PL-300 Practice Test 25 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are a Power BI developer for a financial services company. The company has a large transactional database in Azure Synapse Analytics. The database contains a table 'Transactions' with 2 billion rows. The table includes columns: TransactionID, AccountID, TransactionDate, Amount, Type (Deposit/Withdrawal), Status (Pending/Completed). You need to build a Power BI semantic model that allows executives to analyze monthly trends of completed deposit amounts by account type (e.g., Savings, Checking). The account type is in a separate 'Accounts' table (1 million rows) with columns: AccountID, AccountType, CustomerID. The model must refresh within 2 hours. Due to the large data volume, you cannot import the entire Transactions table. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Create an aggregated table in Synapse that pre-aggregates data at the month and account type level, then use DirectQuery on the aggregated table, and use a composite model with the detail table for drill-through.. Option B is correct because creating an aggregate table in Synapse that pre-computes monthly completed deposit amounts by account type reduces the data volume significantly, and using DirectQuery on the aggregate with the ability to drill down to details via the original table (using composite model or dual storage) provides flexibility. Option A is wrong because DirectQuery on the full table would be slow. Option C is wrong because aggregations in Power BI still require importing the base data. Option D is wrong because incremental refresh does not reduce the data volume for initial load.

Answer

Use incremental refresh to import only recent data, and use DirectQuery for older data.

Answer

Import only the necessary columns and use Power BI aggregations to pre-aggregate.

Answer

Use DirectQuery on the full Transactions table and rely on the Synapse query optimizer.

Question 2

You are a data analyst for a financial services firm. You have a Power BI semantic model that uses DirectQuery mode against a SQL Server data warehouse. The model includes a large fact table named Transactions with billions of rows. Users are complaining that the report is slow when filtering by date range. You need to improve the performance of date-related queries without changing the data source structure. You cannot switch to Import mode due to data volume constraints. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Create a date dimension table in the SQL Server data warehouse and use that table in the Power BI model for date filtering. Ensure the date column is indexed.. Option A is correct: creating a date dimension table in the data warehouse and using it for filtering reduces the number of rows scanned. Option B would increase model size and maintenance. Option C is not possible because calculated tables are not supported in DirectQuery. Option D would not help performance.

Answer

Switch to Import mode for the Transactions table and schedule frequent refreshes.

Answer

Add an index on the date column in the fact table and use the date column directly in visuals.

Answer

Create a calculated table in Power BI using DAX to generate a distinct list of dates from the Transactions table.

Question 3

You have a Power BI report that shows sales by product category. The report is used by the sales team, who need to see the data at a regional level. You want to allow users to switch between viewing data for all regions and a specific region without creating multiple pages. Which feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Use bookmarks with a region slicer.. Option B is correct because bookmarks allow you to capture different states of a report page (e.g., with a specific slicer selection) and let users switch between them. Option A is wrong because drillthrough navigates to a different page. Option C is wrong because tooltips show additional info on hover. Option D is wrong because Q&A is a natural language query feature.

Answer

Add a tooltip page that shows regional data.

Answer

Create drillthrough pages for each region.

Answer

Enable the Q&A visual and let users type the region.

Question 4

You are designing a Power BI report to analyze customer churn. The data model includes a 'Customers' table and a 'Churn' table. You need to create a measure that calculates the churn rate for each month, defined as the number of customers who churned that month divided by the total number of active customers at the beginning of the month. What is the best approach?

Accepted Answer

Create a calculated table that summarizes active customers at the start of each month.. Option C is correct because a churn rate requires a snapshot of active customers at the start of each month, which is best achieved with a calculated table that shows the count per month. Option A is wrong because a calculated column would be static and not respect month boundaries. Option B is wrong because RANKX is unrelated. Option D is wrong because a simple measure would not properly handle the denominator.

Answer

Write a measure using COUNTROWS and FILTER.

Answer

Use the RANKX function to order customers by churn date.

Answer

Create a calculated column in the 'Customers' table to mark churned status per month.

Question 5

You have a Power BI report that uses a live connection to an Azure Analysis Services (AAS) tabular model. You need to add a new measure to the report. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Add the measure to the AAS tabular model using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Visual Studio.. Option A is correct because with a live connection, you cannot create measures in Power BI Desktop; they must be defined in the source model. Option B is wrong because measures cannot be created in the report layer with live connection. Option C is wrong because calculated columns also cannot be added. Option D is wrong because the AAS model must be modified externally.

Answer

Use DAX to create a new calculated column in Power BI Desktop.

Answer

Modify the AAS model directly from Power BI Desktop.

Answer

Create a new calculated table in Power BI Desktop.

Question 6

You have a Power BI report with a date table and a sales table. The above DAX measure is used in a visual that also shows 'Date[Year]' on the axis. What does this measure return?

Accepted Answer

The sum of sales for the maximum year present in the Date table, regardless of the visual's year filter.. Option C is correct because the FILTER with ALL(Date) removes all filters from the Date table, then keeps only rows where Year equals the maximum year in the current context (which, because of the ALL, is the maximum year in the entire Date table regardless of slicers). Since the visual is filtered to a specific year by the axis, the measure shows the total for the max year overall, not the current year. Option A is wrong because it would require ALLSELECTED or no ALL. Option B is wrong because it would be a simple SUM. Option D is wrong because the measure returns a sum, not a blank.

Answer

The sum of sales for all years.

Answer

The sum of sales for the current year on the axis.

Answer

A blank because the measure conflicts with the visual filter.

Question 7

You have a Power BI dataset that includes a 'Sales' table and a 'Calendar' table. You need to create a measure that calculates the running total of sales over the last 12 months, ending on the last date in the current filter context. Which DAX function should you use?

Accepted Answer

DATESINPERIOD. Option B is correct because DATESINPERIOD returns a set of dates from the last date in the current context going back 12 months, which is ideal for a rolling 12-month total. Option A is wrong because DATEADD shifts dates but does not automatically give a period. Option C is wrong because DATESBETWEEN requires explicit start and end dates. Option D is wrong because PREVIOUSMONTH only gives one month.

Answer

DATEADD

Answer

PREVIOUSMONTH

Answer

DATESBETWEEN

Question 8

You are building a Power BI report to display sales data. You want to ensure that when users export the report data to Excel, the exported data respects the current filters and slicers applied in the report. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'Export data' option from the visual's context menu.. Option D is correct because the 'Export data' feature in Power BI respects the current filters and slicers by default. Options A and B are about underlying data permissions, not export filtering. Option C is about preventing export, not filtering behavior.

Answer

Apply row-level security (RLS) to the dataset.

Answer

Set the report to 'Read only' mode.

Answer

Use the 'Analyze in Excel' feature.

Question 9

Which THREE of the following are valid considerations when using Power BI's AI visuals? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Some AI visuals have a limit on the number of data points they can analyze.. Options A, B, and C are correct. Option A is correct because AI visuals (like Key Influencers) have data limits. Option B is correct because some AI visuals require Premium capacity for advanced features. Option C is correct because AI visuals may need a specific column type (e.g., numeric for decomposition tree). Option D is wrong because AI visuals do not require a separate license beyond Power BI. Option E is wrong because AI visuals are not deprecated.

Answer

AI visuals are only available with an AI workload license.

Answer

AI visuals are deprecated in favor of Copilot.

Question 10

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to share a Power BI report with external users who do not have a Power BI license? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Publish the report to a Power BI app and grant access to external users if the tenant settings allow.. Options B and C are correct. Option B allows external users to view reports with a Pro license if the tenant allows. Option C allows sharing via a link that works without a license (but requires appropriate settings). Option A is wrong because sharing directly requires the recipient to have a Pro license. Option D is wrong because exporting via email is not a built-in feature. Option E is wrong because sharing to a distribution group still requires licenses.

Answer

Export the report to PDF and email it to the external user.

Answer

Share the report directly from the Power BI service by entering the external user's email address.

Answer

Add the external user to a distribution group and share the report with that group.

Question 11

You receive the above JSON policy for a Power BI dataset. You need to add a relationship between the 'Sales' table and a 'Calendar' table in the same dataset. What must you modify in the JSON?

Accepted Answer

Add an object to the 'relationships' array.. Option B is correct because relationships are defined in the 'relationships' array within the dataset. Option A is wrong because the 'tables' array holds table definitions, not relationships. Option C is wrong because measures are separate. Option D is wrong because the dataset version is metadata, not a place for relationships.

Answer

Add a new table to the 'tables' array.

Answer

Change the 'version' field to '2.0'.

Answer

Add a measure that references the Calendar table.

Question 12

You have a Power BI report that uses a bar chart to show sales by region. Users report that the chart is difficult to read because many regions have similar sales values. You need to improve the readability without changing the data. Which visual should you use?

Accepted Answer

Small multiples (bar chart). Option B is correct because a small multiples chart allows breaking down the bar chart into separate panels per region, making it easier to compare values. Option A is wrong because treemaps are not ideal for comparing similar values. Option C is wrong because line charts are for trends. Option D is wrong because donut charts show proportions.

Answer

Line chart

Answer

Treemap

Answer

Donut chart

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. You have a DAX measure that calculates year-over-year sales growth. When you add this measure to a table visual with Year and Month, some rows show blank values. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The Calendar table does not have a continuous date range, causing SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR to return blank for some months. Option B is correct because SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR requires a contiguous date range; missing dates in the Calendar table cause blank returns. Option A is wrong because DIVIDE handles division by zero. Option C is wrong because the measure uses SUM, not a relationship issue. Option D is wrong because the measure works at month granularity.

Answer

The measure cannot be used at the month level because SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR only works at year level

Answer

The measure is trying to divide by zero for months with no sales in the previous year

Answer

The relationship between Sales and Calendar is inactive

Question 14

You have a Power BI report with a matrix visual showing sales by region and product category. You want to allow users to expand and collapse groups. Which feature should you enable?

Accepted Answer

Row and column subtotals. Option D is correct because row subtotals and column subtotals are enabled by default, but the matrix visual supports expand/collapse when the hierarchy is present. Option A is wrong because drill-down is different. Option B is wrong because drill-through navigates to another page. Option C is wrong because tooltips are for hover information.

Answer

Page tooltips

Answer

Drill-down mode

Answer

Drill-through

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. You have a DAX measure that ranks products by sales amount. When you add this measure to a table visual with ProductID and Sales Amount, you notice that the rank resets for each year when you add a Year slicer. What should you modify to ensure ranking is always across all products regardless of slicer?

Accepted Answer

Change ALL to ALL(Sales) and add a filter to ignore year. Option A is correct because ALL removes all filters, but if you want to ignore the year slicer, you need to use ALLSELECTED or modify to ALL(Product[ProductID]) but also use ALL to ignore year filter. Option B is wrong because ALLSELECTED respects slicer selection. Option C is wrong because VALUES respects filters. Option D is wrong because ALLNOBLANKROW is similar to ALL.

Answer

Change ALL to ALLSELECTED(Sales[ProductID])

Answer

Change ALL to ALLEXCEPT(Sales, Sales[Year])

Answer

Change ALL to VALUES(Sales[ProductID])