What is on the SC-500 exam?

Up to 50 questions in 120 minutes, 700 to pass on the 1 to 1000 scale. Domains: Manage identity, access, and governance (24%), Secure storage, databases, and networking (29%), Secure compute (24%), Manage and monitor security posture (23%).

Which domain is worth the most?

Data & networking at 29% and Identity & governance at 24%. Start there, and keep coming back: the heaviest domains decide most pass and fail results.

How long should I plan for?

Set aside five to eight weeks at about five focused hours a week, then let a full practice sitting decide your exam date. If you already work in IT, the first weeks move faster. Do not book until a fresh sitting, with questions you have not seen, lands above the pass mark.

What score do I need to pass?

You need 700 on the 1 to 1000 scale. Keep a margin above that in practice, because exam-day stress costs a few points.

Start with identity. Everything in Microsoft security builds on Entra ID.

Do I need hands-on experience?

Helpful, not required. The browser labs let you practise the hands-on tasks without a server or a rack, and each lab grades the end state rather than the exact command you typed.

Are the practice questions the same as the real test?

No. SecLern questions are written originally for this site and mapped to the published objectives. They are never copied from a real exam.

What should I do the week before the exam?

Take one full simulation early in the week and review every miss. Spend the middle of the week on the two domains that scored lowest, then stop adding new material 48 hours out. Confirm your appointment and ID, sleep, and read the goal line twice on every performance task.

Is this page current?

This page is built against SC-500 Study Guide (Skills measured), ms.date 2026-04-26 (2026-07-31 (study guide updated_at)), verified 2026-10-17. Exam owners change objectives and retirement dates, so confirm the date for your language before you book.

CertificationsSC-500

Microsoft · SC-500

Microsoft SC-500 Cloud and AI Security

Microsoft SC-500 covers security engineering across Microsoft cloud and AI: identity, Defender, Sentinel, Purview, and securing AI workloads. It is the associate exam for people who defend Microsoft environments.

Security engineers working in Microsoft shops, SOC analysts on Defender and Sentinel, and AZ-900 holders going deeper on security.

Study SC-500 free

See labs Check version dates

Version status

Microsoft updates blueprints without a fixed public retirement date. Check learn.microsoft.com before booking.

Retires: No retirement date published

Where the marks live

Domain weights from the current SC-500 objectives. Start with the heaviest slice, not the first chapter.

Data and networking leads at 29%

29%Data and networking

How much study time does SC-500 need?

Pick the closest starting point. The range below is a planning estimate, not a promise or a pass prediction.

95 to 145 hoursat a steady pace

That is up to 29 weeks at 5 hours a week, or 19 weeks at 8 hours. Some IT background, but the exam material is still new.

Estimate only. Based on the exam level and a study-pace assumption. Your background, exam date and practice scores will move it.

A study plan that works

Order matters

Start with identity. Everything in Microsoft security builds on Entra ID.
Give the AI security area real attention. It is new, and new areas get tested.
Learn Sentinel and Defender as workflows (detect, investigate, respond), not product tours.
Practice data-protection scenarios: classification, loss prevention, and retention.

Try one question

Live demo

Demo questionIdentity and governance

A company wants to block sign-ins from countries where it has no staff, without breaking travel for approved employees. Which control fits?

Written for this page. It is a teaching demo, not an item from the question bank or the real exam.

Try the hands-on shape

About 2 minutes

A tenant still accepts legacy authentication, which bypasses MFA. What is the best first control?

Demo preview. A teaching model with fixed sample data, not the real lab. Full labs run in the browser with checkable steps.

Practice a performance question

20 performance-based questions are written for Microsoft SC-500 Cloud and AI Security. They ask you to do the task in a simulated console, table or form, and they grade in parts, so a half-right answer still earns credit.

How performance questions are scored

Sample performance questionMatch each task to the control or service

Run code without managing a server

Delete stored objects after 30 days

Apply one policy across every subscription

A teaching demo written for this page. It is not a real exam item, and nothing here is saved.

This matching sample is local and ungraded. The full set is included in practice for this exam.

Common traps

Ways smart people lose points on this exam.

Treating it as AZ-900 with extra steps. This is engineering depth, not fundamentals.
Ignoring AI workload security because it feels new. New is exactly what gets asked.
Memorizing portal locations. Learn what each control does and when to use it.

Practise SC-500, three ways

Every lab is a job task in the tool that job uses, graded on the end state you leave behind. The PBQ pages explain the performance formats this exam uses and open one real scenario in the browser. The practice test gives you fifteen questions with a reason for every option.

Open the SC-500 labs

Objectives by domain

Every published SC-500 objective, grouped by the domain that carries it. The wording stays with Microsoft.

12 objectives

Identity and governance24% of the exam

SC500-D1-1Identity and access in
SC500-D1-2Secure secrets with Azure
SC500-D1-3Govern access and compliance

Data and networking29% of the examStart here

SC500-D2-1Secure Azure storage
SC500-D2-2Secure Azure databases
SC500-D2-3Secure Azure networking

Compute and AI24% of the exam

SC500-D3-1Security for AI workloads
SC500-D3-2Secure servers and virtual
SC500-D3-3Secure application platform

Posture and monitoring23% of the exam

SC500-D4-1Defender for Cloud posture
SC500-D4-2Collect activity and events
SC500-D4-3Microsoft Security Copilot

The full entry for each objective (the explainer, key terms, traps and practice questions) lives in the Study Book. One objective per certification is free to read; Pro opens the rest.

Questions about this exam

50 questions in 120 minutes. 700 to pass on the 1 to 1000 scale. Domains: Identity and governance (24%), Data and networking (29%), Compute and AI (24%), Posture and monitoring (23%).

Study SC-500 with your weak spots in view

Daily sessions that aim at your gaps, hands-on labs, and full simulations under the real clock. Free to start.

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