The SC-300 exam leads to the Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate certification. It is aimed at people who configure and run identity for an organisation: user and group management, sign-in and authentication, application access, and identity governance, almost all of it inside Microsoft Entra ID.
If you have used older study material, note the renaming first. Azure Active Directory is now Microsoft Entra ID, and the exam uses the current names. Guides written around "Azure AD" still cover much of the right material, but the terminology will not match what you see on exam day.
What the exam covers
Microsoft groups the SC-300 skills into four areas, each with a weighting range:
- Implement and manage user identities (20–25%) — tenants, users, groups, external identities and hybrid identity.
- Implement authentication and access management (25–30%) — multifactor authentication, authentication methods, Conditional Access and identity protection.
- Plan and implement workload identities (20–25%) — managed identities, app registrations, enterprise applications and application access.
- Plan and automate identity governance (25–30%) — entitlement management, access reviews, Privileged Identity Management and monitoring.
The two heaviest areas, authentication and governance, together make up more than half the exam. If your study time is limited, that is where it pays off most. A passing score is 700 on Microsoft's 1–1000 scale.
How to prepare
Build it, don't just read it. SC-300 questions are usually framed as a scenario: an organisation needs something to happen, and you choose the configuration that achieves it. That is much easier if you have actually built Conditional Access policies, set up PIM role activation and run an access review in a test tenant.
Learn the distinctions the exam likes to test. Many questions hinge on choosing between features that sound alike: security defaults versus Conditional Access, a managed identity versus a service principal, an access package versus a direct group assignment. When you study a feature, also write down when you would not use it.
Use Microsoft's own free tools. Microsoft Learn offers a free SC-300 practice assessment and an exam sandbox, where you can try the exam interface before test day. Both are worth using once you are close to ready.
Practise under timed conditions. Knowing the material and answering 40–60 scenario questions under time pressure are different skills. Timed full-length practice shows you where you lose time as well as where you lose marks.
Study resources from CertCraft
If you want structured practice alongside Microsoft Learn, we publish independent SC-300 study resources:
- SC-300 Practice Tests — exam-style questions to find your weak areas.
- SC-300 Study Notes — condensed notes organised by exam topic.
- SC-300 Quick Reference — for last-minute review.
- SC-300 Exam Simulator — interactive practice in your browser.
Planning to go further? SC-300 is one of the exams that can qualify you for the expert-level Cybersecurity Architect certification. See our guide to what the SC-100 exam actually tests.
Microsoft updates its skills outlines periodically. Always check the current "skills measured" list on the official SC-300 page on Microsoft Learn before booking your exam. CertCraft Institute is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft.