PL-300 Visualize and analyze the data Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Drag and drop the steps to import data from a SQL Server database into Power BI Desktop into the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Open Power BI Desktop, then click Get Data and select SQL Server, then enter server name and database name and authentication, then select tables or write a SQL query and click Load or Transform.. Importing from SQL Server involves selecting the source, connecting to the server and database, choosing tables or queries, and loading or transforming data.

Answer

Click Get Data and select SQL Server, then open Power BI Desktop, then enter server name and database name and authentication, then select tables or write a SQL query and click Load or Transform.

Answer

Open Power BI Desktop, then enter server name and database name and authentication, then click Get Data and select SQL Server, then select tables or write a SQL query and click Load or Transform.

Answer

Open Power BI Desktop, then click Get Data and select SQL Server, then select tables or write a SQL query and click Load or Transform, then enter server name and database name and authentication.

Question 2

Match each data connectivity mode to its description.

Accepted Answer

Import: Data is stored in the Power BI dataset.. Correct matches: Import stores data locally, DirectQuery sends queries, Live Connection connects to existing model, Composite Model mixes Import and DirectQuery. Common confusion is between Import and DirectQuery.

Answer

Import: Data is not stored locally, queries are sent to source.

Answer

DirectQuery: Data is stored in Power BI cache.

Question 3

Match each DAX function category to an example function.

Accepted Answer

Aggregation: SUM. Correct matches: Aggregation → SUM, Logical → IF, Filter → CALCULATE. Common confusions: confusing text functions (LEFT) with date/time (DATE) and vice versa.

Answer

Text: DATE

Answer

Date/Time: LEFT

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 A is correct because the churn rate requires a stable denominator—active customers at the beginning of each month—which is a month-grain snapshot that cannot be reliably recomputed row-by-row in a measure over the Customers table. A calculated table that summarizes active customers at the start of each month materializes this snapshot, and the churn measure can then divide monthly churned customers by that precomputed active-customer count. Option B is wrong because a COUNTROWS/FILTER measure evaluates in the current filter context and cannot reconstruct the beginning-of-month active population once customers have churned. Option C is wrong because RANKX only orders customers by churn date and provides no active-customer denominator. Option D is wrong because a calculated column is evaluated at row granularity and cannot represent a month-by-month active-customer snapshot for 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 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.. The measure uses CALCULATE with ALL('Date') to remove any filter context coming from the visual's Date[Year] axis, then applies a filter for the maximum year in the Date table, so it returns the sum of sales for that maximum year regardless of which year the visual is showing. Because ALL removes the year filter and the MAX('Date'[Year]) is computed over the entire unfiltered Date table, the result is the same for every row on the axis. Option A is wrong because the measure restricts to the maximum year, not all years. Option B is wrong because the visual's current year filter is explicitly removed by ALL. Option D is wrong because the measure is valid and returns a value, 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 6

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.. The correct option is C: using the 'Export data' option from the visual's context menu exports exactly the data currently displayed in that visual, so it inherently respects the active filters, slicers, and cross-filtering applied in the report. This is the standard Power BI behavior for exporting a visual's underlying data to Excel. Option A (RLS) only restricts which rows a user can see based on their identity and does not control export filter behavior. Option B ('Read only' mode) merely prevents editing of the report and has no effect on whether exports honor filters. Option D ('Analyze in Excel') connects Excel to the dataset via a live connection and returns the full semantic model data, not the filtered view of the report.

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 7

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 A and C are correct. To share a Power BI report with external users without licenses, you can either publish it to a Power BI app (if tenant settings allow external sharing) or use the 'Publish to web' option to generate an embed code that works without requiring a license. Option D (sharing directly) requires the recipient to have a Pro license. Option B (exporting to PDF and emailing) is not a built-in feature. Option E (sharing to a distribution group) still requires licenses for the users.

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 8

You have a Power BI report that uses a DirectQuery connection to a SQL Server database. You need to improve the performance of a visual that shows a large number of data points. What is the best action to take?

Accepted Answer

Add a slicer to limit the data range.. The correct option is B: Add a slicer to limit the data range. In a DirectQuery model, every visual interaction generates queries that are sent to the SQL Server database, so reducing the volume of data the visual must retrieve by filtering with a slicer directly lowers query cost and improves rendering performance. Options A and D do not reduce the amount of data queried: increasing data points adds load, and disabling cross-filtering only affects interaction behavior, not the underlying query volume. Option C, changing the storage mode to Import, would improve performance but is not the best action here because it changes the data connectivity architecture and requires importing and refreshing data rather than optimizing the existing DirectQuery scenario.

Answer

Increase the number of data points displayed in the visual.

Answer

Change the storage mode to Import.

Answer

Disable the 'cross-filter' interaction between visuals.

Question 9

You need to create a Power BI report that uses data from Microsoft Excel files stored in SharePoint Online. The data should refresh automatically every hour. What is the recommended approach?

Accepted Answer

Use the SharePoint Online folder connector in Power Query and set up a scheduled refresh in the Power BI service.. The SharePoint Online folder connector in Power Query connects to a folder of Excel files, and you can set up a scheduled refresh in the Power BI service to refresh data from those files every hour. Option B is incorrect because the Excel Online connector connects to a single Excel file, not a folder, so it cannot handle multiple files; it does support scheduled refresh for files in SharePoint Online, but it is not the recommended approach for multiple files. Option C is incorrect because manually uploading files does not enable automated scheduled refresh. Option D is incorrect because importing Excel files into Power Query is a transformation step, not a data source connector; you still need a data source that supports refresh, such as the SharePoint folder connector.

Answer

Use the Excel Online connector in Power BI Desktop.

Answer

Manually upload the Excel files to the Power BI service each time.

Answer

Import the Excel files into Power Query and then publish.

Question 10

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). The correct option is D, Small multiples (bar chart), because it splits the same bar chart into a grid of smaller charts—typically one per region or another field—so each region's sales can be compared within its own panel rather than all bars competing on one crowded axis, improving readability without altering the underlying data. This preserves the original bar-chart encoding while reducing visual clutter from similar values across many regions. A line chart (A) is designed for trends over a continuous axis such as time, not for comparing categorical regions. A treemap (B) encodes values by area, which makes precise comparison of similar values harder, and a donut chart (C) is poor for comparing many categories and emphasizes parts of a whole rather than direct value comparison.

Answer

Line chart

Answer

Treemap

Answer

Donut chart

Question 11

You are designing a Power BI report for executives. They need to quickly see the top 10 products by revenue and the trend of revenue over the last 12 months. Which combination of visuals should you include on a single page?

Accepted Answer

Stacked bar chart for top products and a line chart for monthly revenue trend. Option A is correct because a stacked bar chart can display the top 10 products by revenue with each bar representing a product's revenue contribution, while a line chart is the ideal visual for showing a continuous monthly revenue trend over the last 12 months. Together they satisfy both executive requirements on a single page. Option B is wrong because a stacked bar chart is not suited for showing a time-based trend across 12 months; a line chart is preferred. Option C is wrong because a funnel chart is designed for sequential process stages, not ranking products by revenue. Option D is wrong because a pie chart cannot effectively show a 12-month trend and a table is less scannable for top-10 ranking than a bar chart.

Answer

Clustered bar chart for top products and a stacked bar chart for monthly revenue

Answer

Funnel chart for top products and a line chart for monthly revenue

Answer

Table of products and a pie chart for monthly revenue

Question 12

You are building a Power BI report that uses a live connection to an Azure Analysis Services (AAS) tabular model. Users need to be able to filter data using a slicer that shows only products that have been sold in the current year. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Create a calculated table in the AAS model that returns only products sold in the current year. With a live connection to Azure Analysis Services, all data modeling and calculated objects must reside in the AAS tabular model — Power BI Desktop cannot create calculated tables or columns in live-connection mode. Creating a calculated table in the AAS model that returns only products sold in the current year provides a dynamic, server-side dataset that the slicer can bind to. This ensures the slicer reflects current-year sales without requiring client-side transformations.

Answer

Add a calculated column to the Product table in the AAS model that marks products sold this year

Answer

Use a filter on the slicer visual to show only products where sales year equals current year

Answer

Create a calculated table in Power BI Desktop using DAX to filter products

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. You have a JSON definition of a Power BI dataset. You need to ensure that when a user filters by Product[Category], the filters propagate to Sales table. What is the current cross-filtering behavior?

Accepted Answer

Filter from Product flows to Sales. 'oneDirection' means filter flows from the 'one' side (Product) to the 'many' side (Sales). Option B is wrong because 'bothDirections' is not set. Option C is wrong because the filter does propagate. Option D is wrong because the behavior is defined.

Answer

Filter from Sales flows to Product

Answer

No filter propagation occurs

Answer

Filter propagation is bidirectional

Question 14

You have a Power BI report that uses a map visual to show store locations. Some stores have the same latitude and longitude. You want to distinguish overlapping points. Which visual feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Bubble map with bubble size set to a measure. The bubble map with size set to a measure allows distinguishing overlapping points. Option A is incorrect because ArcGIS maps also show points and can have overlapping issues. Option C is incorrect because filled maps display regions, not individual points. Option D is incorrect because shape maps display regions, not points.

Answer

ArcGIS map

Answer

Filled map

Answer

Shape map

Question 15

You are creating a Power BI report that includes a scatter chart with many data points. Users want to identify outliers quickly. Which approach should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Add a trend line to the scatter chart and use analytics pane to highlight outliers. Option A is correct because a scatter chart's Analytics pane lets you add a trend line and then enable the "Find outliers" feature, which automatically highlights points that deviate significantly from the trend—exactly what users need to spot outliers quickly in a dense scatter plot. The trend line establishes the expected relationship, and Power BI's outlier detection flags points outside a configurable confidence threshold. Option B does not fit because a line chart shows trends over a continuous axis, not the correlation between two measures where outliers are defined. Option C is unsuitable since a table with conditional formatting lists values but does not visually isolate outliers within the scatter distribution. Option D is wrong because a histogram shows frequency distribution of one variable and loses the two-variable relationships needed to identify outliers.

Answer

Use a line chart to see spikes

Answer

Add a table with conditional formatting to show high values

Answer

Convert to a histogram to see distribution