- 25 Jul 2020
- Kevarnold
- Comments: 0
The DA-100 Exam recently came out of beta status. I set a goal for myself to pass this exam a few months ago, but there was not a lot of information out about this exam. Also, there was not a paid class option available at the time. I put together a study group with the other consultants in my company and took the test in July. I passed!! So here are my tips for preparing.
1 – Use PowerBI
This on should be obvious. But sometimes you need to make a mental shift. I made that shift by tying an action to opening Excel, instead I would use PowerBI Desktop. When I would explore data on SQL Server, I would again use PowerBI, rather than writing SQL queries. But the best was when I picked a personal project to go through the entire process.
2 – YouTube
Our study group was given homework before each meeting to watch videos from a playlist for that meeting’s topic. We would then meet on Zoom to review and discuss. Someone would share and work through the example models.
- Prepare the data
- Design a Data Model
- Develop a Data Model
- Create Measures using DAX
- Optimize Model Performance
- Create Reports
- Create Dashboards
- Enrich Reports for usability
- Enhance Reports to expose insights
3 – Review Microsoft’s Exam documentation
Of course you will review the DA-100 exam page and download the exam skills outline. You also need to review the Certification Exam policies FAQ. This will provide you guidance about the example. For example, the expected number of questions.
The Exam and questions samples will help you understand the exam formats. I found this after I took the exam but wish I would have seen it earlier.
I hope this helps if you are on the journey to self-learn and pass the test. Good luck!