The introduction of the more security-focused exams from Microsoft, it’s given me an opportunity to start looking at a couple of areas that have piqued my curiosity. One of these has been the identity and access management arena, where the SC-300 exam sits very neatly in this area. The SC-300 exam enables you to earn the Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate badge, giving you the ability to demonstrate that you are able to design, implement, and operate an organization’s identity and access management systems by using Azure AD. As well as troubleshooting, monitoring, and reporting for the identity and access environment.

With any Microsoft Exam the content changes on a regular basis, so it is always best to ensure you keep updated with the latest guidance from Microsoft. This can usually be found on the Exam page. In terms of the SC-300 exam the skills measured are broken down into the following categories and weighted as such:

  • Implement an identity management solution (25-30%)
  • Implement an authentication and access management solution (25-30%)
  • Implement access management for apps (10-15%)
  • Plan and implement an identity governance strategy (25-30%)

It’s worth noting that by default, most of the questions cover features that are General Availability (GA), however, the exam may contain questions on Preview features if those features are commonly used.

Microsoft Learn Resources

By default, I always try to use the Microsoft Learn resources. If you aren’t aware of Microsoft Learn, it is a training platform built and maintained by Microsoft and is completely free of charge. Microsoft Learn provides a vast amount of online training and learning paths for a range of Microsoft technologies, the training is delivered through videos, reading materials, and labs, but also has quizzes at the end of sections, so that you can gauge your knowledge. By default, my first point is always to check the Microsoft Learn materials.

Microsoft Docs Resources

On top of the Microsoft Learn resources, is Microsoft Docs, again this is another free Microsoft Resource. I have taken the list of categories for the SC-300 exam and looked for the relevant resources for each subitem. These are all listed in the Skill Measured Document on the exam page. Some of these links may get broken over time, so please let me know if you come across any and I will look to update this post.

Implement an identity management solution (25-30%)

Implement initial configuration of Azure Active Directory
Create, configure, and manage identities
Implement and manage external identities
Implement and manage hybrid identity

Implement an authentication and access management solution (25-30%)

Plan and implement Azure Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
Manage user authentication
Plan, implement, and administer conditional access
Manage Azure AD Identity Protection

Implement Access Management for Apps (10-15%)

Plan, implement, and monitor the integration of Enterprise Apps for Single Sign-On (SSO)
Implement app registrations

Plan and implement an Identity Governance Strategy (25-30%)

Plan and implement entitlement management
Plan, implement, and manage access reviews
Plan and implement privileged access
Monitor and maintain Azure Active Directory

SC-300 Tips and other resources

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On top of these Microsoft resources, I always recommend trying to get some actual time with the toolsets if possible. This can be difficult to do unless you have a test Microsoft 365 subscription, so sometimes it’s worth discussing with your manager or even a colleague about building a test environment.

Other resources to check out include Azure forums, Microsoft Learn Blog, Channel 9, Tuesdays With Corey, Azure Friday, and Azure Blog and Updates. On top of these some great content from various community sources on Youtube, with one of my favourite channels being John Savill’s.

All the best and good luck on your journey to passing SC-300 and gaining your Identity and Access Administrator Associate badge. If you have any further links and resources then please let me know in the comments and I can add them to this blog.

Please check out my other Study Guide Blogs for AZ-104, AZ-500, and MS-500.

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