How to Crack Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate (DA-100) Exam?
By: Sandip Palit
Tags: Microsoft Certification, Data Analyst, Da100, Power Bi, Tips To Pass Exam

Are you an aspiring Data Analyst or are you willing to test your knowledge about Microsoft Power BI? Then you are at the perfect place!!

In this blog, I will guide you through each and everything you need to know, to crack the DA-100 exam.

What is the DA-100 exam?

DA-100 is an associate-level exam by Microsoft, primarily for the Data Analyst role. This exam is a successor of the ‘70–778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Power BI’ exam. The highly acclaimed ‘Microsoft Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate’ certification exam accelerates your career growth and definitely helps you climb up your professional ladder.

This exam consists of case study questions, multiple-choice and drag & drop questions. The actual number of questions you will get will vary between 55 to 65.

Who can apply for the DA-100 exam?

This certification exam is for those who are:

A business analyst who is looking to upskill.

A data analyst who is willing to test their knowledge of Power BI.

Anyone who wants to have an in-depth knowledge of Power BI.

What are the skills measured?

The skills measured in this exam are broadly classified into:

Prepare the data.

Model the data.

Visualize the data.

Analyze the data.

Deploy and maintain deliverables.

For more detailed information, please refer to Microsoft Learn.

Note: Before starting your preparation, please refer the Microsoft Learn page for the latest syllabus.

What is the application process?

Follow these steps to book your slot:

Navigate to Microsoft DA-100 page.

Sign in with your Microsoft account.

Scroll down to ‘Schedule exam’ section.

Select your country from the drop-down and then click on ‘Schedule with Pearson VUE’ or ‘Schedule Exam’ button.

Complete your certification profile and then click on ‘Schedule Exam’.

Select your location and language preference.

Select your appointment date and time from the available dates.

Complete your payment.

You will get the confirmation email of your appointment.

Where can we find the study materials?

The best possible resource for any Microsoft certification is Microsoft Learn. Complete these Learning paths along with the hands-on to get in-depth knowledge about the exam.

Apart from Microsoft learn, you can also follow Microsoft Power BI youtube channel for regular updates about the new releases. They also explained the various features of Power BI with hands-on labs.

Tip: Please perform the hands-on labs atleast twice before appearing for the exam. This will help you in dealing with the case studies.

How many days of preparation are needed?

The preparation timeline can vary between 2 weeks to 2 months, depending on your familiarity with Microsoft Power BI. You should go through the learning paths at least once, and then focus more on the difficult areas. Practising hands-on will play a crucial role in passing the exam. Take notes while going through the learning paths, which will help you later.

What should be our approach on the Examination Day?

On the exam day, go through your notes and then run the system test once again to fulfil the technical requirements for the exam.

Log in to the test 30 minutes prior to the scheduled time and keep a govertment id proof with you. Please don’t panic during the verification process and patiently wait for the exam to begin. If you face any difficulties during the exam, then use the chat feature to get clarifications. While giving the answers, don't hurry. Specially during the case studies, be careful with the business requirements and the constraints.

After your exam is over, you will get your score immediately. But the certificate and the badge might take few hours to reflect on your certification profile.

My DA-100 experience!!

Since I have some previous work experience with Microsoft Power BI, so the exam wasn’t tough for me. It took me around 1 month to prepare for the exam, as I could study only at the weekends. I prepared primarily from Microsoft learn, but sometimes I referred to youtube also to get some more insights. The exam questions were generally on the easy to moderate side, but the DAX queries and the case studies were a bit tough. It took me some minutes to get familiar with the case study questions and the purpose of various tabs present there. But all the hard work was worth it, once I got this wonderful certificate.. Yaay!!

Do you want this awesome certificate? Then pull up your socks and prepare well for the exam. If you have any doubts, feel free to ping me on LinkedIn.

Best Wishes & Happy Learning!!