How Can I pass Microsoft PowerBI DA-100 exam ?
Hello data warriors,
This post I will try to share my experience with learning PowerBI and how was I able to crack exam DA-100 exam.
I am sure you have heard a lot about buzz around business intelligence tools like Qlikview, Tableau, Looker, AWS Quicksight and of course Power BI. Each tool has its own features but looking at latest report from Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, PowerBI is top of the list among all.
Power BI is a business analytics service provided by Microsoft. It aims to provide interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface simple enough for end users to create their own reports and dashboards.
How can I get started on PowerBI ?
I would say it’s fairly easy if you have already worked on Microsoft excel. Still I would definitely recommend to check out Microsoft’s guided learning to cover all bases.
Okay, I know this tool now. What’s next for me?
Well, try to get practical experience as much as possible. Try to connect PowerBI to different sources and build visualizations. Think of migrating your SSRS report(SQL Server Reporting Services) to PowerBI or think of replicating excel dashboard into PowerBI. Involve yourself in PowerBI based project if possible.
Getting hands on with PowerBI features such as data modelling, DAX and Power query will give you confidence boost.
I would also recommend Udemy course “Microsoft Power BI — Up & Running With Power BI Desktop”. I have found it worth of time and money investment.
Cool. I have some experience now. Can I appear for Microsoft PowerBI exam?
Yes you can. Although, be careful here. Microsoft DA-100 PowerBI exam covers multiple topics not just PowerBI desktop. It covers sharing capabilities of PBI, connecting multiple sources and business cases. So make sure you have good experience with PowerBI before attempting exam.
Make sure you look at this exam outline before scheduling exam. Believe me folks it’s really important to go through all topics here.
https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE4qlRu
Try to make sure you go through these topics in detail. In case you are not aware of any topic mentioned here, just check out its subsequent video on YouTube channel Guy in a Cube. Those guys are the best.
About exam?
So, Microsoft is moving towards role-based certifications, Exam DA-100: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI they look at someone who are responsible for designing and building scalable data models, cleaning and transforming data, and enabling advanced analytic capabilities that provide meaningful business value through easy-to-comprehend data visualizations. Data analysts also collaborate with key stakeholders across verticals to deliver relevant insights based on identified business requirements. In short, you should know what you doing with data.
Format —
- Time-180 mins (it’s enough)
- Questions - Around 55 to 60 questions mostly Multiple choice questions
- Exam mode- Online (You can attempt exam from home)
- Passing score- 70%
One thing you need to be thoughtful of, is there are 3 to 4 sections, once you submit answers for one section, you can’t review those questions back. So make sure before submitting answers of each section, review those before submission.
Any special tips?
Focus on topics like Row Level security, building relationships between tables and Power query transformations. Only experience with PowerBI will help you achieve certification.
You have my best wishes to clear this exam
