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PL-300 practice exam

Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst

Timed practice exams for PL-300 on the real exam's 100 minute limit, with 50 questions in each full exam. Microsoft publishes no question count for PL-300, so 50 questions is the site's practice setting. Every question is original and every option is explained. Your score is broken down by the sections Microsoft publishes, so you see what to study next. The question bank holds hundreds of practice questions.

Exam facts

  • Time limit: 100 minutes [1]
  • Passing score: 700 or greater [2]
  • Exam languages (real exam): English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Traditional), Italian [1]

Tokens: 1 for $4.99, 5 for $14.99, 10 for $24.99 or 25 for $49.99. One token runs a full timed PL-300 practice exam, and every shorter session on that exam is then free. The Unlimited pass is $149.99 for a year of every practice session on every exam.

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Exam sections and weights

Microsoft publishes these sections and objectives for PL-300, quoted here as Microsoft words them. [2]

Section 1: Prepare the data, 25 to 30% of the exam

  • "Identify and connect to data sources or a shared semantic model"
  • "Change data source settings, including credentials and privacy levels"
  • "Choose between DirectLake, DirectQuery, and Import"
  • "Create and modify parameters"
  • "Evaluate data, including data statistics and column properties"
  • "Resolve inconsistencies, unexpected or null values, and data quality issues"
  • "Resolve data import errors"
  • "Select appropriate column data types"
  • "Create and transform columns"
  • "Group and aggregate rows"
  • "Pivot, unpivot, and transpose data"
  • "Convert semi-structured data to a table"
  • "Create fact tables and dimension tables"
  • "Identify when to use reference or duplicate queries and the resulting impact"
  • "Merge and append queries"
  • "Identify and create appropriate keys for relationships"
  • "Configure data loading for queries"

Section 2: Model the data, 25 to 30% of the exam

  • "Configure table and column properties"
  • "Implement role-playing dimensions"
  • "Define a relationship's cardinality and cross-filter direction"
  • "Create a common date table"
  • "Identify use cases for calculated columns and calculated tables"
  • "Create single aggregation measures"
  • "Use the CALCULATE function"
  • "Implement time intelligence measures"
  • "Use basic statistical functions"
  • "Create semi-additive measures"
  • "Create a measure by using quick measures"
  • "Create calculated tables or columns"
  • "Create calculation groups"
  • "Improve performance by identifying and removing unnecessary rows and columns"
  • "Identify poorly performing measures, relationships, and visuals by using Performance Analyzer and DAX query view"
  • "Improve performance by reducing granularity"

Section 3: Visualize and analyze the data, 25 to 30% of the exam

  • "Select an appropriate visual"
  • "Format and configure visuals"
  • "Create a narrative visual with Copilot"
  • "Apply and customize a theme"
  • "Apply conditional formatting"
  • "Apply slicing and filtering"
  • "Use Copilot to create a new report page"
  • "Use Copilot to suggest content for a new report page"
  • "Configure the report page"
  • "Choose when to use a paginated report"
  • "Create visual calculations by using DAX"
  • "Configure bookmarks"
  • "Create custom tooltips"
  • "Edit and configure interactions between visuals"
  • "Configure navigation for a report"
  • "Apply sorting to visuals"
  • "Configure sync slicers"
  • "Group and layer visuals by using the Selection pane"
  • "Configure drillthrough navigation, including pages, filters, and buttons"
  • "Configure export settings"
  • "Design reports for mobile devices"
  • "Enable personalization in a report, including personalized visuals"
  • "Design and configure Power BI reports for accessibility"
  • "Configure automatic page refresh"
  • "Use the Analyze feature in Power BI"
  • "Use grouping, binning, and clustering"
  • "Use AI visuals"
  • "Use reference lines, error bars, and forecasting"
  • "Detect outliers and anomalies"
  • "Use Copilot to summarize the underlying semantic model"

Section 4: Manage and secure Power BI, 15 to 20% of the exam

  • "Create and configure a workspace"
  • "Configure and update an app"
  • "Publish, import, or update items in a workspace"
  • "Create dashboards"
  • "Choose a distribution method"
  • "Configure subscriptions and data alerts"
  • "Promote or certify Power BI content"
  • "Identify when a gateway is required"
  • "Configure a semantic model scheduled refresh"
  • "Assign workspace roles"
  • "Configure item-level access"
  • "Configure access to semantic models"
  • "Implement row-level security roles"
  • "Configure row-level security group membership"
  • "Apply sensitivity labels"

Sample questions

Three questions from the PL-300 practice bank, with the answer and why each option is right or wrong.

Question 1

Your team plans a Power BI Desktop report on a cloud data source that Power BI reaches through a Power Query connector. Report users need the visuals to query the source when they interact with them, so the data won't be imported. You open the connector's article in the Power Query connector documentation. Its list of supported capabilities shows Import and nothing else. What can you conclude about this connector?

  • A. It supports DirectQuery in Power BI Desktop, but not in the Power BI service.
  • B. It supports DirectQuery once the report is published to the Power BI service.
  • C. It supports DirectQuery when you select Transform Data instead of Load.
  • D. It doesn't support DirectQuery.

Answer: D. The connector's article in the Power Query documentation is the place to check before you plan on DirectQuery. Only Import is on its supported list, so DirectQuery is off the table for this connector. [3]

  • A. Wrong. The article's list covers the connector itself, wherever the report runs. DirectQuery isn't on that list at all, so neither Power BI Desktop nor the Power BI service can use it with this connector.
  • B. Wrong. Publishing changes where the report runs, not what the connector can do.
  • C. Wrong. Transform Data opens Power Query Editor so you can review and clean the data before it loads. It adds no capability the connector's article leaves out.
  • D. Right. A capability missing from the connector's supported list isn't supported. With only Import listed, the visuals can't query this source directly.

Question 2

You manage a Power BI semantic model that the finance team's report authors build on. Authors keep asking what the ARAging table holds and how often its rows change. You want authors to read a short definition of the table when they rest the cursor on it in the Data pane, with no separate document to open. Which table property should you set?

  • A. Description
  • B. Synonyms
  • C. Is hidden
  • D. Name

Answer: A. Set a table's Description property when report authors need a definition of the table. It appears when they hover over the table in the Data pane. [4]

  • A. Right. Description holds a detailed definition of the table, and Power BI shows it when a report author hovers over the table in the Data pane.
  • B. Wrong. Synonyms give the table one or more alternative names. They don't put a definition in front of an author who hovers over the table.
  • C. Wrong. A hidden table isn't listed in the Data pane. The authors need the table explained, not taken out of their sight.
  • D. Wrong. A friendly name helps authors recognize the table, but a name isn't the detailed definition they're asking for when they hover.

Question 3

You have a line chart of weekly orders with Region in the Small multiples well. One region ships about 50 times the orders of each of the others, so the small charts for the other regions show lines pressed flat along the bottom. Planners want to compare the shape of each region's trend, not its volume. Which change should you make?

  • A. Move Region from the Small multiples well to the Legend well.
  • B. Keep Shared y-axis on and turn on Invert range.
  • C. Keep Shared y-axis on and set the Range minimum and maximum by hand.
  • D. Turn off Shared y-axis and turn on Scale to fit.

Answer: D. With a shared Y-axis, the big region sets the scale for every panel. Turn off Shared y-axis and turn on Scale to fit, and each panel gets its own scale, so every trend shows its shape. [5]

  • A. Wrong. A field in Legend draws one line per region inside a single chart. The planners lose the separate panel for each region, and the big region still sets the scale for all of them.
  • B. Wrong. Invert range only reverses the direction of the axis. Every chart still shares one scale, so the small regions stay flat.
  • C. Wrong. Shared y-axis keeps every small chart on one scale, which suits comparing volumes. The low-volume regions stay flat next to the big one.
  • D. Right. Each panel gets a scale that fits its own data, so the low-volume regions show their trends as clearly as the big one.

Practice for PL-300 on ExamSens.ai

ExamSens.ai is not authorized, endorsed or sponsored by Microsoft.

References

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/data-analyst-associate/

[2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/pl-300

[3] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/power-bi-data-sources

[4] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/configure-semantic-model-power-bi/3-tables

[5] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-line-chart

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