Book Image

CompTIA Data+: DAO-001 Certification Guide

By : Cameron Dodd
Book Image

CompTIA Data+: DAO-001 Certification Guide

By: Cameron Dodd

Overview of this book

The CompTIA Data+ certification exam not only helps validate a skill set required to enter one of the fastest-growing fields in the world, but also is starting to standardize the language and concepts within the field. However, there’s a lot of conflicting information and a lack of existing resources about the topics covered in this exam, and even professionals working in data analytics may need a study guide to help them pass on their first attempt. The CompTIA Data + (DAO-001) Certification Guide will give you a solid understanding of how to prepare, analyze, and report data for better insights. You’ll get an introduction to Data+ certification exam format to begin with, and then quickly dive into preparing data. You'll learn about collecting, cleaning, and processing data along with data wrangling and manipulation. As you progress, you’ll cover data analysis topics such as types of analysis, common techniques, hypothesis techniques, and statistical analysis, before tackling data reporting, common visualizations, and data governance. All the knowledge you've gained throughout the book will be tested with the mock tests that appear in the final chapters. By the end of this book, you’ll be ready to pass the Data+ exam with confidence and take the next step in your career.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
1
Part 1: Preparing Data
7
Part 2: Analyzing Data
13
Part 3: Reporting Data
19
Part 4: Mock Exams

Collecting Data

In this chapter, we will discuss sources of data. Sometimes data is not already nicely and neatly stored for you, and you will have to reach out to collect your own. Here, we will discuss the most common sources of information and a couple of systems that will pull or store data automatically. You will also learn how to make your queries more efficient if you are accessing a database. These resources and techniques are crucial, not only to passing the CompTIA Data+ certification exam but also to the everyday life of a data analyst.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following main topics:

  • Utilizing public sources of data
  • Collecting your own data
  • Differentiating Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) and Extract, Load, Transform (ELT)
  • Understanding online transactional processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP)
  • Optimizing query structure