Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A time intelligence function like SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR requires what in order to work correctly?
- A calculated column with year values
- A continuous date table marked as a date table (Correct answer)
- A relationship between the fact table and a calendar dimension
- A measure using DATEADD
Correct answer: A continuous date table marked as a date table
Time intelligence functions require a contiguous date table with no gaps that has been marked as a date table in the model.
Question 2: Which visual in Power BI is specifically designed to display hierarchical data as nested rectangles sized by value?
- Waterfall chart
- Decomposition tree
- Treemap (Correct answer)
- Sunburst chart
Correct answer: Treemap
A treemap displays hierarchical data as a set of nested rectangles where the size of each rectangle represents the value of that category.
Question 3: You want to prevent report users from seeing the underlying data by right-clicking a visual. Which feature should you configure?
- Row-level security
- Object-level security
- Disable 'See data' in visual options (Correct answer)
- Set the visual to 'locked' in the format pane
Correct answer: Disable 'See data' in visual options
You can disable the 'See data' and 'Export data' options per visual in the visual's header icons or at the report level in settings.
Question 4: What is the difference between a calculated column and a measure in Power BI?
- Calculated columns are evaluated at query time; measures are stored in the table
- Calculated columns are stored row by row in the table; measures are evaluated dynamically at query time (Correct answer)
- Measures use M code; calculated columns use DAX
- Calculated columns only work with text data; measures only work with numbers
Correct answer: Calculated columns are stored row by row in the table; measures are evaluated dynamically at query time
Calculated columns are computed during data refresh and stored in the model row by row, while measures are computed dynamically based on the current filter context when a visual is rendered.
Question 5: In a Power BI report, which filter scope applies only to a single visual and does not affect other visuals on the page?
- Report-level filter
- Page-level filter
- Visual-level filter (Correct answer)
- Slicer filter
Correct answer: Visual-level filter
Visual-level filters in the Filters pane apply only to the specific visual they are set on, leaving other visuals unaffected.
Question 6: What does the RANKX function return when two items have the same value?
- An error message
- The same rank for both, then skips the next rank (Correct answer)
- Consecutive ranks with no gaps
- The rank of the first item encountered
Correct answer: The same rank for both, then skips the next rank
By default, RANKX assigns the same rank to tied items and then skips subsequent ranks (dense ranking must be specified explicitly).
Question 7: Which Power BI service feature enables automatic page refresh at a defined interval for real-time data monitoring?
- Scheduled refresh
- Automatic page refresh (Correct answer)
- Streaming dataset
- Push dataset
Correct answer: Automatic page refresh
Automatic page refresh in Power BI service allows report pages to refresh at a set interval (e.g., every 30 seconds) when connected to DirectQuery or streaming datasets.
Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI 3
A time intelligence function like SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR requires what in order to work correctly?