How I passed Microsoft PowerBI Exam : 70–778

Startegies to prepare and pass Power BI certification

In the month of August, 2020, I passed Microsoft Power BI Exam:70–778. Since then a lot of my friends, contacts and Power BI community members have asked me about the exam, preparation tips and resources . Therefore, I decided to share my experience of preparing and passing this exam along with few tips and strategies.

Power BI is a highly sophisticated Business intelligence and visualisation tool of Microsoft. The Exam 70–778 and the newly introduced DA-100 exam test the knowledge to Analyze and Visualize Data with Microsoft Power BI.

Difference between Microsoft 70–778 exam and DA-100:

In the beginning of March, 2020, Microsoft announced that it would be retiring the Microsoft 70–778 exam in January, 2021 and would instead launch a role based DA-100 exam. As I was already preparing for 70–778 exam and at the time DA-100 was in Beta stage without a well defined Learning path, I decided to continue with 70–778 exam.

DA-100 is a successor of 70–778 exam with both the exams testing the skillset on Power BI. Therefore, the skill outline for both the exams are almost similar approx. 80–90%. However, DA-100 also tests on some new features added to Power BI like AI visualisation. The detailed information and skill measured for both the exams are available at:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/70-778

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/da-100

Preparation Method:

As I already had hands-on experience of building reports on Power BI, a significant part of the skill measured in the exam was already covered. Still, I needed to fill-in few gaps because of new features constantly being added in Power BI.

Having hands-on experience of Power BI is pivotal for passing these exams. However, don’t be discouraged, if you have not used the tool much or only have the basic knowlege. For beginners, I would recommend the following strategy:

1. Get a basic understanding of Power BI by watching some you tube videos and reading content related to Power BI purpose, features and components. Power BI uses Power Query and Power Pivot so users with experience of using these add-ins of excel would find Power BI easier to use.
2. Develop few basic reports in the system, publish to Power BI service, develop dashboard and APPs. This will give you an idea of the end to end report development and sharing in Power BI. There are plenty of videos from Curbal, Enterprise DNA and Guy in a Cube which can help
3. Exam Ref 70–778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data Book by Daniil Maslyuk — The book is outdated but it still serves as a good starting point for understanding of PowerBI, M language and DAX language.
4. Work on deeper understanding of DAX including Time intelligence functions and basic understanding of M formula language. You do not need to learn M language in detail, just keep an eye on the M formula generated in the Power Query Editor while doing any kind of data transformation through the Power BI GUI. DAX is a building block of developing reports in Power BI and the exam also tests you on the same.

Preparation Material:

I have not used any course or paid material for preparation of the exam and only relied on the following materials for reference and preparation.

1. Exam Ref 70–778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data Book by Daniil Maslyuk
2. Microsoft DA-100 Learning Paths available at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/da-100
3. Youtube channel Curbal — For DAX formula clarification and understanding in an easier way.Must watch!! I am really impressed with the way she explains DAX formulas with examples
4. Youtube channel Guy in a Cube- This channel is great for understanding advanced features of Power BI and AI visualisation
5. Youtue channel Enterprise DNA- For learning to develop reports and dashboard from scratch
6. Last but not the least, Microsoft Documentation is really important in understanding DAX formula and other features of Power BI. I have alwayd relied on the same, even before deciding to prepare for the exam.

Practice Questions:

This is the area where I struggled as Microsoft has not given a sample of questions asked or any practice guide. There were few practice quiz available on internet but these quiz did not match with the actual questions in the exam or were outdated. Therefore, my only recommendation after passing the exam is that if you are comfortable in using Power BI at the end of your preparation, you will definitely pass the exam.

So do not waste another minute and get on this interesting journey of Power BI. All the Best!!!!!!!