PL-300 Timed Practice Test 3 — 10 Questions

Question 1

You are merging two queries in Power Query. Query 'Orders' contains columns: OrderID, CustomerID, OrderDate. Query 'Customers' contains columns: CustomerID, CustomerName, Segment. You need to add the CustomerName to the Orders query. The relationship between Orders and Customers is many-to-one. Which join kind should you use?

10 minute time limit — choose an answer to begin.

Accepted Answer

Left Outer. The goal is to retain all rows from the Orders table while adding CustomerName from the Customers table. A Left Outer join returns all rows from the first (left) table and only matching rows from the second (right) table, filling non-matches with null. Since the relationship is many-to-one, each OrderID may have a matching CustomerID, and you want to keep every order even if a customer is missing — exactly what Left Outer does.

Answer

Inner

Answer

Right Outer

Answer

Full Outer

Question 2

Which TWO of the following are valid data source types in Power BI that support DirectQuery? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Snowflake. Snowflake is a cloud-based data warehouse that supports DirectQuery in Power BI, allowing queries to be sent directly to Snowflake without importing data into Power BI's in-memory engine. This is possible because Snowflake provides a SQL-based interface that Power BI can connect to via its native connector, enabling real-time querying of large datasets.

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Excel workbook

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SharePoint Online List

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JSON file

Question 3

You are managing a Power BI environment that uses Microsoft Purview for data governance. You need to ensure that all new datasets automatically inherit sensitivity labels from their source data. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

In Microsoft Purview, set up 'Automatic labeling' policies that propagate labels from source to Power BI datasets.. Microsoft Purview's automatic labeling policies can propagate sensitivity labels from source data to Power BI datasets automatically, ensuring new datasets inherit labels. Option A is incorrect because enabling sensitivity labels in Power BI tenant settings only allows manual labeling and does not enforce automatic inheritance from source data. Option C is incorrect because using Purview Data Map to scan and manually apply labels does not provide automatic propagation. Option D is incorrect because a Power Automate flow would require custom setup and is not the native mechanism for automatic label inheritance from source to Power BI.

Answer

Enable 'Sensitivity labels' in Power BI tenant settings and require labels on datasets.

Answer

Use Microsoft Purview Data Map to scan source data and manually apply labels.

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Configure a Power Automate flow to apply labels based on dataset metadata.

Question 4

You are designing a data model in Power BI. You have a Sales table and a Date table. The Date table should contain all dates from 2020 to 2025. What is the best practice for creating the Date table?

Accepted Answer

Create a separate Date table using CALENDAR function in DAX.. Using the CALENDAR function to create a separate Date table ensures a complete, contiguous date range from 2020 to 2025, independent of the Sales table. This is a best practice in Power BI for time intelligence, as it guarantees all dates are present for accurate year-over-year calculations and avoids gaps or missing dates that could occur if relying solely on transaction data.

Answer

Create a calculated table using VALUES from the Sales table's date column.

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Use the Sales table's date column directly as the date dimension.

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Enable the auto date/time option in Power BI settings.

Question 5

You are the Power BI administrator for a large enterprise. The company has a Power BI Premium capacity with a single dataset that is used by multiple reports and dashboards. The dataset is refreshed daily at 3:00 AM, and the refresh typically completes within 2 hours. Recently, users have reported that the dataset is not showing the most recent data until after 6:00 AM. You investigate and find that the scheduled refresh is taking 4 hours to complete, and there are no errors in the refresh history. The dataset uses import mode and connects to an on-premises SQL Server data warehouse. The data model contains several large fact tables and multiple calculated tables and measures. What should you do to reduce the refresh time and ensure data is available by 5:00 AM?

Accepted Answer

Implement incremental refresh on the fact tables to refresh only new and changed data. Implementing incremental refresh on the fact tables allows Power BI to refresh only new or changed data instead of the entire dataset each time. This significantly reduces the refresh window, especially for large fact tables, because only the latest partition (e.g., today's data) is processed. Since the scheduled refresh starts at 3:00 AM and must complete by 5:00 AM, incremental refresh can cut the refresh time from 4 hours to under 2 hours by avoiding reprocessing historical data.

Answer

Remove all calculated tables and measures and replace them with calculated columns in Power Query

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Change the dataset storage mode to DirectQuery to avoid the import process

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Install an additional on-premises data gateway and configure load balancing

Question 6

You are a Power BI developer for a healthcare organization. You are building a dataset that includes patient data from an on-premises SQL Server database. The database contains a table 'PatientVisits' with columns: PatientID, VisitDate, DiagnosisCode, and Cost. The database also has a table 'DiagnosisLookup' with DiagnosisCode and Description. You need to create a star schema in Power BI. The requirements are:
- The dataset must include a date dimension table that covers all dates from 2010 to 2030.
- The 'PatientVisits' table should be the fact table.
- Diagnosis descriptions should be in a dimension table.
- You must use Power Query to create the date dimension table using M code.
- The data refresh must be scheduled daily via the on-premises data gateway.

You have already loaded the 'PatientVisits' and 'DiagnosisLookup' tables. What should you do next to complete the star schema?

Accepted Answer

In Power Query, create a blank query that generates a date table using the List.Dates function with a custom column for Year, Month, etc. Load it into the model and mark it as a date table.. The requirement explicitly states that the date dimension table must be created using M code in Power Query, and the List.Dates function is the appropriate M function to generate a continuous range of dates from 2010 to 2030. After creating the table with additional columns like Year and Month, you must load it into the model and mark it as a date table to enable time intelligence functions. This approach satisfies the need for a custom date dimension that is not dependent on DAX or auto-generated hierarchies.

Answer

Use DAX to create a date table using CALENDAR function in Power BI Desktop, then mark it as a date table.

Answer

Enable the 'Auto date/time' option in Power BI Desktop and hide the generated date hierarchy.

Answer

In the model view, create a relationship between PatientVisits[VisitDate] and DiagnosisLookup[DiagnosisCode].

Question 7

Which TWO of the following are true about using the 'Mark as Date Table' feature in Power BI?

Accepted Answer

The date table must have a column with unique date values. Options C and E are correct. Option C is correct because the 'Mark as Date Table' feature requires the designated date column to contain unique, non-duplicate date values to function properly. Option E is correct because marking a date table enables time intelligence functions like TOTALYTD, which rely on a properly marked date table for accurate calculations. Option A is wrong because the feature is not required for relationships involving a date column; relationships can exist without marking a date table. Option B is wrong because the date column must have unique dates, not duplicate ones. Option D is wrong because marking a date table does not automatically create all date hierarchy columns; it only designates the table as the date table, and hierarchies must be created manually or through other means.

Answer

It is required for any relationship involving a date column

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The date column can contain duplicate dates

Answer

It automatically creates all date hierarchy columns (Year, Quarter, Month, Day)

Question 8

You have a Power BI report that uses a custom visual from AppSource. The visual is not rendering correctly. What should you check first?

Accepted Answer

The visual is not certified by Microsoft.. Custom visuals are embedded in the report file when published from Power BI Desktop; they do not require a network connection to AppSource to render. If a visual is not rendering, first check whether the visual is certified by Microsoft, as the Power BI service administrator might have disabled the use of uncertified visuals. Option A is incorrect because the visual does not rely on a live connection to AppSource. Option B is incorrect because report themes only affect styling, not rendering. Option C is incorrect because RLS filters data but does not prevent visual rendering.

Answer

The network connection is blocked from reaching AppSource.

Answer

The visual is not compatible with the report theme.

Answer

The dataset has row-level security applied.

Question 9

You need to create a relationship between two tables in Power BI. Both tables contain a column named 'ProductID', but the values in one table are integers and in the other are text. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Ensure both columns have the same data type, either by changing the data type in Power Query or in the model view.. In Power BI, relationships require matching data types on both sides of the key columns. If one 'ProductID' column is integer and the other is text, the relationship engine cannot resolve the join because the data types are incompatible. Changing both columns to the same data type—either in Power Query (recommended for performance) or in the model view—resolves this mismatch and allows a valid relationship to be created.

Answer

Merge the two tables into one in Power Query.

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Create a new calculated column that converts the integer to text using FORMAT.

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Set the relationship to 'Many-to-many' to bypass the type mismatch.

Question 10

You need to audit Power BI activities such as viewing reports, sharing dashboards, and exporting data. Which TWO actions should you take to enable and access audit logs? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Access the audit log from the Microsoft 365 compliance portal.. To audit Power BI activities, you must first enable audit logging by turning on the 'Create audit logs for Power BI activities' tenant setting in the Power BI admin portal (option C). Once enabled, you can access the audit logs from the Microsoft 365 compliance portal (option B). Option A is incorrect because Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is not the primary location for audit logs; it can integrate but is not required. Option D is incorrect because Power BI does not have an export feature for audit logs to CSV; you can export from the compliance portal. Option E is incorrect because Azure Monitor diagnostic settings are for Azure resources, not for Power BI audit logs.

Answer

Configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps to forward logs to Microsoft Sentinel.

Answer

Use the 'Export' feature in Power BI to export audit logs to a CSV file.

Answer

Set up a diagnostic setting in Azure Monitor to collect Power BI logs.