PL-300 Practice Test 25 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO actions can you take to improve the performance of a Power BI report that uses a large dataset?

Accepted Answer

Use aggregations to pre-summarize data at higher levels.. Option B is correct because aggregations let you pre-summarize large fact tables at higher grain levels (for example, daily or monthly totals) and cache those smaller tables in memory, so most report queries hit the compact aggregation table instead of scanning billions of detail rows, dramatically reducing query time. Option D is correct because every visual on a page issues its own DAX query against the dataset, so reducing the number of visuals lowers the total number of queries and the volume of data retrieved per page render, which directly improves report responsiveness. Option A is not appropriate because adding more columns to slicers increases the cardinality of filter combinations and generates larger, more complex filter context, which typically slows queries rather than speeding them up. Option C is wrong because deeply nested calculated measures are evaluated at query time and consume CPU and memory, degrading rather than improving performance. Option E is incorrect because DirectQuery pushes queries to the source database on every interaction and generally performs worse than Import mode for large datasets, not better.

Answer

Use multiple columns in slicers for more granular filtering.

Answer

Create complex calculated measures that use many nested functions.

Answer

Switch from Import mode to DirectQuery mode.

Question 2

You are a Power BI consultant for a logistics company. The company has a semantic model with a 'Shipments' fact table (containing 'ShipmentID', 'Date', 'OriginCity', 'DestinationCity', 'Weight', 'Cost') and 'City' dimension table (with 'City', 'Region', 'Country'). The company wants a report that displays a map visual with bubbles sized by total shipment weight, and a slicer to select a region. Additionally, they want to be able to click on a bubble (city) and see a table of shipments from that city. You have implemented a map visual using the 'City' field and a table visual. When you click on a bubble, the table does not filter to show only shipments from that city. You have confirmed that cross-filtering is enabled. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The relationship between Shipments and City is based on OriginCity, but the table shows DestinationCity, so the filter does not apply.. The correct answer is C: the relationship between Shipments and City is based on OriginCity, but the table shows DestinationCity, so the filter does not apply. In Power BI, cross-filtering propagates along active model relationships, so clicking a city bubble filters the Shipments table only through the column used by the map's active relationship (OriginCity); if the table visual displays DestinationCity, the filter on OriginCity does not restrict those rows. The fix is to use the same city column in both visuals or add a role-playing dimension/relationship for DestinationCity. Option A is wrong because a legend is not required for a map bubble to act as a filter source. Option B is wrong because a table filter would not silently block cross-filtering unless it explicitly conflicts, and the scenario says cross-filtering is enabled. Option D is wrong because a slicer on Region does not prevent a map selection from filtering the table.

Answer

The map visual does not have a legend field, so clicking does not generate a filter.

Answer

The table visual has a filter that prevents cross-filtering.

Answer

The region slicer is interfering with the cross-filtering.

Question 3

When creating a many-to-many relationship between two tables, what is a common approach to model this in Power BI?

Accepted Answer

Introduce a bridge table that contains the unique combinations.. The correct answer is C: introduce a bridge table that contains the unique combinations, because Power BI's recommended pattern for many-to-many relationships is to create a junction (bridge) table with one row per unique pairing of the two entity keys, then relate each original table to the bridge via one-to-many relationships. This keeps the model star-schema-like, avoids ambiguous filter paths, and lets DAX propagate filters correctly across both dimensions. Option A is wrong because CROSSJOIN in a calculated table just produces a Cartesian product of all rows and does not establish a proper relational model. Option B is wrong because merging both tables into one denormalized table destroys the separate entities and causes duplication and aggregation errors. Option D is wrong because although Power BI can technically create a direct many-to-many relationship, it is not the common or recommended modeling approach and can produce ambiguous or incorrect results.

Answer

Use the CROSSJOIN DAX function in calculated tables.

Answer

Merge both tables into a single table.

Answer

Create a direct many-to-many relationship in the model.

Question 4

You have the above calculated column in a Power BI model. Some rows show blank values for Profit Margin even though Profit and SalesAmount are not blank. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

SalesAmount is zero for those rows. The correct answer is D: SalesAmount is zero for those rows. In DAX, a calculated column for Profit Margin typically uses DIVIDE(Profit, SalesAmount), and DIVIDE returns BLANK when the denominator is zero (or BLANK), which explains why Profit and SalesAmount appear non-blank yet Profit Margin shows blank. Options A and B do not fit because a syntax error would prevent the column from being created or would error, and non-numeric columns would cause type/aggregation errors rather than selective blanks. Option C is incorrect because DIVIDE handles large numbers fine; its blank behavior is driven by a zero or blank denominator, not magnitude.

Answer

The calculated column syntax is incorrect

Answer

The columns are not numeric

Answer

The DIVIDE function cannot handle large numbers

Question 5

You have a Power BI report that displays sales data by region. The report includes a map visual showing sales amount by state. You notice that some states are not displayed on the map because the state names in the data do not match the standard names used by Power BI's map visualization. For example, 'California' is correct but 'CA' is not recognized. You need to ensure all states appear correctly. Which action should you take? A. Create a calculated column that maps state abbreviations to full names using a SWITCH statement. B. Change the map visual to a filled map. C. Use the 'Data category' property to set the field to 'State or Province'. D. Add a custom map image. Which option is the best?

Accepted Answer

Create a calculated column that maps state abbreviations to full names using a SWITCH statement. The scenario describes a data-quality problem: the state field contains values like 'CA' that Power BI's map engine cannot geocode, so a calculated column using SWITCH (or a lookup table) must translate abbreviations into the full standard names such as 'California' that the map service recognizes. Setting a data category (option A) only tells Power BI what kind of geographic data the field contains; it does not convert 'CA' into a recognizable state name, so the unmatched values would still fail to plot. Changing to a filled map (option D) or adding a custom map image (option C) alters the visualization type or background but does nothing to fix the underlying mismatched state values.

Answer

Use the 'Data category' property to set the field to 'State or Province'

Answer

Add a custom map image

Answer

Change the map visual to a filled map

Question 6

You are creating a star schema in Power BI. Which TWO tables are typically dimension tables?

Accepted Answer

Product. In a star schema, dimension tables hold descriptive attributes used to slice and filter facts, so B (Product) is correct because it stores descriptive product attributes like name, category, and subcategory that relate to fact tables. C (Date) is also correct because a date/calendar table provides time attributes (year, quarter, month, day) for time intelligence and filtering, making it a classic dimension. By contrast, A (TransactionDetails), D (InventoryTransactions), and E (Sales) are transactional or event-level tables that store measures and foreign keys, so they are fact tables rather than dimensions.

Answer

TransactionDetails

Answer

InventoryTransactions

Answer

Sales

Question 7

Your organization uses Power BI in a shared capacity model. A report developer complains that a new report published to a workspace does not appear in the 'My workspace' area. They have the Contributor role on the workspace. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Reports published to a workspace do not appear in 'My workspace' unless the user manually saves a copy there.. The correct answer is C: reports published to a workspace do not appear in 'My workspace' unless the user manually saves a copy there. In Power BI, 'My workspace' is a personal container separate from shared workspaces, so a report published to a shared workspace stays in that workspace and is not mirrored into the developer's personal area. The Contributor role is sufficient to publish and edit content in a workspace, so permission is not the issue. Option A is wrong because Contributor does allow publishing, option B is wrong because no automatic copy is created to be deleted, and option D is wrong because licensing would not cause this specific display behavior.

Answer

The Contributor role does not have permission to publish reports to the workspace.

Answer

The report was automatically added to 'My workspace' but was deleted by an administrator.

Answer

The user does not have a Power BI Pro license.

Question 8

You have a Power BI report with a matrix visual showing sales by year and quarter. Users want to drill down from year to quarter and expand back up. Which feature should you enable?

Accepted Answer

Enable drill-down mode and add a hierarchy of Year and Quarter. The correct option is C: enable drill-down mode and add a hierarchy of Year and Quarter. Drill-down requires a hierarchy (Year > Quarter) placed on the matrix rows, and enabling drill-down mode lets users expand from year to quarter and collapse back up within the same visual. Drill-through pages (A) navigate to a separate filtered page rather than expanding levels in place, and bookmarks (B) capture view states rather than providing hierarchical navigation. Tooltip pages (D) only show supplemental detail on hover and do not support drill-down or expand-up behavior.

Answer

Set up drill-through pages for each quarter

Answer

Create bookmarks for each level

Answer

Add a tooltip page showing quarterly details

Question 9

Your organization uses Power BI with Premium capacity. You need to configure a scheduled refresh for a dataset that connects to an Azure SQL Database. The refresh must complete before 6:00 AM every day. The dataset currently takes 45 minutes to refresh. What is the most important consideration?

Accepted Answer

Schedule the refresh to start early enough to complete by 6:00 AM, considering any other scheduled refreshes.. The correct option is B: schedule the refresh to start early enough to complete by 6:00 AM, considering any other scheduled refreshes. Since the dataset takes 45 minutes, the schedule must begin by 5:15 AM at the latest, and because Power BI Premium allows up to 48 scheduled refreshes per day but serializes overlapping refreshes on the same capacity, other datasets sharing that capacity can delay the start and push completion past 6:00 AM. Option A is unnecessary because Azure SQL Database is a cloud service reachable directly over the internet, so no on-premises data gateway is required. Option C could reduce refresh duration but is an optimization, not the essential scheduling consideration, and option D is irrelevant because the dataset needs only one daily refresh, far below the Premium limit.

Answer

Use an on-premises data gateway to connect to Azure SQL.

Answer

Configure incremental refresh to reduce the refresh time.

Answer

Ensure the dataset does not exceed the maximum number of daily refreshes (8 for shared, 48 for Premium).

Question 10

You are a Power BI administrator. Your organization uses Microsoft Entra ID for identity management. You need to ensure that only users from specific security groups can access the Power BI service. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create a conditional access policy in Microsoft Entra ID that grants access to Power BI only for members of the allowed security groups.. Option B is correct because Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access is the supported mechanism to restrict sign-in to a cloud app such as Power BI based on group membership: you create a policy assigned to the Power BI cloud app, target the specific security groups under Users, and grant access while blocking everyone else. This enforces the restriction at authentication time across the tenant, which is exactly what the scenario requires. Option A is wrong because the Power BI admin portal's 'Allow users to access Power BI' setting is a tenant-wide on/off toggle that cannot be scoped to specific security groups. Option C is wrong because B2B guest settings govern external collaboration and domain allow/deny lists, not which internal security groups may use Power BI. Option D is wrong because workspace access permissions only control content within individual workspaces and do not prevent users from signing in to the Power BI service.

Answer

In the Power BI admin portal, configure the 'Allow users to access Power BI' setting to specify the security groups.

Answer

Configure the 'B2B guest user settings' to allow only specific domains.

Answer

Modify the workspace access permissions to include only the allowed security groups.

Question 11

You need to create a report that calculates running total of sales over time. Which Power BI feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Use the Quick Measure for 'Running total'. The correct option is A, the Quick Measure for 'Running total', because Power BI provides this built-in Quick Measure specifically to compute a cumulative sum of a value (e.g., sales) across a sorted axis such as a date, generating the required DAX automatically. It handles the filter context and ordering needed for a running total without manual coding. Option B is not the intended feature since writing a custom SUM/FILTER measure is a manual approach rather than the dedicated Power BI feature for this task. Option C is unsuitable because a calculated table is static and does not dynamically respond to report filters or slicers like a measure. Option D is incorrect because a calculated column using EARLIER computes row-level values at data refresh and cannot produce a dynamic running total in the report visual.

Answer

Write a measure using SUM and FILTER

Answer

Create a calculated table with running total

Answer

Add a calculated column using EARLIER function

Question 12

You have a Power BI report that includes a map visual showing store locations. You want to add a tooltip that displays the store name and total sales when users hover over a location. What do you need to do?

Accepted Answer

Add the store name and sales fields to the tooltips bucket of the map visual.. The correct option is A: add the store name and sales fields to the tooltips bucket of the map visual. In Power BI, the Tooltips field well on a visual lets you bind additional fields (here, store name and total sales) so they appear automatically when a user hovers over a location, which is exactly the required behavior. Option B is wrong because bookmarks capture and switch report state rather than provide hover tooltips. Option C is wrong because drill-through requires the user to right-click and navigate to a separate page, not hover. Option D is wrong because the page tooltip property configures a report-page tooltip (often for a whole page), not the field-level hover details on the map visual.

Answer

Create a bookmark that shows a table with store details.

Answer

Add a drill-through page with store details.

Answer

Set the page tooltip property to show store details.

Question 13

You are creating a Power BI report for a small business. The data source is a Microsoft Access database with tables: Customers (CustomerID, CompanyName, City), Orders (OrderID, CustomerID, OrderDate, Amount). You need to model the data to analyze total orders by customer and by month. What is the most efficient approach?

Accepted Answer

Import both tables into Power BI and create a relationship between CustomerID columns.. Importing both tables and creating a relationship between the CustomerID columns builds a proper star-schema-style model in Power BI, letting the Customers dimension filter the Orders fact table so totals by customer and by month can be computed efficiently with DAX. This approach leverages Power BI's in-memory VertiPaq engine and relationship-based filter propagation, which is the recommended modeling pattern for this kind of analysis. Option A does not fit because DirectQuery is not supported for Microsoft Access as a data source in Power BI, and even where DirectQuery applies it would not be more efficient here. Option B is less flexible because pre-joining the tables in Power Query flattens the model and complicates month-level aggregation and reuse. Option C is unnecessary overhead for a small business scenario and adds migration effort without modeling benefit.

Answer

Use DirectQuery on the Access database to avoid importing.

Answer

Create a single query in Power Query that joins the tables and import the result.

Answer

Migrate the Access database to SQL Server and then import.

Question 14

You create a Power BI report that includes a page with a matrix visual showing sales by region and product category. You want users to be able to drill down from region to salesperson level. What is the best way to enable this?

Accepted Answer

Add the Salesperson field to the matrix rows hierarchy below Region.. The correct option is C: adding the Salesperson field to the matrix rows hierarchy below Region. In a Power BI matrix visual, placing fields in a hierarchy within the Rows well enables the built-in drill-down/expand feature, letting users go from region to salesperson level directly in the same visual. Drill-through (A) navigates to a separate detail page rather than drilling within the matrix, bookmarks (B) only toggle saved view states and do not create a hierarchy, and tooltips (D) merely display supplemental information on hover without enabling drill-down.

Answer

Set up drill-through from the region to a salesperson detail page.

Answer

Use bookmarks to switch between region and salesperson views.

Answer

Enable tooltips that show salesperson details on hover.

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. The DAX measure is intended to return the previous purchase amount for the same customer. However, it returns the current row's amount for most rows. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The variable PreviousDate is evaluated within the current filter context, which may be the same as LastDate for single rows. The correct answer is C: the variable PreviousDate is evaluated within the current filter context, which may equal LastDate for single rows. In DAX, a VAR is computed once in the filter context where it is defined; if the row context is not transitioned or the filter context already restricts OrderDate to the current row, then CALCULATE(..., 'Sales'[OrderDate] = PreviousDate) filters on the same date as the current row, returning the current amount instead of the prior purchase. To fix this, the previous date must be computed in a context that ignores the current OrderDate filter, e.g., using CALCULATE with ALL or REMOVEFILTERS on 'Sales'[OrderDate] before assigning the variable. Option A is wrong because a text OrderDate would typically cause type or sort errors, not a consistent return of the current row's amount. Option B is wrong because ALLEXCEPT removing filters except CustomerID would actually help find prior dates, not prevent it. Option D is wrong because CALCULATE does support boolean filter syntax like 'Sales'[OrderDate] = PreviousDate.

Answer

The data type of OrderDate is text, causing comparison issues

Answer

ALLEXCEPT removes all filters except CustomerID, so the measure cannot find the previous date

Answer

The CALCULATE function does not support the 'Sales'[OrderDate] = PreviousDate syntax