Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate
The PL-300 exam is designed for professionals who implement and configure Power Platform. It validates your ability to prepare the data, model the data, visualize and analyze the data, and manage and secure Power BI.
Exam details
- Certification
- Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate
- Exam code
- PL-300
- Level
- Associate
- Duration
- Approximately 100 minutes
- Questions
- Typically 40–60 questions
- Passing score
- 700 out of 1000
- Cost
- USD $165 — typical price; the exact fee varies by country/region and currency, and local taxes may apply.
- Prerequisites
- None required
- Languages
- English (also available in Japanese, German, French, Spanish and several other languages)
- Delivered by
- Pearson VUE
- Renewal
- Free online assessment, every 12 months
Skills measured
Prepare the data (25–30%)
- Connect to data sources and shared semantic models, and choose Direct Lake, DirectQuery, or Import.
- Profile and clean data, including nulls, inconsistencies, and import errors.
- Transform, merge, and load queries into fact and dimension tables with keys and relationships.
Model the data (25–30%)
- Design relationships, role-playing dimensions, date tables, and calculated columns or tables.
- Create DAX measures, CALCULATE, time intelligence, and calculation groups.
- Optimise models with Performance Analyzer, DAX query view, and reduced granularity.
Visualize and analyze the data (25–30%)
- Create and format report visuals, themes, slicers, Copilot pages, and visual calculations.
- Enhance storytelling with bookmarks, drillthrough, mobile layouts, and accessibility.
- Identify patterns with Analyze, clustering, AI visuals, forecasting, and Copilot summaries.
Manage and secure Power BI (15–20%)
- Create workspaces, apps, dashboards, refresh, and certified or promoted content.
- Assign workspace roles, item access, row-level security, and sensitivity labels.
Study resources & practice tests
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Frequently asked questions
Who should take PL-300?
PL-300 is for Power BI data analysts, business intelligence analysts, and reporting analysts. Most work in finance, retail, healthcare, the public sector, or at consultancies.
What is the average salary for a Power BI Data Analyst?
As of August 2026, ZipRecruiter reports an average US Power BI Data Analyst salary of about $83,000. In the United Kingdom, IT Jobs Watch shows a median advertised salary of £52,500 for Power BI Analyst and £55,000 for Power BI Developer. In Germany, data and BI analyst medians are around €50,000, with Power Platform professionals about €55,000 to €70,000. There is no single published EMEA average.
Where do I find exam questions to practice?
You will find websites selling exam dumps or brain dumps that claim to be real PL-300 questions. Those materials are not official. Microsoft treats using brain dumps as cheating. It can invalidate your score, revoke certifications you already hold, and ban you from future exams. Microsoft publishes a free Practice Assessment for PL-300 on Microsoft Learn. Those questions are examples only, not the live exam. MeasureUp also sells the official practice test linked in the study resources on this page. You can try the Microsoft exam sandbox to see the question types and timer, but it does not use real exam questions. Practise the skills measured in a real product environment rather than memorising leaked items.
Does the exam include official labs I can use to practice?
Microsoft does not publish a stable list of which certification exams include labs, and a lab can be dropped for a candidate if the live environment is unavailable. PL-300 may include performance-based tasks, but Microsoft will not confirm that in advance. For practice, create a free Power Platform developer environment and complete the Microsoft Learn exercises. Official instructor-led PL-300T00 training delivered by a Microsoft Learning Partner includes labs. Those labs are for the course, not a copy of the exam. Applied Skills labs for Power Apps or Copilot Studio are a different credential. The Microsoft exam sandbox shows traditional question types only. It does not give you the lab virtual machine.