How I became a Microsoft Certified Power BI Data Analyst Associate
In this post, I would like to share my experience on how I passed the PL-300 exam and the resources that I have followed to prepare for the exam.
I have been using Power BI in my projects for more than 2 years and the hands-on experience has helped me to understand different scenarios that has come up in the exam.
I believe hands-on experience on Power BI is crucial for the exam because most of the questions are not straight forward and the questions challenge you to think critically for a suitable step to perform in Power BI.
What is PL-300 Certification?
If you are here, I think you already know what is PL-300 exam. In case if you are new, PL-300 is
- Microsoft’s certification for Data Analyst Associate
- Focuses on Power BI skills and knowledge
- Validates ability to prepare, model, visualize, and analyze data
- Demonstrates proficiency in creating meaningful business insights
Why PL-300 Certification?
- Demonstrates proficiency in Power BI
- Career Advancement
- Recognized Globally
PL-300 is probably the best certification out there right now for Data Analysts.
Exam Details
- Duration: 100 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40 – 60
- Passing Score: 700/1000
- Types of Questions: MCQs, MSQs, True/False, Drag and Drop, List Rearrange, Case Studies
Topics Covered
- Preparing Data (25–30%)
- Modeling Data (25–30%)
- Visualizing & Analyzing Data (25–30%)
- Deploying & Maintaining Assets (15–20%)
Resources
These are the resources that I have followed which can help you in your preparation.
Microsoft Learn Power BI Course
Microsoft Learn provides well written course on Power BI to prepare for this exam. The interesting part is it also has labs for practice.
This course gives strong foundation to Power BI, and I wish I could have gone through this course while I was starting to learn Power BI.
Check out the course. It is free - Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst
Do all the practice labs which are available in each module. It provides good practice and understanding Power BI implementations.
YouTube
Some YouTube channels to learn Power BI:
- Guy in a Cube
- Analytics with Nags
- Chandoo
- How to Power BI
- Pragmatic Works
- Pavan Lalwani
Docs
Some tips (which I followed)
First, go through each and every page in Microsoft Learn Power BI course, along with practice labs.
You may not understand some topics, search those topics on YouTube and watch videos related to those topics.
Take practice tests on Microsoft Learn. You can find this on the certification page.
Familiarize yourself with all the question types which may come in the exam.
While attempting the questions during exam, read the question carefully. Some questions can be tricky.
Search for practice questions online, and on YouTube. Cover all questions which you find.
Download Power BI Desktop and practice with sample datasets. Hands on practice is the most important tip. Without this step, it’s hard.