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SC-900

Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Study Guide

A study path for Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals — what to know before you start, and the order worth doing things in.

Exam at a glance

Length45 min (65 min seat time)
Questions40–60
Passing score700 / 1000
FormatsMultiple choice, drag-and-drop, hot area — no case studies
Microsoft Learn accessNot available (closed-book)
RenewalDoes not expire
PrerequisiteNone

SC-900: exam domains

Key areas covered in the exam, weighted by how much of the exam they make up.

10-15%
Describe security, compliance, and identity concepts
Zero Trust, shared responsibility, and defense in depth
25-30%
Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Entra
Identity types, authentication, access management, and identity governance
35-40%
Describe the capabilities of Microsoft security solutions
Defender XDR, Sentinel, and Microsoft's security service portfolio
20-25%
Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions
Purview information protection, data lifecycle, and compliance management

Where this exam fits

SC-900SC-200 · Security Operations Analyst AssociateSC-300 · Identity and Access Administrator Associate

Prerequisites

None — SC-900 is an entry-level exam. General familiarity with cloud and networking basics is helpful, but no hands-on security experience is assumed.

Recommended background

  • General security, compliance, and identity concepts — Zero Trust, shared responsibility, defense in depth
  • Basic authentication and authorization concepts, including MFA and SSO
  • Awareness of Microsoft cloud services, especially Microsoft Entra and Microsoft 365
  • No hands-on configuration experience required

Step-by-step study plan

1
Review the official study guide

Open Microsoft's official skills-measured breakdown and use it as your checklist — it's updated whenever the exam changes.

Official SC-900 study guide
2
Schedule your exam

Pick a date through the official Microsoft certification page and plan your study time backwards from it. Give yourself 2–4 weeks if you already use the tech weekly, 4–8 weeks if you're newer to it.

Exam & scheduling page
3
Go through the official learning path

Complete Microsoft's free, self-paced modules for this exam. Take notes on anything you can't explain simply — that's what to revisit.

Official documentation
4
Get hands-on practice

SC-900 rewards recognizing real scenarios and trade-offs, not memorization. Spin up a free-tier environment and actually try the concepts — policy configuration, access reviews, compliance settings — rather than just reading about them.

5
Benchmark your knowledge

Use FabricPrep's SC-900 practice questions to find weak spots, and sit the timed Shield exam to build comfort with exam-day pacing.

Practice SC-900 now — 26 free questions
6
Take the exam

The day before: review only your weak topics, don't cram new material. On exam day: read each question carefully, eliminate wrong answers first, and watch for wording that implies a constraint (least privilege, cost, performance).

Additional resources

Official SC-900 study guide
The authoritative skills-measured breakdown, updated whenever the exam changes
SC-900 certification page
Official exam facts — confirms it never expires, so no renewal to track
Security, compliance, and identity concepts
Free official 4-part learning path covering the whole exam
Microsoft Purview docs
Canonical reference for the compliance domain
freeCodeCamp (Andrew Brown/ExamPro) — SC-900 Full Course to PASS the Exam
A complete, well-structured walkthrough of every SC-900 domain — Zero Trust, shared responsibility, Entra ID, and compliance tooling
John Savill's Technical Training — SC-900 Study Cram
A dense, fast-paced review video, ideal as a final recap once the fundamentals are covered
Ready to test yourself?

26 realistic SC-900 practice questions with instant feedback and detailed explanations.

Practice SC-900 now