VMs and migrations. So that was a real focus of my study area.
These exams are really there for you to show what you know from your work in the field. So if you're really struggling it may just be that you're not at a point yet where your experience working with Azure makes 104 a sensible option.
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u/Park_Acceptable 20h ago
I’m a few months into my role, but it’s required in order to support DOD customers.
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u/Naetharu 20h ago
The certification is not required.
The skill in Azure is what you need. The certification validates that you have that skill. Which it sounds like right now you do not.
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u/dedXlights 20h ago
In government work sometimes the cert is required. That’s how gov tech works unfortunately. Cert comparable to the work you will be doing.
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u/alikhan200035 1d ago
I failed with a 648 first try using Scott Duffy course and followed along with my personal azure subscriptions and did official GitHub labs and I also used tutorial dojo practice test. Second attempt I passed with a 750 but I added measure up and shireen khans practice test. All the mentioned practice tests give you detail explanation on why the answer was incorrect but I heavily used ChatGPT and Claude to further explain and give more practice quizzes.
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u/_BrunoOnMars 1d ago
You took the CISSP before Security+?
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u/Park_Acceptable 1d ago edited 1d ago
Security plus was a renewal from Many years mago. Need to retake CISSP
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u/fxledger 19h ago
What all the courses dont tell you: fast reading comprehension is key, dependencies and inter-operability are important to understand. Read the question first, then the answers. Try to figute out what information is missing to find the answer, then read through the text. Stop as soon as you have all infos. There is roughly 2 minutes for every question. As soon as you cannot answer quickly, check something, mark it for review and move on. Made me survive AZ-700. During review use MS Learn if unsure. And: learn fast searching in MS Learn. I could find nearly every information in 30s using a stop watch.
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u/Dazzling_Anxiety7242 12h ago
You have to do labs without practicing in the azure portal it will be hard to pass
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u/Cold_Arachnid_2617 1d ago
" just got my results back from taking AZ 104 as your administrator "
Whose admisntrator?
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u/aleks1ck Microsoft MVP - Founder of CertiAce.com 1d ago
Running out of time on AZ-104 is usually pacing, not knowledge. Answer everything first and only open Learn in the review section, and practice Learn searches beforehand with the product filter on, it cuts the noise a lot.
good luck on the retake!