Category 1
What type of field is commonly aggregated in Tableau?
A measure
What type of field is commonly used to make categorical buckets in Tableau?
A scatterplot is great for showing __________
A purpose should be written as a __________
single sentence
.twbx (Tableau Packaged Workbook)
Name four data types in Tableau
Number (whole)
Number (decimal)
String
Geographic
Date
Datetime
Boolean
What does the acronym PACK stand for?
Purpose
Audience
Credibility
chart Kind (I'll take type too!)
Which of the following can you use to create a histogram?
a) 2 dimensions
b) 1 dimension
c) 2 measures
d) 1 measure
d)
What occurs when you place a dimension on the color marks card in Tableau?
You get distinct color options to represent your data
You want to show only sales data from the current year in your Tableau view. How would you apply a filter to achieve this?
Drag the Order Date (or relevant date field) to the Filters shelf.
In the filter dialog, select Years and then choose “This Year”.
Click OK — the view now only shows data from the current year.
After creating a parameter, what option(s) are typically done:
a) Rename it something like "Choose Category"
b) Create a calculated field to reference it
c) Use it on the filters shelf
d) Use it on the pages shelf
b and c
What is implied if a field has a green background (green pill)?
a) it is a dimension
b) it is discrete
c) it is a measure
d) it is continuous
c)
Blue pill = Discrete (creates headers, defines categories or groupings)
Green pill = Continuous (creates axes, shows data along a numeric or date range)
While it’s common for dimensions to be discrete and measures to be continuous, either can be switched — you can have a discrete measure or a continuous dimension.
A 100% stacked bar chart is great for showing _________
part-to-whole
What is implied if a field has a blue background (blue pill?)
a) it is a dimension
b) it is discrete
c) it is a measure
d) it is continuous
b)
Blue pill = Discrete (creates headers, defines categories or groupings)
Green pill = Continuous (creates axes, shows data along a numeric or date range)
While it’s common for dimensions to be discrete and measures to be continuous, either can be switched — you can have a discrete measure or a continuous dimension.
Name an easy way to create complex chart types in Tableau
Tableau Viz Extensions
Match the chart types with their purpose:
Bar chart - Slope chart - Sankey chart - Pie chart
Flow - Ranking - Part-to-whole - Magnitude
Bar - magnitude
Slope - ranking
Sankey - flow
Pie - part-to-whole
Explain the difference in what happens when you drag a green pill vs a blue pill into the view?
Blue = header
Green = axis
Write a calculated field to compute profit margin for each row of data. Explain whether it is a row-level or aggregate calculation.
[Profit] / [Sales]
Type: Row-level calculation
It is computed before any aggregation, meaning each record has its own profit margin.
If you wanted an overall profit margin for a category or the entire dataset, you would need an aggregate calculation like:
You have sales data for different products over time. Which chart type would best show the trends? How do you account for multiple products at once?
A line chart is ideal for showing trends over time because it connects data points in chronological order, making patterns easy to see.
When you have multiple products, you can use color or separate lines to distinguish each product while still showing how each one changes over time.
This allows the viewer to compare trends across products and see increases, decreases, or seasonal patterns clearly.
Name the 5 Characteristics of Data Quality (Credibility):
1. Accuracy
2. Completeness
3. Consistency
4. Uniqueness
5. Time-Appropriateness
You have a dataset showing the number of students enrolled in five different majors at your university.
What chart type would best represent this data and why?
How could you make sure the chart communicates clearly to a general audience (not just data professionals)?
What would you check to confirm the credibility of your data source?
1. A bar chart — it clearly compares total sales by region.
2. Use simple labeling, consistent colors, and sort the bars for clarity.
3. Verify the data source, check for missing or inconsistent entries, and ensure calculations are accurate.
Name the 4 types of calculations in Tableau and briefly explain how they differ from each other
1. Row Level - Performed on each individual row of data before aggregation.
2. Aggregate - Performed after data has been aggregated (summed, averaged, etc.).
3. Table - Calculated after the data is in the view, based on the visible table structure.
4. Level of Detail - Allows calculations at a different level of detail than the view.
Explain the differences between a live connection and an extract connection. List two pros and one con of each.
A live connection directly connects Tableau to the data source in real time. An extract connection takes a snapshot of the data and stores it locally in Tableau’s optimized .hyper format.
Live:
Pros:
Always shows up-to-date data without needing to refresh.
Can handle very large datasets since the data stays in the source system.
Con:
Performance depends on the database and network speed — dashboards can be slow if queries or connections lag.
Extract:
Pros:
Faster performance because data is stored locally and queries run on the extract.
Can be used offline and doesn’t rely on a live data source.
Con:
Data can become outdated unless the extract is refreshed regularly.
By default, measures placed in a view are aggregated. What type of aggregation is applied?
It depends on the context of the view (but usually is sum())
Given a parameter [Metric Selector] with options “Sales,” “Profit,” and “Quantity,” write a calculated field that changes the measure shown depending on the parameter’s selection.
CASE [Metric Selector]
WHEN "Sales" THEN SUM([Sales])
WHEN "Profit" THEN SUM([Profit])
WHEN "Quantity" THEN SUM([Quantity])
END