Problem
Power BI is now a very popular tool for data visualization and data analysis resulting in several jobs that can use this skillset. To demonstrate if you have the skills to work with Power BI, you can get a Microsoft Certification. In this tutorial, we will review some of the common questions about the exams you can take along with some resources you can use to study for these exams.
Solution
There are several Microsoft Power BI certifications and, in this tutorial, we will answer common questions about the different certification exams.
What happened to the 70-778 exam?
Microsoft retired Exam 70-778, Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power BI, on January 31, 2021.
Now the new exam for Power BI is PL-300 which we will discuss in this article. There is also another article with resources for the PL-300 exam: Study material for Exam PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst.
What happened to the DA-100 exam?
The DA-100 exam, Analyze Data with Microsoft Power BI, was retired in March of 2022 and replaced with the PL-300 exam.
Is the PL-900 exam a Power BI exam?
The PL-900 exam includes a section with not only Power BI, but other technologies like Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents. These technologies and Power BI are members of the Power Platform.
Which exam should I take first, PL-300 or PL-900?
If you want to get certified in Power BI, you should start with the PL-300 exam. Then you can learn more about other tools and take the PL-900 exam.
Are the PL-300 and the PL-900 exams difficult?
If you read all the material and to do some test exams to verify your knowledge you should have enough experience to pass the exam.
What is the score to pass the exams?
These exams require a score of 700/1000.
What languages are supported for these exams?
These are available in English, Spanish, and German. Also, supported are simplified Chinese, French, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Italian, and Traditional Chinese as well.
What jobs are available for people certified in Power BI?
Usually Data Analyst Associate, Report Writers, Power BI Developers, Power BI Trainers, Big Data Administrators, Business Analysts, Power App Developers, BI Developers, Risk Analyst, Data Engineering, Data Scientists, Software Engineer and more.
How much does it cost to take the exams?
PL-300 Exam Costs
This table provides some countries and associated prices for the exam.
| Price | Country |
|---|---|
| 165 USD | USA, Sweden, Fiji, Kuwait |
| 80 USD | Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Nigeria, Haiti, Bolivia, Botswana, Peru, Mexico, Paraguay, Chile |
| 165 EUR | Germany, San Marino, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, Italy |
| ¥21103 JPY | Japan |
| 115 USD | China, Santa Lucía |
| 125 USD | Taiwan |
| 176 USD | Singapore |
| 100 EUR | Lithuania |
PL-900 Exam Costs
Here is a list of a few countries and prices to give you an idea.
| Price | Country |
|---|---|
| 99 USD | USA, Sweden, Fiji, Kuwait |
| 55 USD | Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Nigeria, Haiti, Bolivia, Botswana, Peru, Mexico, Paraguay, Chile |
| 99 EUR | Germany, San Marino, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, Italy |
| ¥12500 JPY | Japan |
| 69 USD | China, Santa Lucía |
| 75 USD | Taiwan |
| 106 USD | Singapore |
| 60 EUR | Lithuania |
Which is better to study, a book or a video?
It depends on the book and the reader for self-paced learning. Some books do not cover all the required material and the same is true for online courses. I strongly recommend carefully reading book and course reviews. Also, it depends on the person. Some people learn faster with a video training course than with books. However, in general, the books cover more information and provide more details about the tool. It is also important to get hands-on experience and take practice tests as well in order to get Microsoft certified.
Resource links for the PL-900 exam
MSSQLTips.com has a number of articles about Power Apps and Power Automate that may be useful to get started.
- What is Microsoft Power Apps
- 15 things I wish everybody knew about Power Apps
- SQL Server Power Apps Tips
- Execute SQL Queries from Microsoft Power Apps
- Power Apps to read and write data to a SQL Server database in Azure
- Schedule, Export and Email Power BI Reports using Power Automate
- Use Power Automate to Export and Email Power BI Reports with Row Level Security
In addition, here are links to Microsoft articles:
- Exam PL-900: Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals
- Microsoft Power Apps documentation
- Microsoft Power Automate documentation
- Microsoft Power Virtual Agents documentation
- Power BI documentation
Recommend books for the PL-300 exam?
The following books can help you with the exam:
- Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Certification Guide: A comprehensive guide to becoming a confident and certified Power BI professional
- Mastering Microsoft Power BI: Expert techniques to create interactive insights for effective data analytics and business intelligence, 2nd Edition 2nd ed. Edition
- Expert Data Modeling with Power BI: Get the best out of Power BI by building optimized data models for reporting and business needs
Resource links for the PL-300 exam
These are general resources you can review for your Power BI certification exam.
Getting Data from Different Data Sources
- How to connect Multiple Data Sources in Power BI
- STORAGE MODES | What is and how to use it
- Power Bi Data Source Connection: How to change Data source setting in Power bi
- Dataverse + Power BI: What you didn't even know you needed!
- Power BI Shared Datasets: What is it, How does it work, and Why should you care?
- Connecting to a data flow
Clean, Transform and Load the Data
- Profile the data
- How to Profile Data in Power BI? | Data Profiling in Power BI | BI Consulting Pro
- Create custom keys for your Power BI relationships
- Power BI – Changing data types
- Shaping Data In Power BI | Power Query Editor | Table Transformations [Power BI Tutorial]
- Power BI Tutorial: Merge Queries in Power Query
- Data Load from Options & Settings
- How to resolve Data Import Errors in Power BI
Following are resources that align with the exam layout.
Model the Data (30-35%)
- Design a data model
- Develop a data model
- Create model calculations by using DAX
- Optimize model performance
Visualize and Analyze the Data (25-30%)
- Create reports
- How to Build Power BI Reports from Start to Finish
- Visualizations in Power BI – Full Tutorial
- Power BI Dev Camp: Developing Custom Visuals for Power BI
- Top 10 Power BI Custom Visuals
- DAX Tools – Analyze in Microsoft Excel for Power BI 1 – Introduction
- Getting started with Power BI Paginated Reports (2021)
- Create dashboards
- Enhance reports for usability and storytelling
- Identify patterns and trends
Deploy and Maintain Assets (20-25%)
- Manage files and datasets
- Manage workspaces
Next Steps
- Review this article – Study material for Exam PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst.
Daniel Calbimonte is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Certified IT Professional for SQL Server. He is an accomplished SSIS author, teacher at IT Academies and has over 10 years of experience as a QE and developer for SQL Server related software. He has worked for the government, oil companies, web sites, magazines and universities around the world. Daniel also regularly speaks at SQL Servers conferences and blogs.
- MSSQLTips Awards: Author of the Year Contender – 2015-2018, 2022, 2023 | Champion (100+ tips) – 2018
Great article and very useful information. Appreciate the links to my PA tips.