hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PL-900 Practice Question: A company has a Power BI dataset that refreshes…
A company has a Power BI dataset that refreshes daily. Users report that the report shows stale data from two days ago. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse a failed scheduled refresh with gateway issues or DirectQuery mode, but the key clue is the specific timeframe of two days of stale data, which points directly to repeated refresh failures rather than a connectivity or configuration problem.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The scheduled refresh has failed for the past two days
The most likely cause is that the scheduled refresh has failed for the past two days. Power BI datasets that rely on scheduled refresh must complete successfully to update the data; if the refresh fails, the dataset retains the last successful refresh’s data, which in this case is from two days ago. Users seeing stale data from two days ago directly indicates that the refresh has not succeeded since then.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The dataset uses DirectQuery mode
Why it's wrong here
DirectQuery queries the source live, so data is always current.
- ✗
Incremental refresh is configured incorrectly
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect incremental refresh might cause missing data but not overall staleness.
- ✓
The scheduled refresh has failed for the past two days
Why this is correct
A failed refresh means the data remains from the last successful refresh, causing staleness.
- ✗
The on-premises data gateway is offline
Why it's wrong here
If the gateway is offline, the refresh would fail, but the question says refresh occurs daily; the issue is stale data, not failure.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PL-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PL-900 exam.