CompTIA Data+ — Practice Questions and Mock Exam

CompTIA Data+ (DA0-002) is an early-career, vendor-neutral certification that validates the skills needed to analyze, interpret, and communicate data insights for informed business decision-making. It covers the full data analytics lifecycle from acquisition and preparation through analysis, visualization, and governance.

Version 2 expands coverage to include AI concepts, cloud data environments, and emerging compliance frameworks. Data+ is ideal for aspiring data analysts, business intelligence specialists, and professionals transitioning into analytics roles. It maps to the NICE Framework Data Analyst work role (IO-WRL-001).

Data Analysis carries the most weight at 24%, testing which statistical method or function fits a given question rather than raw calculation. Data Acquisition and Preparation follows at 22%, covering querying, ETL/ELT workflows, and cleansing techniques like parsing and imputation. Data Concepts and Environments and Visualization and Reporting tie at 20% apiece (one covering database types and BI tooling, the other chart selection and dashboard delivery), while Data Governance is the lightest domain at 14%, testing documentation, lineage, and compliance concepts like GDPR.

The four largest domains sit within four points of each other, so no single area can be skipped without meaningful risk to the pass score. Data Governance is the outlier on weight but not on difficulty: its questions on data lineage, retention, and privacy compliance appear throughout the rest of the exam even when they're not the primary subject of a question.

The exam consists of a maximum of 90 questions to be completed in 90 minutes. Question types include multiple-choice and performance-based questions (PBQs) that drop you into a data analysis scenario: interpreting a dataset, choosing an appropriate visualization, or identifying a data quality problem. The passing score is 675 on a scale of 100 to 900. A simulation PBQ can be skipped and revisited, so decide early how much time you are willing to spend on one.

Every domain of the COMPTIA-DATA exam has enough questions in the pool to practice it in depth. A mock exam asks 90 questions in one sitting, on the same 90-minute clock as the real thing.

How long you'll need depends on how much hands-on experience you bring. The rest is set by the vendor: how the exam is delivered, how soon you can retake it, and how long the credential stays valid.

CompTIA Data+ is delivered at Pearson VUE testing centers or online with a proctor, in English and Japanese. The certification holds for three years and renews with 20 CEUs, by earning a higher-level CompTIA certification, or by passing the current version of the exam.

Weak statistical foundations trip up many candidates — knowing when to apply mean versus median, correlation versus causation, and how to read a basic hypothesis test matters as much as the tools themselves. Visualization and Reporting (20%) catches people off guard because it tests practical judgment (which chart fits which dataset, how a dashboard should be laid out) rather than tool syntax, and Data Governance (14%) gets deprioritized despite compliance, privacy, and quality-assurance questions running throughout the rest of the exam. Performance-based questions require applied reasoning inside a live scenario, so candidates who prepared with flashcards instead of hands-on data work tend to lose time working out what the question is even asking.