Pass 70-778 MCSA Certification Exam Fast

70-778 Exam Has Been Retired

This exam has been replaced by Microsoft with new exam.

Microsoft 70-778 Exam Details

The Microsoft test 70-778 is for those individuals who are aiming to prove their expertise in analyzing and visualizing data using Power BI. It covers all the crucial concepts and leads to the associate-level certificate. By passing this exam, one verifies skills as well as knowledge of techniques and tools needed to handle data analysis efficiently.

Who Should Take Microsoft 70-778 Test?

Microsoft 70-778 exam targets business intelligence professionals, report creators, or data analysts who want to leverage their skills and validate their knowledge in using, visualizing, and analyzing different sets of data by using Power BI features.

There are no strict requirements that 70-778 applicants must meet. Still, Microsoft provides several recommendations related to prior knowledge and experience. These include competence in utilizing Microsoft Power BI for modeling data, performing transformations of data, and configuring dashboards, to name a few. Also, the ability to apply data analysis in Excel and implement direct connectivity to SSAS and Microsoft SQL Azure is needed. Apart from these skills, the vendor also suggests exam-takers to be familiar with using Power BI Desktop tools for data analysis and visualization, as well as understand how to present different types of reports to their team workers.

Certification Path

The Microsoft 70-778 exam is one of the requirements one should fulfill to earn the associate-level MCSA: BI Reporting certificate. There is one more test the applicant should ace which is 70-779. It focuses on visualizing and analyzing data with Microsoft Excel. Thus, once gained the certification, its holder proves expertise in using both Excel and Power BI for day-to-day tasks in the workplace.

What Are the Details of the Microsoft 70-778 Certification Exam?

Since 70-778 is the MCSA test, candidates will be given 2 hours to complete it. The exact number of questions is not disclosed but most often, there are 40 to 60 items. To register for 70-778, one should follow the hints from the official exam page and pay the fee of $165.

When it comes to the exam pattern and questions’ formats, Microsoft is not very open to offering many details. However, according to the information available on the exam’s official webpage, the vendor is preoccupied with constantly introducing the newest testing technologies and developing different question types. Thus, applicants should expect to find drag and drop, multiple-choice, case studies, short answer, or best answer type of inquiries.

What Are the Topics Tested in Microsoft 70-778?

The content of the Microsoft 70-778 exam can be divided into three main parts. The most important one takes 45-50% and emphasizes visualizing and modeling data. 25-35% of the syllabus cover utilizing Power BI Service for configuring reports, apps, and dashboards. The rest of the questions of the test (about 20-25%) relate to transforming and consuming data with Power BI Desktop.

The first section covers the exam-takers’ competency in using Power BI Desktop for transforming and consuming various sets of data. Candidates will have to demonstrate that they can connect rapidly and effectively to different databases, folders, or files. They should also show their competency in performing transformations by applying business rules and changing the data formats to support virtualization. Finally, they should show their expertise in managing incomplete data sets. Besides, applicants should have a solid knowledge of meeting data quality requirements.

Within the second section dedicated to Data Visualization and Modeling, exam-takers will need to show their proficiency in optimizing and creating data models that include the ability to manage relationships, use Power Query, and optimize models for reporting. Also, they will show how skilled they are in creating calculated tables, measures, and columns. Besides, their skills in performance measurement by using gauges, cards, and KPIs will be tested in Microsoft 70-778 exam. In addition, examinees will need to be experienced in creating hierarchies, as well as formatting interactive visualizations. On top of that, the candidates should demonstrate their knowledge of managing custom reporting solutions.

The third topic handles dashboards, reports, and apps configuration using Power BI services. In this section, examinees will need to prove their experience in accessing on-premises data. They should know how to connect immediately to a data source with the help of a data gateway. Also, they will need to be efficient in configuring a dashboard. For example, they should know how to filter dashboards, manage their settings, customize URLs and titles correctly, and enable queries that use natural language. Another subtopic included here mentions the examinees’ capacity to publish and embed different reports. They will need to demonstrate that they know how to use Microsoft SharePoint for publishing and use Power BI Report Server for reports. In addition, exam-takers will be tested on how they are able to configure security features for reports, apps, and dashboards. Last but not least, they should be experts in configuring apps workspaces, publish them, and update the published applications to improve business processes.

Once you tackle exam 70-778, you will show competence in cleansing data, connecting to data sources, designing and optimizing data models, and creating interactive visualizations. Also, skills in making calculated tables as well as columns and managing custom reporting solutions will be verified. Finally, 70-778 will assess and prove one’s knowledge of configuring app workspaces, ensuring security for dashboards, and more.

Further Certification Path

There are no exact higher-level certificates for the MCSA: BI Reporting holders. Still, Microsoft offers several more certifications for data analysts and business analysts willing to broaden their area of expertise. These include MCSA: SQL 2016 BI Development, Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate, MCSA: Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations, etc. However, if you choose to also obtain the latter one, you’ll pave the path to acquiring the expert-level MCSE: Business Applications as well.

What Are the Career Prospects?

The MCSA: BI Reporting certification makes one a more suitable candidate for the roles of a data analyst and BI professional. Still, there are more options to choose from. Certified individuals can apply for positions such as database administrators, database engineers, support engineers, data architects, etc. Speaking of the benefits related to compensation, PayScale states that the average annual pay for professionals with the Microsoft Power BI skills is $69k. And the remuneration for BI analysts ranges from $51k to $95k per annum.