Hi guys, my name is Gaurav Lakhotia & recently I’ve earned the Microsoft Data Analyst Associate title. In this blog, I’ll share my experience regarding how I prepared myself for the exam, how much time I invested each day for preparation, what were the resources I found useful for DA-100, and in the end of the blog, I’ll also share some topics, that one should focus during the preparation.
Let’s start with the exam pattern. Exam is of 1000 marks, out of which minimum 700 marks should be earned to pass the exam. In my exam, there were 57 questions (this may vary in your case) asked by Microsoft. There are two case studies with 5 questions each, 3-5 direct questions and rest of all questions were scenario-based. So, to clear the exam you must have a good working experience with Microsoft Power BI.
Let’s talk about the learning material… You can check DA-100 Learning Path at Microsoft’s Learning Academy which is enough to clear the certification exam (Tip: also refer the links provided in the modules). If any of the topic is not clear to you then refer related blogs on that. You will find a good blog on Power BI, some good publishers are RADACAD, SQLBI, DAX Guide, etc. I spent an hour practicing the modules daily for around 3 months.
With my experience of the exam, I would recommend the following topics to be practiced well:
- Row Level Security
- Time Intelligence DAX Functions
- Query Editor: AI Insight
- Incremental Refresh
- Relationship Cardinality
- Power BI AI Visuals
It was a wonderful experience to crack the exam in an attempt. My personal advice to you is only just- practice it well. Nothing will work best other than practicing the logic in different cases. This will help to clear the concepts.
With this, I wish you a very best luck for your preparation and the attempt.
All the best!