Power Bi Certification Guide
Certifications Available
|------|----------|------|
| **PL-300: Power BI Data Analyst** | Microsoft | $165 |
|---|
| DP-900: Azure Data Fundamentals | Microsoft | $165 |
PL-300 is the primary Power BI cert. 50-60 questions, 120 min, 700/1000 passing.
Core Skills & Commands
dax
-- PL-300 DAX essentials
Total Sales = SUM(Orders[Amount])
Average Order = AVERAGE(Orders[Amount])
Sales YTD = TOTALYTD([Total Sales], Dates[Date])
Sales LY = CALCULATE([Total Sales], SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(Dates[Date]))
Growth % = DIVIDE([Total Sales] - [Sales LY], [Sales LY])
-- CALCULATE: change filter context
Sales USA = CALCULATE([Total Sales], Customers[Country] = "USA")
Top 10 Sales = CALCULATE([Total Sales], TOPN(10, Products, [Total Sales], DESC))
-- Variables for readability
Margin % =
VAR revenue = [Total Sales]
VAR cost = [Total Cost]
RETURN DIVIDE(revenue - cost, revenue)
-- Time intelligence (requires date dimension table!)
Sales MTD = TOTALMTD([Total Sales], Dates[Date])
Sales Rolling 3M = CALCULATE([Total Sales],
DATESINPERIOD(Dates[Date], LASTDATE(Dates[Date]), -3, MONTH))
Study Resources
•Microsoft Learn PL-300 (free, official, includes practice labs)
•Guy in a Cube (YouTube) — best free Power BI channel
•SQLBI (dax.guide) — definitive DAX reference
•ExamTopics PL-300 — community practice questions
Revision Notes
PL-300 KEY TOPICS:
Data model: star schema (fact + dimension tables)
DAX: SUM/COUNT/AVERAGE | CALCULATE (context modifier) | time intelligence
Relationships: many-to-one | active vs inactive
Power Query: M language, merge/append, transformations
RLS: filter data by user identity
Publish: Power BI Service, schedule refresh, share
CALCULATED COLUMN vs MEASURE:
Column: computed per row, stored in model, use for filtering
Measure: computed on demand, context-aware, use for aggregations
