Preparing for database jobs or interviews? This Top 70 DBMS MCQs collection is your ultimate resource. It includes frequently asked multiple-choice questions, categorized by topic for comprehensive learning — test your knowledge, identify gaps, and improve fast.
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1. What does DBMS stand for?
2. Which of the following is NOT a function of a DBMS?
3. Which data model is widely used in modern relational databases?
4. Which language is primarily used to query relational databases?
5. Which of the following describes a relation in a relational database?
6. What is a primary key?
7. Which constraint ensures a column cannot have NULL values?
8. What is a foreign key used for?
9. Which of the following is an example of DDL (Data Definition Language)?
10. Which SQL statement is used to remove all records from a table but keep the table structure?
11. What does ER in an ER diagram stand for?
12. What symbol usually represents an entity in an ER diagram?
13. What does cardinality describe in database design?
14. Which relationship type indicates many-to-many between two entities?
15. What is denormalization?
16. In normalization, which normal form removes repeating groups?
17. What is an associative (junction) table used for?
18. Which of the following is a modelling tool for databases?
19. What is a surrogate key?
20. What should you do to enforce business rules in the database layer?
21. Which normal form eliminates partial dependency (dependency on part of a composite key)?
22. Which normal form requires that non-key attributes are not transitively dependent on the primary key?
23. Which of the following can be a problem if a schema is too highly normalized?
24. Which design approach intentionally duplicates data to speed up queries?
25. Which of the following is TRUE about functional dependency?
26. What is a candidate key?
27. Which of these is a benefit of proper normalization?
28. Which normal form does BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form) strengthen?
29. Which of the following indicates multi-valued dependency?
30. When designing for OLTP systems, which is generally prioritized?
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31. Which clause is used to filter rows returned by a SELECT query?
32. Which SQL clause is used to group rows that have the same values?
33. Which JOIN returns only rows that have matching values in both tables?
34. Which function returns the number of rows in a group?
35. Which statement changes data in an existing row?
36. Which keyword ensures unique rows are returned by SELECT?
37. Which SQL construct filters groups after aggregation?
38. What does the SQL clause ORDER BY do?
39. Which SQL clause limits the number of rows returned?
40. Which command removes a table and its data from the database?
41. Which of these is a set operation combining results of two SELECTs but removes duplicates?
42. What is a correlated subquery?
43. Which SQL construct can be used to create stored logic on the server side?
44. What is an SQL view?
45. Which statement is true about indexes?
46. Which property of transactions ensures all changes are saved permanently only if the transaction commits?
47. Which isolation level may allow dirty reads?
48. What is a deadlock?
49. Which SQL command begins a transaction in many DBMSs?
50. What does COMMIT do?
51. What does ROLLBACK do?
52. What is a savepoint?
53. Which scheduling ensures serializability by producing the same result as some serial execution?
54. In MVCC (Multi-Version Concurrency Control), what is stored to provide consistent reads?
55. Which of the following is a common method to resolve deadlocks?
56. Which index type is typically implemented as a balanced tree?
57. What is a clustered index?
58. What is partitioning used for?
59. Which storage model is typically used by columnar databases to speed analytic queries?
60. What is query optimization primarily concerned with?
61. What is a query execution plan?
62. Which tool would you use to speed up full-text search in many DBMSs?
63. What is the effect of too many indexes on a write-heavy table?
64. What does sharding refer to?
65. Which of these storage engines is commonly used by MySQL for transactional support?
66. Which practice helps protect sensitive data in the database?
67. What is the purpose of database backup?
68. What is point-in-time recovery (PITR)?
69. What is replication in databases used for?
70. Which of the following is a recommended practice for database security?
71. Which of the following is a NoSQL database?
72. Which NoSQL database type stores data in key-value pairs?
73. Which feature is commonly associated with NoSQL databases?
74. Which database is best suited for highly connected data such as social networks?
75. What does CAP theorem describe?
76. Which cloud provider offers Amazon RDS?
77. What is database replication primarily used for?
78. Which SQL function is used to find the highest value in a column?
79. Which SQL clause is used to remove duplicate rows from results?
80. Which command is used to add a new column to an existing table?
81. Which type of JOIN returns all rows from the left table and matching rows from the right table?
82. Which SQL statement is used to add new records into a table?
83. What is the purpose of a database trigger?
84. Which command displays the structure of a table in many SQL databases?
85. Which SQL function returns the lowest value in a column?
86. Which database language is used for access control?
87. Which SQL keyword is used to sort records in descending order?
88. Which command removes specific rows from a table?
89. Which of the following is a document-oriented database?
90. What is vertical scaling in databases?
91. Which SQL clause is used with aggregate functions to filter grouped data?
92. Which SQL operator is used to search for a pattern?
93. Which backup contains only data changed since the last backup?
94. Which SQL function calculates the average value?
95. Which command gives users access privileges?
96. Which command removes access privileges from a user?
97. Which type of database is optimized for analytical workloads?
98. Which SQL keyword is used to rename a column or table alias?
99. What is database caching used for?
100. Which SQL command is used to permanently save transaction changes?
101. Which database model uses tables with rows and columns?
102. Which SQL function adds numeric values?
103. Which SQL clause is used to sort results alphabetically?
104. Which SQL keyword is used to retrieve data?
105. Which SQL command creates a new database?
106. Which type of key uniquely identifies each row in a table?
107. Which SQL operator checks for NULL values?
108. Which database object stores a predefined SQL query?
109. Which database design technique reduces redundancy?
110. Which SQL command deletes an entire table structure?
111. Which SQL keyword combines conditions?
112. Which command removes all rows but keeps the table?
113. Which database system is open-source?
114. Which SQL clause filters individual rows before grouping?
115. Which SQL function returns the current date?
116. Which SQL statement modifies existing records?
117. Which database operation improves query performance?
118. Which type of database stores data in JSON-like documents?
119. Which SQL command is used to rename a table?
120. Which database concept ensures data remains accurate and consistent?
