PL-300 Timed Practice Test 1 — 10 Questions

Question 1

You are developing a Power BI report to analyze sales performance. The data model includes a 'Sales' fact table with a 'Date' column and a 'Region' dimension table. You need to create a measure that calculates the total sales amount for the current year compared to the previous year. Which TWO of the following steps are required to implement this calculation correctly?

Accepted Answer

Create a separate date table and mark it as a date table in Power BI.. Option B is correct because a dedicated date table marked as a date table in Power BI is required for time intelligence functions like SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR to work correctly. Time intelligence functions rely on a continuous, contiguous date range with a 'Date' column marked as the date table, ensuring accurate year-over-year comparisons. Without this, the functions may return incorrect or blank results due to gaps or non-standard date hierarchies.

Answer

Use the Quick Measure feature to create a 'Year-over-year change' measure.

Answer

Apply the CALCULATE function to switch between years.

Answer

Ensure the 'Sales' table has a relationship to the 'Date' table with a many-to-many cardinality.

Question 2

A company has a Power BI dataset that includes a table 'Orders' with columns: OrderID, CustomerID, OrderDate, ShipDate, and Amount. They want to create a measure that calculates the number of orders shipped within 3 days of the order date. Which THREE of the following steps are necessary to create this measure?

Accepted Answer

Use FILTER to filter the Orders table based on the condition.. Option A is correct because FILTER is necessary to iterate over the Orders table and apply a row-by-row condition to identify orders shipped within 3 days. In DAX, FILTER returns a table that can be used as a filter argument inside CALCULATE, enabling context transition and dynamic filtering. Without FILTER, you cannot evaluate the date difference condition for each row individually.

Answer

Use COUNTROWS without any filter.

Answer

Use SUM to add up the Amount column.

Question 3

A company has a Power BI report that uses a DirectQuery dataset from an Azure SQL Database. Users report that the report is slow when filtering by date. Which action should you take to improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Create a separate date dimension table and relate it to the fact table. Creating a separate date dimension table and relating it to the fact table improves performance by enabling star schema design, which optimizes DirectQuery queries. Without a dedicated date table, Power BI may generate inefficient queries that scan the entire fact table for date filtering. A date dimension also supports time intelligence functions and reduces query complexity by allowing the database to use indexes on the date key.

Answer

Increase the date range filter to include more data

Answer

Disable cross-filtering in the report

Answer

Remove unnecessary columns from the date table

Question 4

A Power BI report contains a table visual that displays employee names and their total sales. The data model includes an Employee table with columns: EmployeeID, Name, Department, and HireDate. The Sales table has columns: SaleID, EmployeeID, Amount, and SaleDate. The relationship between Employee and Sales is one-to-many. The user wants to see only employees who have made at least one sale. However, the table shows all employees, including those with no sales (blank Amount). What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

There is no visual-level filter to exclude blank values.. Option D is correct because the table visual is showing all employees due to the absence of a visual-level filter to exclude blank or zero sales amounts. In Power BI, a one-to-many relationship between Employee and Sales means that employees without sales will still appear in the visual unless explicitly filtered out, as the relationship does not automatically suppress rows from the 'one' side when there are no matching rows on the 'many' side.

Answer

The EmployeeID column in the Employee table is hidden.

Answer

The relationship is many-to-one, not one-to-many.

Answer

The relationship direction is set to Single from Employee to Sales.

Question 5

A data analyst creates a Power BI report that uses a date table with a continuous date range. They want to calculate the running total of sales over the last 12 months, ending on the last date in the current filter context. Which DAX expression should they use?

Accepted Answer

CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), DATESBETWEEN('Date'[Date], MAX('Date'[Date]) - 365, MAX('Date'[Date]))). Option A is correct because it uses DATESBETWEEN to define a custom date range from 365 days before the last date in the current filter context (MAX('Date'[Date])) up to that last date, effectively creating a rolling 12-month window. This approach works with a continuous date table and respects the filter context, ensuring the running total is calculated dynamically based on the latest visible date.

Answer

CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), DATESINPERIOD('Date'[Date], MAX('Date'[Date]), -12, MONTH))

Answer

TOTALMTD(SUM(Sales[Amount]), 'Date'[Date])

Answer

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

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to create a measure in Power BI?

Accepted Answer

From the Modeling tab, click New Measure.. Option A is correct because the Modeling tab in Power BI Desktop provides a dedicated 'New Measure' button that allows users to create calculated measures using DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). This is the primary and most direct method for adding measures to your data model, enabling dynamic aggregations and calculations that are not stored in the table but computed at query time.

Answer

From the Format pane, add a measure.

Answer

From Power Query Editor, add a custom column.

Answer

From the Visualizations pane, click New Measure.

Question 7

A user reports that a Power BI report is not refreshing data from a SQL Server database. The dataset uses Import mode. The gateway cluster shows all gateways are online. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The data source credentials are incorrect or expired.. Option D is correct because in Import mode, Power BI caches data and refreshes it on a schedule using stored credentials. If those credentials expire or become invalid, the refresh fails even though the gateway cluster shows as online. The gateway being online only indicates network connectivity, not that the stored credentials are still valid for the SQL Server database.

Answer

The report is using a scheduled refresh with a conflicting time.

Answer

The gateway version is incompatible with the SQL Server version.

Answer

The dataset uses DirectQuery mode which requires a live connection.

Question 8

You need to deploy a Power BI report from a development workspace to a production workspace. You want to ensure that the report uses the production dataset connection string without manual changes. What should you use?

Accepted Answer

Configure a deployment pipeline with parameter rules to override the data source.. Option C is correct because deployment pipelines in Power BI allow you to define parameter rules that automatically override data source connection strings when content is deployed from development to production. This ensures the report uses the production dataset without any manual post-deployment changes, maintaining consistency and reducing human error.

Answer

Manually update the data source in the production workspace after deployment.

Answer

Use a Power BI template (.pbit) and change the connection string before publishing.

Answer

Publish the report directly to the production workspace and update the dataset.

Question 9

You manage a Power BI deployment that uses deployment pipelines. After promoting content from Development to Test, you notice that the Test workspace dataset uses a different data source than expected. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The dataset parameters were not configured in the deployment pipeline rules.. Option C is correct because deployment pipeline rules allow you to configure dataset parameters (such as data source paths) to differ between pipeline stages. If these rules are not set, the dataset retains the data source configuration from the source stage (Development), causing the Test workspace to use an unexpected data source. The pipeline deploys the dataset artifact, but without parameter overrides, the data source connection string remains unchanged.

Answer

The pipeline didn't deploy the dataset because it was already in Test.

Answer

The data source credentials were not applied during deployment.

Answer

The Test workspace has a separate dataset that was manually created.

Question 10

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?

Accepted Answer

Add an Azure AD group to the workspace role.. Option D is correct because using an Azure AD group to manage workspace roles aligns with the customer's requirement for centralized access control via Azure AD. This approach simplifies permission management by allowing group membership changes in Azure AD 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.