PL-300 Practice Exam 2 — 20 Questions

Question 1

You are deploying a Power BI solution to a customer. The customer requires that all report access be controlled via Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) groups. You have a single workspace with multiple reports. What is the best practice for managing permissions?

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

Accepted Answer

Add an Azure AD group to the workspace role.. Using an Microsoft Entra ID group to manage workspace roles aligns with the customer's requirement for centralized access control via Microsoft Entra ID. This approach simplifies permission management by allowing group membership changes in Microsoft Entra ID to automatically propagate to Power BI workspace access, ensuring consistency and reducing administrative overhead.

Answer

Create a Power BI group and add users to it.

Answer

Assign each user directly to the workspace role.

Answer

Share each report individually with users.

Question 2

A Power BI developer is troubleshooting a report that uses a calculated table. The calculated table is defined as: 'Sales Summary = SUMMARIZE(Sales, Sales[ProductID], "Total Sales", SUM(Sales[Amount]))'. Users report that the 'Total Sales' column shows incorrect values when slicers are applied to the report. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Calculated tables are static and do not respond to slicer selections.. Calculated tables in Power BI are evaluated at data refresh time and stored in the model as static data. They do not respond to slicer selections or any other report-level filters because they are not recalculated in the query context. Therefore, the 'Total Sales' column in the 'Sales Summary' table will always show the same aggregated values regardless of slicer interactions, which is why users see incorrect values when applying slicers.

Answer

The calculated table lacks a relationship to the Sales table.

Answer

The SUMMARIZE function syntax is incorrect.

Answer

The calculated table is not marked as a date table.

Question 3

You are a data analyst for a global retail company. The company uses Power BI Premium capacity. You are building a dataset that combines sales data from three sources:
1. An Azure SQL Database that stores transactional sales data (10 million rows per day, retained for 5 years).
2. A SharePoint Online folder containing monthly Excel reports from regional offices (each report has a different structure).
3. A Dataverse table that contains customer feedback scores.

Requirements:
- The dataset must support near real-time reporting for the current month's sales (maximum 15-minute latency).
- Historical sales data (older than current month) can be refreshed daily.
- Customer feedback scores should be updated every hour.
- The Excel reports from SharePoint must be combined into a single table with consistent columns.
- The final dataset should be optimized for fast query performance.

You need to design the data preparation strategy. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Use a composite model: DirectQuery for the current month's sales data from Azure SQL, and Import mode for historical sales (with incremental refresh) and for customer feedback (with hourly refresh). Combine SharePoint files using Power Query and load them into the model using Import mode. Set up a DirectQuery connection for near real-time.. It uses a composite model to meet all requirements: DirectQuery for near real-time current-month sales (≤15-minute latency), Import mode with incremental refresh for historical sales (daily refresh), Import mode for customer feedback (hourly refresh), and Power Query to combine SharePoint Excel files into a consistent table. This approach balances real-time needs with query performance and refresh flexibility, leveraging Power BI Premium's composite model capabilities.

Answer

Use DirectQuery for all data sources and create views in Azure SQL to transform the SharePoint and Dataverse data. Use Power Query to combine SharePoint files in a view.

Answer

Import all data into Power BI using Import mode. Schedule refreshes every 15 minutes for the current month and daily for historical data.

Answer

Use Azure Data Factory to copy all data to Azure SQL Database, then connect Power BI using DirectQuery.

Question 4

Which TWO methods can you use to share a Power BI report with external users who do not have a Power BI Pro license? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Embed the report in a secure portal using 'Embed for your customers'.. Option A is correct because the 'Embed for your customers' (app-owns-data) scenario uses an embed token and a service principal or master account to render the report inside your own application or secure portal, so the external viewers authenticate to your app and never need a Power BI Pro license. Option B is correct because 'Publish to web' generates an anonymous public embed code/URL that anyone can view in a browser without any Power BI license, Pro or otherwise. Option C is not correct because exporting to PDF produces a static file, not a shared interactive Power BI report, and it is not a Power BI sharing method. Option D is not correct because direct sharing via email in the Power BI service requires the recipient to have a Power BI Pro (or PPU) license to open the report. Option E is not correct because exporting to Excel yields a static data extract, not a live report, and likewise is not a Power BI sharing mechanism.

Answer

Export the report to PDF and share the file.

Answer

Share directly via Power BI using the user's email address.

Answer

Export the report to Excel and attach it to an email.

Question 5

You need to create a Power BI report that allows users to analyze sales data by multiple dimensions including date, product, and region. Which THREE features should you use to provide a good user experience?

Accepted Answer

Add slicers for date, product, and region.. Option A is correct because slicers for date, product, and region let users interactively filter the report across all three required dimensions, providing direct control over the data shown. Option B is correct because bookmarks capture the current state of a report page—including filters, slicers, and visibility—allowing users to switch between predefined views without rebuilding selections. Option C is correct because drill-through pages let users right-click a data point and navigate to a detail page filtered to that specific context, enabling deeper analysis of sales by the selected dimension values. Option D is not appropriate because disabling cross-filtering removes the interactive highlighting and filtering between visuals that improves exploratory analysis. Option E is not appropriate because relying only on default tooltips limits the contextual detail users can see on hover, reducing the overall user experience.

Answer

Disable cross-filtering between visuals.

Answer

Use only default tooltips.

Question 6

You are designing a Power BI report for a sales team. The team needs to see revenue by product category, but also want to view daily trends for a selected product. The data has over 10 million rows. What visual design approach minimizes report load time?

Accepted Answer

Create a drillthrough page with a line chart showing daily revenue, and use category page as source. Option D is correct because a drillthrough page keeps the main category page lightweight and only loads the daily revenue line chart when a user right-clicks a product and drills through, so the 10 million-row detail query runs on demand rather than on every page render. This design also lets the drillthrough page be filtered to the selected product, reducing the data volume processed by the line chart. Options A and C are wrong because rendering both category and daily-trend visuals on one page forces all queries, including the high-cardinality daily aggregation, to execute on initial load. Option B is wrong because bookmarks only toggle visual visibility on the same page; hidden visuals and their underlying queries can still be evaluated, so it does not reliably reduce load time.

Answer

Use a custom visual that combines both views in one chart

Answer

Use bookmarks to switch between category view and daily trend view

Answer

Place a stacked column chart showing all categories and a line chart for trend on the same page

Question 7

You are a data analyst at an online retailer. You import a CSV file containing product reviews into Power BI Desktop. The file has a column named ReviewDate that currently loads as the Text data type, with values formatted like '2024-07-15T09:30:00Z'. You need to change this column to the Date/Time/Timezone data type, but when you select that type in Power Query, the transformation fails for many rows. You need to resolve the failure while preserving the original timestamp data. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Replace the trailing 'Z' with '+00:00' in the column, then change the data type to Date/Time/Timezone.. The Date/Time/Timezone type in Power Query requires an explicit numeric offset such as +00:00, not the ISO 8601 Z shorthand. Replacing Z with +00:00 preserves the UTC instant and lets the conversion succeed. The other approaches either misinterpret the format, discard required time data, or produce a timezone-less result.

Answer

Add a custom column that uses DateTime.FromText on the original values and then delete the original column.

Answer

Change the column to the Date data type instead, which discards the time and timezone portions and avoids the error.

Answer

Use the Locale option in the Change Type dialog and select English (United States) before applying the Date/Time/Timezone type.

Question 8

You are a Power BI data analyst for a subscription software company. You import a table named Subscriptions from an OData feed. The table contains a column named BillingPeriod that stores values such as 'Monthly', 'Annual', and 'Quarterly'. A report author needs a numeric column that converts each value to the number of months in the billing period (1, 12, and 3 respectively) so that revenue can be normalized. You must add this column in Power Query without changing the source system. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Add a conditional column that maps each text value to its corresponding number of months, then change the new column's data type to Whole Number.. A conditional column in Power Query explicitly maps each billing period label to its numeric month count, which is deterministic and easy to audit. Setting the new column to Whole Number makes it usable for arithmetic in the model. The other options either rely on fragile inference, fail outright on non-numeric text, or place the logic in the wrong layer.

Answer

Use the Column From Examples feature, entering '1' next to 'Monthly' and letting Power BI infer the remaining mappings.

Answer

Create a DAX calculated column in the semantic model that uses SWITCH to translate each billing period into months.

Answer

Change the data type of the BillingPeriod column to Whole Number and rely on Power Query's automatic value conversion.

Question 9

You are building a Power BI semantic model that includes a Customers table and a Sales table. The Customers table has a unique CustomerID column. The Sales table has a CustomerID column that references the Customers table. You need to create a relationship between the two tables. Which type of relationship should you create?

Accepted Answer

One-to-many relationship with Customers as the one side and Sales as the many side.. The correct relationship is one-to-many from Customers to Sales because each customer is unique in the Customers table and can have multiple related rows in the Sales table. This is the standard dimension-to-fact relationship in a star schema, enabling efficient filtering and aggregation.

Answer

Many-to-many relationship between Customers and Sales.

Answer

One-to-one relationship between Customers and Sales.

Answer

Many-to-one relationship with Sales as the one side and Customers as the many side.

Question 10

You are modeling data for a subscription business in Power BI Desktop. The Subscriptions table has StartDate and EndDate columns, and the Dates table is marked as the official date table. Analysts need a measure that counts subscriptions that were active on any given day selected in a slicer from Dates, and the relationship between Subscriptions and Dates must remain inactive to avoid ambiguity. Which approach should you use?

Accepted Answer

Create a measure that uses FILTER over the Subscriptions table comparing StartDate and EndDate to the selected date range, evaluated inside CALCULATE.. Counting subscriptions active on a selected date requires an interval test across two date columns, which no single relationship can express. Iterating the fact table with FILTER and comparing both StartDate and EndDate to the slicer context captures the overlap precisely. USERELATIONSHIP handles only one relationship, calculated columns cannot react to slicer selections, and cross-filter direction does not perform interval logic.

Answer

Change the relationship between Subscriptions and Dates to bidirectional cross-filtering and count the Subscriptions rows.

Answer

Create a measure that uses CALCULATE with USERELATIONSHIP to activate the relationship between Subscriptions and Dates inside the measure.

Answer

Create a calculated column on Subscriptions that flags active rows, then use COUNTROWS on the filtered Subscriptions table in the measure.

Question 11

You are creating a Power BI report and need to add a visual that allows users to dynamically change the measure displayed in a chart. Which feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Field parameters. Field parameters provide a way to let report users choose which measures or dimensions appear in a visual. By adding a field parameter to a slicer, users can select from a list of measures, and the visual updates accordingly. This is the most efficient method to achieve dynamic measure switching without creating multiple visuals or bookmarks.

Answer

Bookmarks

Answer

What-if parameters

Answer

Calculation groups

Question 12

Which TWO actions can improve performance of a Power BI DirectQuery model?

Accepted Answer

Ensure proper indexing in the source database. Proper indexing in the source database reduces the query execution time for DirectQuery models. DirectQuery sends queries to the source database in real-time, so efficient indexes on columns used in filters, joins, and aggregations minimize table scans and improve retrieval speed.

Answer

Switch the model to Import mode

Answer

Enable bidirectional cross-filtering on all relationships

Answer

Use calculated columns with complex logic

Question 13

You are building a Power BI data model from an Azure SQL Database. The source table contains a column 'OrderDate' of type datetime. You want to create a date table in Power Query that includes all dates from the minimum to maximum OrderDate. Which M function should you use to generate the list of dates?

Accepted Answer

List.Dates. `List.Dates` generates a list of sequential dates (type `date`) given a start date, a count of values, and a step duration. In Power Query, when you need a date table covering the range from the minimum to maximum `OrderDate`, you compute the count as `Duration.Days(MaxDate - MinDate) + 1` and use `List.Dates(MinDate, Count, #duration(1,0,0,0))`. This produces a clean list of dates without time components, ideal for a date dimension.

Answer

List.Generate

Answer

List.DateTimes

Answer

List.Range

Question 14

Which THREE of the following are best practices when designing Power BI reports for mobile devices? (Select three.)

Accepted Answer

Create a dedicated mobile layout view. Option A is correct because Power BI Desktop provides a dedicated Mobile Layout view (View > Mobile Layout) that lets you rearrange and resize visuals specifically for phone portrait orientation without affecting the desktop canvas. Option B is correct because small phone screens and varied lighting conditions make large font sizes and high-contrast colors essential for legibility and accessibility on mobile devices. Option D is correct because limiting each page to roughly 3-5 visuals keeps the mobile layout scannable and avoids excessive vertical scrolling and slow rendering on phones. Option C is not a mobile best practice per se: custom visuals are chosen for analytical capability, not for mobile optimization, and some custom visuals render poorly or are not optimized for small screens. Option E is not recommended because stacking multiple slicers consumes scarce screen space and complicates touch interaction; mobile designs typically favor a single, well-chosen slicer or filter pane instead.

Answer

Use custom visuals for advanced analytics

Answer

Include multiple slicers for flexible filtering

Question 15

You are designing a star schema for a sales analysis report. The source data includes Order Details, Products, Customers, and Dates. Which table should be the fact table?

Accepted Answer

Order Details. In a star schema, the fact table stores quantitative, measurable data (metrics) and foreign keys linking to dimension tables. Order Details contains sales transactions with measures like quantity and revenue, making it the correct fact table for sales analysis.

Answer

Dates

Answer

Customers

Answer

Products

Question 16

You have a table with columns 'Product', 'Category', and 'Sales'. You want to create a hierarchy that allows users to drill down from Category to Product. Which is the correct order to create the hierarchy?

Accepted Answer

Category -> Product. In Power BI, a hierarchy is built from the highest (most aggregated) level to the lowest (most granular) level. To allow drill-down from Category to Product, Category must be the top level and Product the child level. Option C correctly orders Category → Product, enabling users to expand from category-level totals to individual product sales.

Answer

Product -> Category -> Sales

Answer

Product -> Category

Answer

Sales -> Product -> Category

Question 17

You have a Power BI data model with a table 'Orders' that has columns: 'OrderID', 'OrderDate', 'CustomerName', 'Region', 'Product', 'Quantity', 'UnitPrice'. You want to create a measure that calculates total sales amount. Which DAX expression should you use?

Accepted Answer

Total Sales = SUMX(Orders, Orders[Quantity] * Orders[UnitPrice]). SUMX is an iterator function that evaluates the expression `Orders[Quantity] * Orders[UnitPrice]` for each row in the Orders table and then sums the results. This is necessary because DAX does not support direct multiplication of two columns inside SUM; SUM expects a single column reference, not an expression. SUMX performs row-by-row evaluation, which correctly computes the total sales amount as the sum of (Quantity × UnitPrice) across all orders.

Answer

Total Sales = COUNTROWS(Orders)

Answer

Total Sales = AVERAGE(Orders[Quantity]) * AVERAGE(Orders[UnitPrice])

Answer

Total Sales = SUM(Orders[Quantity] * Orders[UnitPrice])

Question 18

You are the Power BI administrator for a company that uses Microsoft 365. The security team requires that when a user opens a Power BI report on a personal device, the user must authenticate with Microsoft Entra ID and satisfy a conditional access policy that demands multifactor authentication. The report is in a workspace that is not backed by Fabric capacity. Which feature should you enable to meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access. The requirement is to force MFA when users open a report on personal devices. Because Power BI authenticates users through Microsoft Entra ID, a Conditional Access policy that targets the Power BI app and requires MFA will enforce the challenge at sign-in. This works regardless of whether the workspace uses Fabric capacity. Other features like sensitivity labels, RLS, or Embedded do not enforce interactive MFA.

Answer

Power BI Embedded

Answer

Row-level security (RLS)

Answer

Sensitivity labels

Question 19

You have a Power BI model with a table 'Sales' and a related 'Product' table. You want to count the number of distinct products sold. Which DAX expression should you use?

Accepted Answer

DISTINCTCOUNT(Sales[ProductID]). DISTINCTCOUNT(Sales[ProductID]) returns the number of unique ProductID values in the Sales table, which directly answers the requirement to count distinct products sold. This function counts each distinct value in the specified column, ignoring duplicates, and is the standard DAX measure for distinct count calculations.

Answer

COUNTROWS(Sales)

Answer

COUNT(Sales[ProductID])

Answer

COUNTA(Sales[ProductID])

Question 20

You are importing data from a CSV file that contains a column 'OrderDate' with dates in the format 'MM/dd/yyyy'. Some rows have invalid dates like '02/30/2023'. What is the best way to handle these errors in Power Query?

Accepted Answer

Use 'Replace Errors' to replace error values with null.. 'Replace Errors' in Power Query allows you to replace error values (which occur when Power Query fails to convert an invalid date like '02/30/2023' to the Date type) with null. This preserves the rest of the data and keeps the query running without interruption, while clearly marking invalid entries for later handling or analysis.

Answer

Remove rows with errors using 'Remove Rows' > 'Remove Errors'.

Answer

Change the data type to 'Date' and ignore errors.

Answer

Filter the column to exclude rows where the date is invalid after type conversion.