SQL and Excel Interview Exam for FDM with correct answers and rationale updated 2026

SQL and Excel Interview Exam for FDM with
correct answers and rationale updated
2026


Part 1: SQL Fundamentals (Questions 1-50)

1. What does SQL stand for?
A) Strong Question Language
B) Structured Query Language
C) Structured Question Language
D) Standard Query Language
B) Structured Query Language
Rationale: SQL is the standard language for communicating with relational databases.

2. Which SQL statement is used to extract data from a database?
A) OPEN
B) EXTRACT
C) SELECT
D) GET
C) SELECT
Rationale: The SELECT statement is used to query and retrieve data from a database.

3. Which SQL clause is used to filter the results of a query?
A) WHERE
B) FILTER
C) HAVING
D) GROUP BY
A) WHERE
Rationale: The WHERE clause is used to filter records based on a specified condition.

4. Which SQL statement is used to update data in a database?
A) MODIFY
B) SAVE
C) UPDATE
D) CHANGE
C) UPDATE
Rationale: The UPDATE statement is used to modify existing records in a table.

5. Which SQL statement is used to delete data from a database?
A) REMOVE
B) DELETE
C) COLLAPSE
D) DROP
B) DELETE

,Rationale: The DELETE statement is used to remove rows from a table. DROP is used to remove an
entire table.

6. Which SQL statement is used to insert new data into a database?
A) INSERT INTO
B) ADD NEW
C) ADD RECORD
D) INSERT NEW
A) INSERT INTO
Rationale: The INSERT INTO statement is used to add new rows of data to a table.

7. Which SQL keyword is used to sort the result-set?
A) SORT BY
B) ORDER BY
C) ARRANGE BY
D) GROUP BY
B) ORDER BY
Rationale: The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.

8. Which operator is used to select values within a range?
A) BETWEEN
B) RANGE
C) WITHIN
D) IN
A) BETWEEN
Rationale: The BETWEEN operator selects values within a given range, inclusive of the start and end
values.

9. Which SQL keyword is used to return only distinct (different) values?
A) UNIQUE
B) DIFFERENT
C) DISTINCT
D) SINGLE
C) DISTINCT
Rationale: The DISTINCT keyword is used in a SELECT statement to eliminate duplicate rows from the
result set.

10. What is the purpose of the SQL GROUP BY statement?
A) To sort the result set
B) To filter the result set
C) To group rows that have the same values in specified columns into summary rows
D) To join two tables
C) To group rows that have the same values in specified columns into summary rows
Rationale: GROUP BY is often used with aggregate functions (COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, AVG) to
group the result-set by one or more columns.

11. Which SQL clause is used to filter groups created by GROUP BY?
A) WHERE
B) HAVING
C) FILTER

, D) GROUP FILTER
B) HAVING
Rationale: The HAVING clause was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used with
aggregate functions.

12. What is a primary key?
A) A key that can have null values
B) A key that uniquely identifies each record in a table
C) A key used to sort the table
D) A key that is used to link to another table
B) A key that uniquely identifies each record in a table
Rationale: A primary key must contain unique values and cannot contain NULL values.

13. What is a foreign key?
A) A key that is imported from another database
B) A key that is a primary key in another table
C) A key that uniquely identifies a record in its own table
D) A key used for encryption
B) A key that is a primary key in another table
Rationale: A foreign key in one table points to a primary key in another table, creating a link between
the two tables.

14. Which type of JOIN returns all rows from the left table, and the matched rows from the right
table?
A) INNER JOIN
B) RIGHT JOIN
C) LEFT JOIN
D) FULL JOIN
C) LEFT JOIN
Rationale: A LEFT JOIN (or LEFT OUTER JOIN) returns all records from the left table, and the matched
records from the right table. The result is NULL from the right side if there is no match.

15. Which type of JOIN returns rows when there is a match in both tables?
A) INNER JOIN
B) LEFT JOIN
C) RIGHT JOIN
D) FULL JOIN
A) INNER JOIN
Rationale: An INNER JOIN selects records that have matching values in both tables.

16. What is the purpose of the ALTER TABLE statement?
A) To create a new table
B) To delete a table
C) To modify an existing table structure
D) To query a table
C) To modify an existing table structure
Rationale: The ALTER TABLE statement is used to add, delete, or modify columns in an existing table.

17. Which SQL function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criterion?
A) SUM()