Palantir Data Engineering Certification Prep
2025/2026 – Study Guide & Practice Review
Category 1: Foundational Concepts & Palantir Ecosystem
1. What is the primary data integration and transformation engine at the core of Palantir's
Foundry platform?
A) Spark
B) Foundry Transforms (✓)
C) Hadoop
D) Kafka
2. The Foundry platform is built around a central, immutable, and versioned data store known
as the:
A) Data Lake
B) Object Store (✓)
C) Data Warehouse
D) File System
3. What is the primary user interface for building data pipelines, configuring data sources, and
managing assets in Foundry?
A) Code Repository
B) Contour (✓)
C) Workshop
D) Design
4. Which Foundry application is primarily used for creating interactive dashboards and reports
for end-users?
A) Contour
B) Workshop (✓)
C) Code Repository
D) Quiver
5. The concept of "Everything is an Object" in Foundry means that datasets, transforms,
workbooks, etc., are all:
A) Stored in a relational database
B) Versioned, traceable, and shareable (✓)
,C) Automatically backed up to the cloud
D) Written in Python
Category 2: Data Integration & Ontology
6. What is the purpose of the Ontology in Foundry?
A) To run Spark jobs.
B) To store raw data files.
C) To model business concepts, relationships, and rules. (✓)
D) To manage user permissions.
7. Which Foundry component is used to define and manage the Ontology, including Object
Types and Link Types?
A) Workshop
B) Ontology Manager (✓)
C) Contour
D) Pipeline Builder
8. A "Property" in an Ontology Object Type is most analogous to what in a traditional
database?
A) A table
B) A foreign key
C) A column (✓)
D) A row
9. What is the primary function of a "Link" in the Foundry Ontology?
A) To store numerical data.
B) To execute data transforms.
C) To create a relationship between two Object Types. (✓)
D) To connect to an external database.
10. Which service is responsible for synchronizing data from Foundry's raw storage into the
Ontology for querying?
A) Synapse (✓)
B) Spark
C) Compass
D) PagerDuty
,Category 3: Foundry Transforms & Pipelines
11. In Foundry Transforms, what is the primary abstraction for a unit of data processing?
A) A Function
B) A Transform (✓)
C) A Dataset
D) A Job
12. Which language is NOT natively supported for writing transforms in a Foundry Code
Repository?
A) Python (PySpark)
B) SQL (Spark SQL)
C) Java (Spark)
D) C++ (✓)
13. What is the key difference between a "Snapshot" and an "Update" transform output?
A) Snapshot is faster.
B) Snapshot overwrites the entire dataset; Update appends or modifies only changed
rows. (✓)
C) Update can only be used with SQL.
D) Snapshot is for real-time data.
14. A Foundry "Pipeline" is best defined as:
A) A physical data cable.
B) A single SQL query.
C) A directed acyclic graph (DAG) of transforms. (✓)
D) A type of Ontology Object.
15. How do you define the dependencies between transforms in a pipeline?
A) By the order they are listed in a file.
B) By referencing the output of one transform as the input to another. (✓)
C) By using a special depends_on function.
D) Dependencies are automatically detected.
16. What is the purpose of a "Branch" in a Foundry pipeline?
A) To store backup data.
B) To manage code versions.
C) To conditionally execute parts of the pipeline based on data or parameters. (✓)
D) To connect to a different data source.
, 17. Which configuration allows you to schedule a pipeline to run automatically at specific
intervals?
A) Scheduler (✓)
B) Cron Job
C) Trigger
D) Watcher
18. The input() function in a Python transform is used to:
A) Read user input from the console.
B) Read a Foundry dataset into a Spark DataFrame. (✓)
C) Import a Python module.
D) Define a function parameter.
19. In a SQL transform, how do you reference another dataset within the same repository?
A) SELECT * FROM ${dataset_name}
B) SELECT * FROM dataset_name
C) SELECT * FROM ${input_dataset} (✓)
D) SELECT * FROM input("dataset_name")
20. What is the primary benefit of using Incremental Transforms?
A) They are easier to write.
B) They process only new or changed data, improving efficiency. (✓)
C) They automatically create Ontology Objects.
D) They run in real-time.
Category 4: Data Quality & Governance
21. What are "Constraints" in Foundry primarily used for?
A) To limit the number of users.
B) To define primary keys in the Ontology.
C) To validate data quality by defining rules data must adhere to. (✓)
D) To restrict the size of datasets.
22. A constraint fails. What is a likely immediate consequence visible in the Foundry UI?
A) The pipeline is automatically deleted.
B) The dataset or object is marked with a warning or error indicator. (✓)
C) The user receives an email.
D) The data is automatically rolled back.
2025/2026 – Study Guide & Practice Review
Category 1: Foundational Concepts & Palantir Ecosystem
1. What is the primary data integration and transformation engine at the core of Palantir's
Foundry platform?
A) Spark
B) Foundry Transforms (✓)
C) Hadoop
D) Kafka
2. The Foundry platform is built around a central, immutable, and versioned data store known
as the:
A) Data Lake
B) Object Store (✓)
C) Data Warehouse
D) File System
3. What is the primary user interface for building data pipelines, configuring data sources, and
managing assets in Foundry?
A) Code Repository
B) Contour (✓)
C) Workshop
D) Design
4. Which Foundry application is primarily used for creating interactive dashboards and reports
for end-users?
A) Contour
B) Workshop (✓)
C) Code Repository
D) Quiver
5. The concept of "Everything is an Object" in Foundry means that datasets, transforms,
workbooks, etc., are all:
A) Stored in a relational database
B) Versioned, traceable, and shareable (✓)
,C) Automatically backed up to the cloud
D) Written in Python
Category 2: Data Integration & Ontology
6. What is the purpose of the Ontology in Foundry?
A) To run Spark jobs.
B) To store raw data files.
C) To model business concepts, relationships, and rules. (✓)
D) To manage user permissions.
7. Which Foundry component is used to define and manage the Ontology, including Object
Types and Link Types?
A) Workshop
B) Ontology Manager (✓)
C) Contour
D) Pipeline Builder
8. A "Property" in an Ontology Object Type is most analogous to what in a traditional
database?
A) A table
B) A foreign key
C) A column (✓)
D) A row
9. What is the primary function of a "Link" in the Foundry Ontology?
A) To store numerical data.
B) To execute data transforms.
C) To create a relationship between two Object Types. (✓)
D) To connect to an external database.
10. Which service is responsible for synchronizing data from Foundry's raw storage into the
Ontology for querying?
A) Synapse (✓)
B) Spark
C) Compass
D) PagerDuty
,Category 3: Foundry Transforms & Pipelines
11. In Foundry Transforms, what is the primary abstraction for a unit of data processing?
A) A Function
B) A Transform (✓)
C) A Dataset
D) A Job
12. Which language is NOT natively supported for writing transforms in a Foundry Code
Repository?
A) Python (PySpark)
B) SQL (Spark SQL)
C) Java (Spark)
D) C++ (✓)
13. What is the key difference between a "Snapshot" and an "Update" transform output?
A) Snapshot is faster.
B) Snapshot overwrites the entire dataset; Update appends or modifies only changed
rows. (✓)
C) Update can only be used with SQL.
D) Snapshot is for real-time data.
14. A Foundry "Pipeline" is best defined as:
A) A physical data cable.
B) A single SQL query.
C) A directed acyclic graph (DAG) of transforms. (✓)
D) A type of Ontology Object.
15. How do you define the dependencies between transforms in a pipeline?
A) By the order they are listed in a file.
B) By referencing the output of one transform as the input to another. (✓)
C) By using a special depends_on function.
D) Dependencies are automatically detected.
16. What is the purpose of a "Branch" in a Foundry pipeline?
A) To store backup data.
B) To manage code versions.
C) To conditionally execute parts of the pipeline based on data or parameters. (✓)
D) To connect to a different data source.
, 17. Which configuration allows you to schedule a pipeline to run automatically at specific
intervals?
A) Scheduler (✓)
B) Cron Job
C) Trigger
D) Watcher
18. The input() function in a Python transform is used to:
A) Read user input from the console.
B) Read a Foundry dataset into a Spark DataFrame. (✓)
C) Import a Python module.
D) Define a function parameter.
19. In a SQL transform, how do you reference another dataset within the same repository?
A) SELECT * FROM ${dataset_name}
B) SELECT * FROM dataset_name
C) SELECT * FROM ${input_dataset} (✓)
D) SELECT * FROM input("dataset_name")
20. What is the primary benefit of using Incremental Transforms?
A) They are easier to write.
B) They process only new or changed data, improving efficiency. (✓)
C) They automatically create Ontology Objects.
D) They run in real-time.
Category 4: Data Quality & Governance
21. What are "Constraints" in Foundry primarily used for?
A) To limit the number of users.
B) To define primary keys in the Ontology.
C) To validate data quality by defining rules data must adhere to. (✓)
D) To restrict the size of datasets.
22. A constraint fails. What is a likely immediate consequence visible in the Foundry UI?
A) The pipeline is automatically deleted.
B) The dataset or object is marked with a warning or error indicator. (✓)
C) The user receives an email.
D) The data is automatically rolled back.
