How I cracked Microsoft PowerBI Data Analyst Certification (PL-300) Exam
If you are an aspiring Data Analyst or if you are willing to test your knowledge of Microsoft Power BI, then cracking PL-300 will definitely make your resume/cv stand out from the crowd. I passed the PL-300 exam yesterday and in this blog, I will guide you through each and everything you need to know, to crack the PL-300 (formerly known as DA-100) exam.
What is PL-300 exam?
PL-300 exam (Microsoft certified Power BI data analyst) is an associate-level exam by Microsoft, primarily for the Data Analyst role.
The PL-300 exam measures your ability to identify business requirements, clean and transform data, build data models, deliver actionable insights, enable others to perform self-service analytics, and deploy solutions for consumption using Power BI.
The PL-300 also tests your proficiency in Power Query by writing simple expressions using DAX and publishing solutions to the Power BI Service (PowerBi.com).
What are the skills measured?
The skills measured in this exam are broadly classified into:
- Prepare the data.
- Model the data.
- Visualize the data.
- Analyze the data.
- Deploy and maintain deliverables.
For more detailed information and to schedule for the exam, please refer to Microsoft Learn.
My preparation resources and duration:
The preparation duration can vary between 2 weeks to 2 months, depending on your familiarity with Microsoft Power BI. You should go through the learning paths at least once and then focus more on the difficult areas. Practicing hands-on will play a crucial role in passing the exam. Take notes while going through the learning paths, which will help you later.
Resources to follow:
Download the PL-300 study guide to help you prepare for the exam.
To complete the PL-300 exam learning path, visit the PL-300 homepage and scroll down to the “Two ways to prepare” section. Select the “Online-Free” option to access all the learning modules. Watch these videos too: Preparing for PL-300 — Prepare the Data (1 of 4) | Microsoft Docs
2. Power BI Full Course 2022 in 8 Hours | Learn Power BI Pavan Lalwani Power BI Tutorial for Beginners
or
Maven Analytics Power BI course — Udemy
- At the end of this udemy course, you will get one practice test (50 questions) and 2 case studies.
- In this course, you will get to build a sales dashboard from scratch. It can be added to your portfolio.
Note: Since I have already experience with Power BI, I refreshed my knowledge through youtube.
If you are a beginner with no experience, then I would recommend you complete the Maven Analytics PL300 udemy course and try building simple dashboards with the help of guided projects from youtube.
3. Practice tests/ Mock tests
This is a very important step in preparation. Just search in google for PL300 practice questions and see if you are able to answer questions.
About the Exam:
Exam duration: 100 mins
Passing Score: 700/1000
Total Questions: I got 50 questions
The first 40 questions include — Drag & Drop, Yes/No, Mcqs
You can review these 40 questions after choosing an answer until you click finish.
The other 10 questions include — Case study
Note: These 10 questions cannot be reviewed (this means once you choose an answer to Q1 and move to the next question(Q2), you cannot click back to Q1)
And for me, these 10 questions appeared after I clicked finish on 40 questions. If I had spent my time till the end on the first 40 questions, then I would not have been able to attempt the case study questions at all. Please keep the time in mind while attempting the exam.
On exam day, go through your notes and then run the system test once again to fulfill the technical requirements for the exam.
Log in to the test 30 minutes prior to the scheduled time and keep a government id proof with you. Please don’t panic during the verification process and patiently wait for the exam to begin. If you face any difficulties during the exam, then use the chat feature to get clarifications. While giving the answers, don’t hurry. Especially during the case studies, be careful with the business requirements and the constraints.
After your exam is over, you will get your score immediately. But the certificate and the badge might take a few hours to reflect on your certification profile.
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Passing the Microsoft PL-300 exam takes effort, but you can do it! I hope these resources/tips help you achieve your certification sooner and embark on a fruitful career path.
Don’t forget to share your success on LinkedIn.
All the best!