Early in April 2023, I passed the Microsoft PowerBI Certification exam (PL300) on the first attempt. The passing grade is 70%, however, the exam is by no means easy. It tries to cover a variety of components of PowerBI and, I believe, very few people work with all of them on a day-to-day basis.
Out of the 4 sections listed below, model and visualize the data probably most commonly used by analysts. In our organization administration is a partnership between Analytics and IT. I could see more than 100 administrative options but could not modify them. Also, we have a robust data warehouse with relatively clean data and views. Therefore, the use of M and ETL component of PowerBI is limited. I can imagine that smaller organizations would be using the Power Query module more frequently. Some questions are very niche (for example certain pieces of M (ETL) code or detailed administration-related questions). The majority are fairly common items that can be solved with preparation.
If you are new to PowerBI and do not use it on daily basis, this exam would be very difficult to pass. A good portion of Modeling and Visualization questions should be familiar to the point that out of 4 multiple-choice questions, it should be possible to quickly eliminate 1 or 2. I used a few cheap courses (Udemy, SkillCertPro, and some free questions on itexams.com) to prepare for the exam. It probably took me about 4 months to complete some of those tests and beef up my knowledge of administration and Power Query to feel confident that I should be able to pass.
Timing-wise, it is about 100 minutes with 2 major sections. The first section covers all the subjects above, except for the case study. Once you complete it, there was a case study with lots of reading and 5 questions. In the first section of 40 questions or so, I found patterns similar to the study exams, which allowed me to go through the sections relatively quickly. I suggest leaving at least 20 minutes or more for the case study.
Lastly, preparing for the exam helps to learn about various aspects of the PowerBI eco-system and has value whether you pass it right away or take a longer time to prepare.
