Unpacking Microsoft's PL-900 Practice Tests and Sandbox

Want to ace the PL-900 exam? 📚 This clip from my PL-900 certification path on Pluralsight breaks down the best study resources, including the Pluralsight certification path, free Microsoft PL-900 practice tests, and the exam sandbox—so you’ll know exactly what to expect on exam day! Plus, get pro tips on how to maximize your study time.

Check out the certification path here OR watch my 90+ courses on Pluralsight!

Video Summary

• Exam Sandbox: Simulates the actual exam environment, helping you get familiar with the interface and question types, reducing stress on exam day.
• PL-900 Practice Tests: Consists of 50 questions each and provide immediate feedback on your answers, explaining why they are correct or incorrect.
• Study Tips: Answer the questions you know first and mark the uncertain ones for review. This strategy ensures you manage your time effectively during the exam.
• Logging In: Make sure you’re logged into your Microsoft account to access practice assessments (AKA the PL-900 Practice tests) and other resources seamlessly.
• Final Advice: Utilize all available tools, like the sandbox and practice assessments, to prepare thoroughly. Enjoy the learning journey and feel confident in your knowledge of the Power Platform fundamentals.

For more information, read the transcript blog below, watch the video above, or browse ALL my courses here!

Video Transcript

Now that we have done an exam overview, let’s learn about some of the learning materials to get you ready for this exam. The best way to study for the exam is by using the Pluralsight certification path. The PL-900 path includes eight courses: this one that you’re listening to right now and seven courses that cover the content. These courses are always reviewed to ensure they cover the content of the exam, so do not worry if the exam date has been recently modified. Sometimes Microsoft just changes how much each topic weighs or adds things that were already covered in the courses, but we always make sure that the content is up-to-date and covers everything in the exam.

In addition to that, I also recommend using other resources, such as the Microsoft practice assessments. Practice assessments or practice tests are an amazing way to review all the content you learned throughout the certification path or while getting ready for your certification exam. These are available on the exam page and are absolutely free. You just need to log in with a Microsoft account, which you’ll need for the exam as well, so you can use the same one.

A quick tip for you: each practice assessment has 50 questions. However, the question bank that Microsoft has is larger, so if you take it multiple times, you’ll get to practice on more than 50 questions. Microsoft also offers an exam sandbox, which allows you to see all the different question types in the same interface you will use during the exam. This helps take some of the stress away on exam day because you’ll know all the controls, where everything is, and how to answer each question type, allowing you to focus on the actual exam. You’ll find a link to the exam sandbox directly on the exam page on Microsoft Learn.

We are back on the exam page. This time, let’s take a look at the exam sandbox and practice questions. Back on the Power Platform Fundamentals page, we’ll scroll down, and under “Practice for the Exam,” we will have both the practice assessments and the exam sandbox. Let’s start with the sandbox. Click on “Launch the Sandbox” here. The goal of the sandbox is to put you in that exam experience. You see, I’m full screen here, just like I’m taking the exam. I agree to everything, and I have the information on the exam summary.

In the real exam, you’ll have the PL-900, the name Power Platform Fundamentals, and the time for the session, which is 65 minutes, with 45 minutes of exam time. Here, you will know how many questions you have for your exam. For a fundamentals exam, you will probably not have any case studies or labs. I cannot guarantee anything, but honestly, there is a 99% chance you will not have any case studies or labs. Most questions will be very straightforward. Use the time in the sandbox to read everything so you don’t have to read them during the exam, as it will be the exact same information.

Click on “Next.” Are you ready to start the exam? Yes, we are. Click on “Start.” Now we enter our exam and start to ask our questions. The really cool thing with the exam sandbox is that you get to see all the different types of questions. This question is known as a multiple-choice select one. These are the most common questions you will have in a fundamentals level exam. You have a question and then four answers, and you have to select the best one. What is your favorite sound? I will select “a river.” Click on “Next.” We then have a multiple-choice multiple-select question, where you have multiple choices and have to select more than one correct answer. Be careful, as the question will always tell you how many answers you have to give.

For example, “Which two fruits make a great snack?” I will say grapes and an apple. Click on “Next.” Then we have a drag-and-drop question, which you might also see on a fundamental level exam. For example, “Which of the following pieces of furniture should you keep in the home or the office?” Maybe the table is for the home, and the ping pong table is for the office.

If you’re not sure about the rest, don’t waste time. Use the “Review Later” option. Mark the question for review and go back to it later. At the end, before finishing the exam, you can always take a look at the exam question details and see which ones are marked for review. This is why I advise you to answer all the ones you’re sure about right away. If you’re not sure about a question, mark it for review and then go back to it later. This way, maybe 80% of the questions will be done in 15-20 minutes, and you’ll have the rest of the time to focus on the ones you want to double-check. We don’t want to be left without time and still have unanswered questions, especially ones you might know by heart and would have taken just a few seconds to answer.

This is the exam sandbox. Let me go back to the Power Platform page, and now we’ll look at the PL-900 practice tests. If you haven’t noticed, I am currently logged in here as VC Vlad Catrinescu to Microsoft Learn. If not, when you click on “Take the Practice Assessment,” it will ask you to log in. If you’re logged in, it will take you directly to the questions. Each practice assessment has 50 questions. For example, a company uses Dataverse to create a data model for a retail organization.

You need to create a relationship between the customer and the product. Let’s say I think the answer is “many-to-many.” If it’s the first time you’re taking the practice assessment and you want to make sure you know, you can check your answer right away. It will confirm if the answer is correct and explain why it is correct and why the other options are incorrect. Towards the end of your study, try selecting the option you think is best and only check your answers at the end. This way, you have more of that exam experience where you don’t know if it was correct right away, but you can always look at it at the end and focus on the ones you got wrong. There’s no always good or bad way to do this; it’s up to you. I’m just sharing how I do them.

This is it for this quick demo about the exam sandbox and the practice assessment, two valuable tools. Make sure you use them. Thank you so much for listening to this course. You have all my social handles on the slide. If you ever see me speak at a conference you’re attending, don’t be a stranger and come say hi. I wish you a happy learning journey for the PL-900 exam. It’s a really fun exam to take, and it opens your eyes to everything in the Power Platform. You prove to everyone that you know the fundamentals of the Power Platform. Thank you again for listening to this introduction to the PL-900 exam, and happy learning.