DATA ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL EXAM
STUDY GUIDE 2026 PRACTICE SOLUTION
MATERIAL
◉ Which of the following SQL keywords can be used to append new
rows to an existing Delta table?
A. UPDATE
B. COPY
C. INSERT INTO
D. DELETE
E. UNION Answer: C. INSERT INTO
◉ A data engineering team needs to query a Delta table to extract
rows that all meet the same condition. However, the team has
noticed that the query is running slowly. The team has already tuned
the size of the data files. Upon investigating, the team has concluded
that the rows meeting the condition are sparsely located throughout
each of the data files. Based on the scenario, which of the following
optimization techniques could speed up the query?
A. Data skipping
B. Z-Ordering
,C. Bin-packing
D. Write as a Parquet file
E. Tuning the file size Answer: B. Z-Ordering
◉ A data engineer needs to create a database called customer360 at
the location /customer/customer360. The data engineer is unsure if
one of their colleagues has already created the database. Which of
the following commands should the data engineer run to complete
this task?
A. CREATE DATABASE customer360 LOCATION
'/customer/customer360';
B. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS customer360;
C. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS customer360 LOCATION
'/customer/customer360';
D. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS customer360 DELTA
LOCATION '/customer/customer360';
E. CREATE DATABASE customer360 DELTA LOCATION
'/customer/customer360'; Answer: C. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT
EXISTS customer360 LOCATION '/customer/customer360';
◉ A junior data engineer needs to create a Spark SQL table my_table
for which Spark manages both the data and the metadata. The
metadata and data should also be stored in the Databricks
Filesystem (DBFS).
, Which of the following commands should a senior data engineer
share with the junior data engineer to complete this task?
A. CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING) USING
org.apache.spark.sql.parquet OPTIONS (PATH "storage-path");
B. CREATE MANAGED TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING)
USING org.apache.spark.sql.parquet OPTIONS (PATH "storage-
path");
C. CREATE MANAGED TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING);
D. CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING) USING DBFS;
E. CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING); Answer: E.
CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING);
◉ A data engineer wants to create a relational object by pulling data
from two tables. The relational object must be used by other data
engineers in other sessions. In order to save on storage costs, the
data engineer wants to avoid copying and storing physical data.
Which of the following relational objects should the data engineer
create?
A. View
B. Temporary view
C. Delta Table
STUDY GUIDE 2026 PRACTICE SOLUTION
MATERIAL
◉ Which of the following SQL keywords can be used to append new
rows to an existing Delta table?
A. UPDATE
B. COPY
C. INSERT INTO
D. DELETE
E. UNION Answer: C. INSERT INTO
◉ A data engineering team needs to query a Delta table to extract
rows that all meet the same condition. However, the team has
noticed that the query is running slowly. The team has already tuned
the size of the data files. Upon investigating, the team has concluded
that the rows meeting the condition are sparsely located throughout
each of the data files. Based on the scenario, which of the following
optimization techniques could speed up the query?
A. Data skipping
B. Z-Ordering
,C. Bin-packing
D. Write as a Parquet file
E. Tuning the file size Answer: B. Z-Ordering
◉ A data engineer needs to create a database called customer360 at
the location /customer/customer360. The data engineer is unsure if
one of their colleagues has already created the database. Which of
the following commands should the data engineer run to complete
this task?
A. CREATE DATABASE customer360 LOCATION
'/customer/customer360';
B. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS customer360;
C. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS customer360 LOCATION
'/customer/customer360';
D. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS customer360 DELTA
LOCATION '/customer/customer360';
E. CREATE DATABASE customer360 DELTA LOCATION
'/customer/customer360'; Answer: C. CREATE DATABASE IF NOT
EXISTS customer360 LOCATION '/customer/customer360';
◉ A junior data engineer needs to create a Spark SQL table my_table
for which Spark manages both the data and the metadata. The
metadata and data should also be stored in the Databricks
Filesystem (DBFS).
, Which of the following commands should a senior data engineer
share with the junior data engineer to complete this task?
A. CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING) USING
org.apache.spark.sql.parquet OPTIONS (PATH "storage-path");
B. CREATE MANAGED TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING)
USING org.apache.spark.sql.parquet OPTIONS (PATH "storage-
path");
C. CREATE MANAGED TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING);
D. CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING) USING DBFS;
E. CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING); Answer: E.
CREATE TABLE my_table (id STRING, value STRING);
◉ A data engineer wants to create a relational object by pulling data
from two tables. The relational object must be used by other data
engineers in other sessions. In order to save on storage costs, the
data engineer wants to avoid copying and storing physical data.
Which of the following relational objects should the data engineer
create?
A. View
B. Temporary view
C. Delta Table
