PL-300 Practice Test 12 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are importing data from a SQL Server database. The source table has a column 'ModifiedDate' of type datetime2. In Power Query, you want to ensure that only rows modified within the last 7 days are loaded. Which THREE steps should you take?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Use a parameter for the date range and reference it in the filter.. Using a parameter for the date range and referencing it in the filter allows for dynamic, maintainable filtering in Power Query. This approach leverages Power Query's M language to apply a filter step that can be easily updated without modifying the query logic, ensuring only rows from the last 7 days are loaded during data refresh.

Answer

Load all rows and then use a DAX filter in the data model.

Answer

Split the column into date and time and then filter on the date part.

Question 2

Which TWO of the following are valid DAX functions for time intelligence?

Accepted Answer

TOTALYTD. TOTALYTD is a valid DAX time intelligence function that calculates the year-to-date value of an expression, typically used with a date column to aggregate data from the start of the year to the current context. It requires a properly marked date table with continuous dates to function correctly.

Answer

RANKX

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SUM

Answer

CALCULATE

Question 3

You have a Power BI report with a page that contains a bar chart showing sales by product category. You want to allow users to click on a bar and navigate to a different report page that shows detailed sales for that category. Which feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Drillthrough. Drillthrough is the correct feature for navigating from a summary visual to a detail page for a specific data point. Cross-filtering only filters other visuals on the same page. Bookmarks are for saved views. Report page tooltips are for hover details. Custom visuals are not needed.

Answer

Bookmarks

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Report page tooltips

Answer

Cross-filtering

Question 4

You are a Power BI administrator for a large enterprise. You have a Power BI semantic model that uses a single large fact table named Sales (100 million rows) and several dimension tables. The model is used by multiple departments, each with different row-level security (RLS) rules based on the SalesRegion column. You have implemented RLS using static roles. However, you notice that when users from different departments view the same report page, the query performance varies significantly. You suspect that the RLS filters are causing the performance difference. You need to investigate and optimize the RLS performance. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Use Power BI Performance Analyzer to capture query performance for each user role and analyze the generated DAX queries in DAX Studio.. Using Power BI Performance Analyzer allows you to capture query performance for each user role, and analyzing the generated DAX queries in DAX Studio helps identify which queries are slow and whether RLS is the cause. This is the first logical step to diagnose the performance variation. Option A (increasing memory) may not address RLS-specific issues. Option C (converting to dynamic RLS) is a potential optimization but not the initial diagnostic step. Option D (removing RLS and using bookmarks) is not a recommended security approach and would not investigate the root cause.

Answer

Increase the data model's memory limit in Premium capacity.

Answer

Convert all RLS roles to use dynamic RLS with USERPRINCIPALNAME.

Answer

Remove all RLS roles and implement security at the report level using bookmarks.

Question 5

You have a Power BI semantic model that uses DirectQuery to an Azure Synapse Analytics dedicated SQL pool. The model is used by a real-time dashboard. Users report that the dashboard is slow. You need to improve query performance without changing the source system. Which action should you take?

Accepted Answer

Reduce the number of visuals on the dashboard and apply page-level filters. Reducing the number of visuals and applying page-level filters directly reduces the number of queries sent to the Azure Synapse Analytics dedicated SQL pool via DirectQuery. Since the source system cannot be changed, the only way to improve performance is to minimize the query load from the dashboard. Page-level filters ensure that only relevant data is queried, and fewer visuals mean fewer separate queries, which collectively reduces latency.

Answer

Create aggregations on the fact table

Answer

Enable dual storage mode for all tables

Answer

Disable the 'Reduce queries' option in Power BI Desktop

Question 6

Your Power BI model includes a calculated column that concatenates first and last name. Users report that the column shows blank for some rows. The data source has no nulls. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

One of the columns contains only spaces. A column containing only spaces (e.g., '   ') is not null, but when concatenated with another name, the result may appear blank if the concatenation results in pure whitespace or if the column is trimmed before concatenation. Option A is incorrect because data type mismatch would typically cause an error, not a blank result. Option B is incorrect because the data source has no nulls, so missing rows are not the issue. Option C is incorrect because relationship direction does not affect calculated columns within the same table.

Answer

Data type mismatch between the two columns

Answer

The columns are from different tables without a relationship

Answer

The relationship between tables is set to single direction

Question 7

A company is deploying Power BI for the entire organization. They need to prevent users from sharing reports with external email addresses. Which configuration should the Power BI admin use?

Accepted Answer

Disable 'Share content with external users' in the Power BI admin portal.. The Power BI admin portal provides a tenant-level setting 'Share content with external users' that can be disabled to prevent sharing with external email addresses. Option B is incorrect because Conditional Access policies in Microsoft Entra ID control access based on conditions but do not specifically block external sharing within Power BI. Option C is incorrect because Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels classify and protect data but do not block sharing. Option D is incorrect because workspace sharing settings only control sharing within the workspace and do not prevent external sharing at the tenant level.

Answer

Configure a Conditional Access policy in Microsoft Entra ID.

Answer

Apply a Microsoft Purview sensitivity label.

Answer

Set the workspace sharing settings to 'Only existing users'.

Question 8

You have a Power BI dataset with a large fact table. You need to optimize report performance when users filter by date. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Mark the date table as a date table in Power BI.. Marking a date table as a date table enables time intelligence functions and better performance. Option B is wrong because hiding columns does not improve performance. Option C is wrong because disabling cross-filtering might affect user experience but not performance directly. Option D is wrong because summarizing the fact table reduces granularity, which may not be desired.

Answer

Hide all columns except the date column.

Answer

Disable cross-filtering between tables.

Answer

Summarize the fact table by month.

Question 9

You are creating a Power BI report to analyze customer churn. You have a table with Customer ID, Churn Date, and other attributes. You want to create a measure that calculates the number of customers who churned in the last 30 days. Which THREE components do you need?

Accepted Answer

A measure using CALCULATE, COUNTROWS, and DATESINPERIOD. The correct components are A, C, and D. A measure using CALCULATE, COUNTROWS, and DATESINPERIOD (A) is needed to dynamically count customers who churned in the last 30 days. A relationship between the date table and Churn Date (C) is required for time intelligence functions like DATESINPERIOD to work correctly. A separate date table marked as a date table (D) is necessary because Power BI time intelligence functions require a proper date table with continuous dates and a date type. Option B (a calculated column for 30-day flag) is not needed; the measure handles the filtering. Option E (a disconnected table with date range) is unnecessary because the regular date table relationship suffices.

Answer

A calculated column for 30-day flag

Answer

A disconnected table with date range

Question 10

You have a Power BI semantic model that uses Import mode with a SQL Server data source. The refresh takes over two hours. You need to reduce the refresh time while keeping data up-to-date. What is the best strategy?

Accepted Answer

Configure incremental refresh policy on the fact table.. Incremental refresh policy allows you to refresh only the most recent data (e.g., last 5 days) while keeping historical partitions unchanged, drastically reducing the amount of data loaded during each refresh. This is the most effective way to reduce refresh time in Import mode while maintaining data freshness, as it avoids re-querying the entire fact table from SQL Server.

Answer

Switch the data source to DirectQuery mode.

Answer

Remove unnecessary columns and rows from the query.

Answer

Reduce the scheduled refresh frequency to once a day.

Question 11

You need to ensure that only members of the 'Sales' security group can edit reports in the 'Sales Reports' workspace. The workspace currently has four members: three from Sales and one from Marketing. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Add the Sales security group as a workspace Admin and remove the Marketing user.. Adding the Sales security group as a workspace Admin grants full editing capabilities to all members of that group. Removing the Marketing user from the workspace ensures that only Sales members have edit access. Workspace roles like Admin allow editing of reports and other content. Option B is incorrect because Power BI does not have a 'Restrict editing' option at the workspace level; access is controlled through roles. Option C is incorrect because publishing reports as a Power BI app with 'Build' permissions does not control editing within the workspace; it controls how consumers interact with the app content. Option D is incorrect because keeping the Marketing user as a 'Member' still allows them to edit content in the workspace, which contradicts the requirement that only Sales members can edit.

Answer

Configure the workspace to allow only specific users to edit by using the 'Restrict editing' option.

Answer

Publish the reports to a Power BI app and grant the Sales group 'Build' permissions.

Answer

Assign the Sales security group the 'Contributor' role and keep the Marketing user as 'Member'.

Question 12

You have a Power BI model with a table named Sales that includes columns: OrderDate, Amount, and CustomerID. You need to create a measure that returns the total sales amount for the previous month based on the current filter context. Which DAX expression should you use?

Accepted Answer

CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), PREVIOUSMONTH('Date'[Date])). PREVIOUSMONTH returns a single month period shifted back by one month from the last date in the current filter context, which directly gives the total sales for the previous month. This measure respects the current filter context and works correctly when a proper date table is used.

Answer

CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), PARALLELPERIOD('Date'[Date], -1, MONTH))

Answer

CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), DATEADD('Date'[Date], -1, MONTH))

Answer

CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), NEXTMONTH('Date'[Date]))

Question 13

You need to ensure that a Power BI report uses the latest data from a cloud-based Azure SQL Database. The report is configured with scheduled refresh. What is the minimum required license for the dataset owner to configure a scheduled refresh?

Accepted Answer

Power BI Pro. Power BI Pro is the minimum license required for a dataset owner to configure a scheduled refresh against a cloud-based Azure SQL Database. Scheduled refresh is a premium feature that is not available with a Power BI Free license, and while Power BI Premium capacity or Premium Per User can also support scheduled refresh, they are not the minimum requirement. The dataset owner must have a Pro license to schedule refreshes for datasets hosted in shared capacity.

Answer

Power BI Premium capacity

Answer

Power BI Premium Per User

Answer

Power BI Free

Question 14

You need to combine two tables from different sources: 'Orders' from SQL Server and 'Returns' from an Excel file. Both tables have a column named 'OrderID'. You want to include all orders and only matching returns. Which join type should you use in Power Query?

Accepted Answer

Left Outer Join. In Power Query, a Left Outer Join returns all rows from the first (left) table ('Orders') and only the matching rows from the second (right) table ('Returns'), based on the 'OrderID' column. This matches the requirement to include all orders and only matching returns, ensuring no order is dropped even if it has no corresponding return.

Answer

Inner Join

Answer

Right Outer Join

Answer

Full Outer Join

Question 15

Which THREE of the following are considerations when implementing row-level security (RLS) in Power BI? (Select three.)

Accepted Answer

RLS does not apply to data accessed via the XMLA endpoint unless using dynamic security.. Options A, B, and C are correct. Row-level security (RLS) in Power BI ensures that users only see data they are authorized to view. Option A is correct because RLS does not apply to data accessed via the XMLA endpoint unless dynamic security is configured; static RLS filters are not applied through the endpoint. Option B is correct because RLS filters are applied at query time, restricting data in all visuals. Option C is correct because RLS can be defined using DAX filter expressions in the Manage Roles feature. Option D is incorrect because RLS applies to all users regardless of their role (Viewer, Editor, etc.); it is not limited to the Viewer role. Option E is incorrect because the "Show all" option in visuals does not bypass RLS; users cannot see data they are not permitted to see.

Answer

RLS is enforced only for users with the Viewer role.

Answer

RLS can be bypassed by using the 'Show all' option in visuals.