Study plan
How to Pass the Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate Exam
A study plan for the Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate certification exam, built from the official domain weights instead of a generic template. Focus on hands-on labs within a Microsoft Entra sandbox. Prioritize understanding the logic behind Conditional Access policies and the lifecycle of Privileged Identity Management (PIM). Use official Microsoft Learn documentation to map specific features to security outcomes.
- 4 domains
- 50 questions
- 100 min
- 70% to pass
certilumStudy in weight order, not topic order
The plan below follows the official blueprint weights, so the order of study is the order that returns the most points.
- 1
Implement and manage user identities
28%- Managing user identities in Microsoft Entra ID
- Provisioning and lifecycle management
- Managing group memberships and dynamic groups
- User attribute synchronization and management
14 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 2
Implement authentication and access management
28%- Configuring Microsoft Entra authentication methods
- Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Conditional Access policies and enforcement
- Managing passwordless authentication and identity protection
14 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 3
Plan and implement identity governance
22%- Implementing Entitlement Management
- Configuring Access Reviews
- Privileged Identity Management (PIM) implementation
- Managing identity governance lifecycles
11 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 4
Plan and implement workload identities
22%- Managing service principals and managed identities
- Configuring workload identity federation
- Securing application access and permissions
- Monitoring workload identity risks
11 practice questions tagged to this domain.
Three phases, in order
Most failures are process failures, not knowledge failures.
Phase 1 — Learn the high-weight domains
Start where the points are. The first domains on this plan carry the most weight, so a gap there costs the most. Cover the objectives, then close each topic with practice questions you actually get wrong.
Phase 2 — Close the mid-weight domains
The middle of the blueprint is where most candidates plateau. These domains are worth less per topic than the first phase, but they add up fast, and they are the usual difference between a near miss and a clear pass.
Phase 3 — Timed full mocks
Stop reading new material at this point. Run full-length exams under the real time limit and the real format, and use the per-domain breakdown to find which domain is still costing you the pass.
Where we put the emphasis
The focus is on applying Zero Trust principles to identity. Candidates should not just know what a feature is, but how to configure it to prevent specific threat vectors like credential stuffing or privilege escalation.
The order matters less than the loop. Every domain you finish should end with questions you got wrong, because the mistake is the only thing you actually needed to study. On the Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate that loop is worth 28% of the exam in the first block alone.
More about the Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate exam
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