SecProve
AssociateVendor-specificMicrosoft· issued from US

SC-300

Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate

Entra ID deployment, conditional access, privileged access, identity governance.

Official page at Microsoft↔ Compare with another cert
Exam fee
$165
Ongoing
$0/yr AMF
Study time
60–120 hrs
Delivery
Online proctored
Validity
1 yr (renewal cycle)

› Quality score

29.0 / 40

Four-axis SecProve rubric, each 0–10. SecProve editorial assessment — each axis carries a written justification so you can push back on any single call without dismissing the whole score.

Blueprint rigor
How well-defined and rigorous the exam blueprint is.
Skills outline is explicit on Entra ID services tested.
7.5/10
Practical evidence
Hands-on labs / written reports vs pure MCQ.
Case-study items with multi-step Entra ID scenarios. PBQ-style.
6.0/10
Currency & upkeep
How aggressively content is kept current with the field.
Refreshed within months of major Entra changes.
9.0/10
Market recognition
How often this signal actually moves a hiring decision.
Common on identity-engineer postings inside Microsoft shops; weaker outside.
6.5/10

› Market signals

public, citable inputs to the recognition score

Microsoft doesn't publish per-cert counts; widely cited on Entra ID / IAM listings.

› Built for these roles

Identity & Access AdministratorEntra ID / Azure AD EngineerM365 Security Admin

› Exam format

40–60 questions over 100 minutes (case studies + MCQ), English plus several other languages. Online proctored or test center.

Passing score
700/1000 (scaled)
Retake policy
Fee: $165 per attempt
Wait: 1d between attempts

24h wait after first fail; 14 days between subsequent attempts. Max 5 attempts per 12 months.

› Recertification

Free online renewal assessment available 6 months before expiry. Pass to extend by another year — no exam fee.

› NICE Framework work roles

The NIST NICE work-role IDs this cert maps to. NICCS lookup.

DD-WRL-004IO-WRL-005DD-WRL-001
Recognition
GlobalUSEU
Exam languages
enjakozh

› Core domains covered

The 2 domains this cert is centrally about. Passing the exam demonstrates working knowledge of each.

A6Identity & Access Management

AuthN/AuthZ, SSO, MFA, PAM, RBAC/ABAC, identity governance, FIDO2/passkeys, plus non-human identity: service accounts, workload identity, agent / plugin identities.

A3Zero Trust Architecture

Zero trust principles, micro-segmentation, NIST SP 800-207, ZTNA, continuous verification, BeyondCorp.

› Also touched

Present in the blueprint but not the primary focus — you’ll be introduced but shouldn’t expect depth.

A5Cloud Security

AWS/Azure/GCP security controls, IAM policies, CSPM, container security, shared responsibility model.

A1Governance, Risk & Compliance

Risk frameworks (NIST RMF, ISO 31000, FAIR), policy development, audit, regulatory compliance, third-party risk.

› Prerequisites

Experience

Intermediate Entra ID experience; familiarity with M365 admin and conditional access.

Knowledge assumed
  • Entra ID (Azure AD) identity lifecycle
  • Conditional access and PIM
  • Identity governance and lifecycle workflows

› Progression

requiredrecommended

Where this cert fits in the typical learning path. Required edges are vendor-gated; recommended edges reflect de facto industry progression.

Required prereqs (0)

No vendor-gated prereqs.

Recommended priors (2)
SC-900MicrosoftAZ-104Microsoft
SC-300
Microsoft
Required by (0)

No certs require this one.

Recommended next (1)
SC-100Microsoft

› Study materials

Curated starting points. Not exhaustive — vet each against your learning style and the current exam version.

Official guides
Training providers
Practice tests
  • MeasureUp Official SC-300 Practice Test
Free / community
  • Microsoft Learn SC-300 modules (free)

› Version & lifecycle

Current version
SC-300 (current)
Released
2024-09

› Salary signal

Identity / IAM engineer (Azure AD / Entra ID), US, 3–5 years.

$110K–$155K
median $128K

Robert Half Salary Guide + Glassdoor 'Identity Engineer' aggregations · 2024 · US base only · p25–p75 range

› How it compares

vs
AZ-500

AZ-500 is the broader Azure-security cert; SC-300 is identity-specialized.

↔ Compare side-by-side
vs
Okta Certified Professional

Vendor-specific identity certs — pick by your IdP (Entra ID = SC-300, Okta = OCP).

↔ Compare side-by-side

› Careers that commonly pursue this cert

IAM / Identity Engineer

Design and operate the identity fabric that every other control inherits. Federated identity, MFA/passkeys, PAM, identity governance, and the policy glue between them.

› Common exam traps to study

Cybersecurity cert exams reuse the same 25 distractor patterns over and over — category confusion, RTO vs RPO, IDS vs IPS, MD5 vs SHA-256, and more. Once you can name the trap, you stop falling for it. Each archetype page covers what it is, the specific pairs candidates confuse, and how to avoid it.

Browse all 25 cert-exam trapsStart with: BEST vs correct

See this cert’s domains highlighted on the interactive map, or compare it against the rest of the catalog.

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