DP-600 · Microsoft
Taking DP-600 this autumn? What the October update means for you
DP-600 gets new objectives in October. How much actually changes, the skill area that carries almost half the exam, and the objectives that deserve extra time.
Microsoft DP-600 is the exam behind the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate certification. It is aimed at people who design, build and manage analytical assets in Microsoft Fabric (semantic models, warehouses and lakehouses) and who prepare, secure and serve that data to the people who report on it.
The study guide expects you to work in SQL, KQL and DAX, and to know Fabric well enough to choose between its items rather than just use them.
What the exam measures
| Skill area | Weight |
|---|---|
| Maintain a data analytics solution | 25 to 30% |
| Prepare data | 45 to 50% |
| Implement and manage semantic models | 25 to 30% |
The shape is unusual: one area is close to half of the exam. Preparing data (getting it in, choosing where it lives, transforming it and querying it) outweighs the other two areas on its own.
Which version you will sit
Two dates matter for DP-600 this autumn:
- 21 July 2026: the objectives for English exam attempts before 19 October 2026.
- 19 October 2026: Microsoft has announced updated objectives for the English exam from this date.
The October change is small. Microsoft's change log rates every skill area as either "no change" or "minor", the weights stay exactly as they are, and the only wording change we found in DP-600 is the capitalisation of the visual query editor. We compared every line in what actually moves on 19 October.
Localised versions usually follow the English one about eight weeks later.
How the exam is scored and delivered
- Time: 100 minutes.
- Scoring: Microsoft requires a score of 700 or greater.
- Languages: English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), German, French, Spanish and Portuguese (Brazil). If yours is not available, you can request an extra 30 minutes.
- Renewal: Microsoft associate certifications expire annually and are renewed through an online assessment on Microsoft Learn.
Objectives that deserve extra time
- Choosing a data store. "Choose between different data stores" is a single line in the guide, but it sits under the heaviest skill area and underlies many scenarios: lakehouse, warehouse or eventhouse, and why.
- Four ways to query data for one task. The guide lists the visual query editor alongside SQL, KQL and DAX for selecting, filtering and aggregating data. Learn how to use each one.
- Direct Lake. You configure it, including its default fallback and refresh behaviour, and you choose between Direct Lake on OneLake and Direct Lake on the SQL analytics endpoint. The difference between the two is a likely scenario question.
- Security at every level. Beyond workspace and item access, the guide lists row-level, column-level, object-level and file-level access control, plus sensitivity labels. Know which level answers which requirement.
- Lifecycle tooling. Power BI Desktop projects (.pbip), deployment pipelines and impact analysis of downstream dependencies sit in the maintenance area and are easy to leave until last.
A study plan that follows the guide
Turn the guide into a checklist and follow the weights:
- Prepare data (45 to 50%). Start here and give it about half your time: discovering and ingesting data, choosing data stores, transforming it, and querying data with the visual query editor, SQL, KQL and DAX.
- Implement and manage semantic models (25 to 30%). Storage modes and composite models, DAX (including calculation groups, dynamic format strings and field parameters), performance, Direct Lake and incremental refresh.
- Maintain a data analytics solution (25 to 30%). Security and governance, then the development lifecycle: .pbip projects, deployment pipelines and impact analysis.
Whether you sit the exam before or after 19 October, the plan is the same: the new version only changes how one name is capitalised.
Every date we track for this and the other exams we cover is in the exam calendar.