DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS – 100 IMPORTANT MCQS

Section A: Basics of DBMS

1. Which of the following is a DBMS?

a) Oracle
b) MySQL
c) MS Access
d) All of the above
Ans: d) All of the above
2. What is the full form of DBMS?
a) Data Base Management Service
b) Data Base Management System
c) Data Based Management System
d) Data Block Management System
Ans: b) Data Base Management System
3. The software component that manages the database is called:
a) Application
b) DBMS
c) Operating system
d) Compiler
Ans: b) DBMS
4. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of DBMS?
a) Redundancy control
b) Data consistency
c) Complexity
d) Data sharing
Ans: c) Complexity
5. In a relational database, data is organized in:
a) Tree structures
b) Tables
c) Files
d) Classes
Ans: b) Tables

Section B: Database Models and Architecture

6. Which model organizes data in a tree-like structure?

a) Network model
b) Relational model
c) Hierarchical model
d) Object-oriented model
Ans: c) Hierarchical model
7. The three-level architecture is proposed by:
a) Oracle
b) IBM
c) ANSI/SPARC
d) Microsoft
Ans: c) ANSI/SPARC
8. Which level of architecture describes how the data is stored physically?
a) Internal level
b) Conceptual level
c) External level
 d) None of the above
Ans: a) Internal level
9. External schema is also called:
a) Logical schema
b) Physical schema
c) View
d) Sub-schema
Ans: d) Sub-schema
10. Which of the following represents the overall logical structure of a database?
a) Physical schema
b) Sub-schema
c) Conceptual schema
d) View
Ans: c) Conceptual schema

Section C: Relational Model

11. In the relational model, a row is called:

a) Tuple
b) Attribute
c) Domain
d) Relation
Ans: a) Tuple
12. A column in a table is called:
a) Tuple
b) Attribute
c) Record
d) Degree
Ans: b) Attribute
13. A relation with only one attribute is called:
a) Unary
b) Single
c) Simple
d) Atomic
Ans: a) Unary
14. Which constraint ensures uniqueness of data in a column?
a) Primary key
b) Foreign key
c) Check
d) Not null
Ans: a) Primary key
15. Which key is used to link two tables?
a) Candidate key
b) Super key
c) Foreign key
d) Primary key
Ans: c) Foreign key
 Section D: SQL (Structured Query Language)

16. Which command is used to retrieve data?

a) GET
b) SELECT
c) EXTRACT
d) FETCH
Ans: b) SELECT
17. Which SQL statement is used to update data in a database?
a) MODIFY
b) CHANGE
c) ALTER
d) UPDATE
Ans: d) UPDATE
18. Which of the following is a DDL command?
a) SELECT
b) INSERT
c) CREATE
d) UPDATE
Ans: c) CREATE
19. What does the SQL clause WHERE do?
a) Specifies a condition for selection
b) Filters table
c) Sorts data
d) Joins two tables
Ans: a) Specifies a condition for selection
20. Which keyword is used for sorting the result set in SQL?
a) SORT BY
b) ORDER
c) ORDER BY
d) SORT
Ans: c) ORDER BY

Section E: Normalization and Functional Dependency

21. Which normal form removes partial dependency?

a) 1NF
b) 2NF
c) 3NF
d) BCNF
Ans: b) 2NF
22. A relation is in 1NF if:
a) It has no transitive dependency
b) It has a composite key
c) It has atomic values
d) It has foreign key
Ans: c) It has atomic values
23. BCNF stands for:
a) Boyce–Codd Normal Form
b) Basic–Codd Normal Form
c) Binary–Codd Normal Form
d) Base–Codd Normal Form
Ans: a) Boyce–Codd Normal Form
24. Transitive dependency is removed in:
a) 1NF
b) 2NF
c) 3NF
d) 4NF
Ans: c) 3NF
25. Normalization is done to:
a) Increase redundancy
b) Avoid duplication
c) Improve performance
d) Make database bigger
Ans: b) Avoid duplication

Section F: ER Model and Design

26. In an ER diagram, a rectangle represents:

a) Attribute
b) Entity
c) Relationship
d) Key
Ans: b) Entity
27. A diamond shape in an ER diagram represents:
a) Attribute
b) Relationship
c) Entity
d) Weak entity
Ans: b) Relationship
28. An oval in an ER diagram indicates:
a) Entity
b) Relationship
c) Attribute
d) Cardinality
Ans: c) Attribute
29. Which of the following is a type of attribute?
a) Composite
b) Derived
c) Multi-valued
d) All of the above
Ans: d) All of the above
30. The total number of entity sets involved in a relationship is called:
a) Participation
b) Mapping cardinality
c) Degree
d) Connectivity
Ans: c) Degree

Section G: Transactions and Concurrency Control

31. A transaction is a:
a) Collection of operations
b) Single SQL command
c) Database query
 d) Recovery method
Ans: a) Collection of operations
32. Which of the following properties ensures data integrity in transactions?
a) ATOM
b) ACID
c) BASE
d) LOCK
Ans: b) ACID
33. Which property ensures that a transaction's changes are permanent?
a) Durability
b) Consistency
c) Isolation
d) Atomicity
Ans: a) Durability
34. Which schedule preserves the consistency of a database?
a) Dirty schedule
b) Serial schedule
c) Random schedule
d) Interleaved schedule
Ans: b) Serial schedule
35. Deadlock occurs when:
a) A transaction commits
b) Two transactions wait for each other
c) A rollback is done
d) Indexing fails
Ans: b) Two transactions wait for each other

Section H: Indexing and File Organization

36. Which indexing method is best for range queries?

a) Hash indexing
b) B+ Tree indexing
c) Linear indexing
d) None
Ans: b) B+ Tree indexing
37. In B+ Tree, data is stored in:
a) Internal nodes only
b) Root nodes
c) Leaf nodes
d) Any node
Ans: c) Leaf nodes
38. The primary goal of indexing is to:
a) Reduce storage
b) Improve access speed
c) Reduce redundancy
d) Normalize data
Ans: b) Improve access speed
39. A dense index has:
a) Index record for each search-key value
b) Fewer index entries
c) Only for primary keys
 d) Index on alternate keys
Ans: a) Index record for each search-key value
40. A sparse index contains:
a) Every record
b) Only a few records
c) All attributes
d) Composite keys only
Ans: b) Only a few records

Section I: Database Security and Authorization

41. Grant and Revoke are:

a) Security commands
b) DDL commands
c) SQL constraints
d) Joins
Ans: a) Security commands
42. Which command is used to give access?
a) GRANT
b) REVOKE
c) ALLOW
d) PERMIT
Ans: a) GRANT
43. Which one is a database security threat?
a) SQL injection
b) Normalization
c) Transaction
d) ER design
Ans: a) SQL injection
44. Which SQL command is used to remove user permissions?
a) DELETE
b) REMOVE
c) REVOKE
d) DENY
Ans: c) REVOKE
45. Database authentication is a part of:
a) Indexing
b) Query processing
c) Security
d) Optimization
Ans: c) Security

Section J: Advanced DBMS Concepts

46. Which of the following supports Object-Oriented features?

a) Relational model
b) Object-relational model
c) Network model
d) Hierarchical model
Ans: b) Object-relational model
47. Data warehouse is used for:
a) OLAP
 b) OLTP
c) Normalization
d) Logging
Ans: a) OLAP
48. Which is used to analyze historical data?
a) OLAP
b) OLTP
c) SQL
d) Normalization
Ans: a) OLAP
49. NoSQL databases are used for:
a) Relational data
b) Unstructured data
c) Indexing
d) ER modeling
Ans: b) Unstructured data
50. Which one is a NoSQL database?
a) MongoDB
b) Oracle
c) MySQL
d) DB2
Ans: a) MongoDB

Section K: Joins and Subqueries

51. Which of the following is NOT a type of JOIN in SQL?

a) INNER JOIN
b) OUTER JOIN
c) RIGHT JOIN
d) FULL CROSS JOIN
Ans: d) FULL CROSS JOIN
52. An INNER JOIN returns:
a) All records from both tables
b) Matching records from both tables
c) Only unmatched records
d) Records from one table only
Ans: b) Matching records from both tables
53. Which JOIN returns all rows from the left table and matching rows from the right
table?
a) RIGHT JOIN
b) LEFT JOIN
c) INNER JOIN
d) CROSS JOIN
Ans: b) LEFT JOIN
54. A subquery is executed:
a) After the main query
b) Before the main query
c) Simultaneously
d) Only if main query fails
Ans: b) Before the main query
55. Which keyword is used to check existence of data in a subquery?
a) EXISTS
b) CHECK
c) CONTAINS
 d) ANY
Ans: a) EXISTS

Section L: Storage and File Structure

56. Which file contains actual data in a DBMS?

a) Log file
b) Data file
c) Index file
d) Temp file
Ans: b) Data file
57. Which of the following helps recover a DB after a crash?
a) Data dictionary
b) Log file
c) Query optimizer
d) Parser
Ans: b) Log file
58. The process of converting data into code is called:
a) Compression
b) Encryption
c) Decryption
d) Locking
Ans: b) Encryption
59. Sequential file organization is best suited for:
a) Frequent updates
b) Range queries
c) Direct access
d) Random inserts
Ans: b) Range queries
60. Which structure provides fast access in sorted data?
a) Stack
b) Queue
c) B+ Tree
d) Array
Ans: c) B+ Tree

Section M: PL/SQL and Triggers

61. PL/SQL stands for:

a) Procedural Language SQL
b) Private Language SQL
c) Programming Logic SQL
d) Parallel Logic SQL
Ans: a) Procedural Language SQL
62. Which of the following is a procedural extension of SQL?
a) T-SQL
b) PL/SQL
c) Both a and b
d) None
Ans: c) Both a and b
63. What is a trigger?
a) A program that controls access
b) A database event listener
c) A user-defined data type
 d) A table constraint
Ans: b) A database event listener
64. A trigger is invoked:
a) Automatically
b) Manually
c) By an administrator
d) By the OS
Ans: a) Automatically
65. Which of the following can activate a trigger?
a) INSERT
b) UPDATE
c) DELETE
d) All of the above
Ans: d) All of the above

Section N: Recovery and Backup

66. What is checkpointing in DBMS?

a) A point where the system saves its state
b) An index creation process
c) Data replication
d) A rollback point
Ans: a) A point where the system saves its state
67. Which technique ensures atomicity in failure?
a) Commit
b) Rollback
c) Savepoint
d) Log file
Ans: b) Rollback
68. Which backup method copies only changed data?
a) Full backup
b) Incremental backup
c) Partial backup
d) Snapshot
Ans: b) Incremental backup
69. The process of bringing back a database to a stable state is called:
a) Backup
b) Restoration
c) Recovery
d) Reboot
Ans: c) Recovery
70. Which of the following is NOT a recovery technique?
a) Deferred update
b) Immediate update
c) Shadow paging
d) Forward chaining
Ans: d) Forward chaining
 Section O: Miscellaneous & Conceptual

71. Tuple Relational Calculus is:

a) Procedural
b) Declarative
c) Imperative
d) Relational algebra
Ans: b) Declarative
72. Which of the following is a procedural language?
a) Relational Algebra
b) Relational Calculus
c) SQL
d) View
Ans: a) Relational Algebra
73. What is a view in SQL?
a) A table copy
b) A virtual table
c) A sub-table
d) A stored procedure
Ans: b) A virtual table
74. Which command removes a view in SQL?
a) DELETE
b) ERASE
c) DROP
d) REMOVE
Ans: c) DROP
75. Which of the following can be used to enforce integrity constraints?
a) Index
b) Trigger
c) Views
d) Constraints
Ans: d) Constraints

Section P: Final Concepts & Quick Picks

76. DCL stands for:

a) Data Control Language
b) Data Column Logic
c) Database Column Language
d) Data Check Level
Ans: a) Data Control Language
77. TCL stands for:
a) Transaction Control Language
b) Table Control Language
c) Temporary Column Logic
d) Transaction Column List
Ans: a) Transaction Control Language
78. Which command is a TCL command?
a) COMMIT
b) CREATE
c) SELECT
d) DELETE
Ans: a) COMMIT
79. Which command undoes the work done in a transaction?
a) ROLLBACK
b) REVERT
c) UNDO
d) CANCEL
Ans: a) ROLLBACK
80. The smallest unit of data in DBMS is:
a) Table
b) Record
c) Field
d) Bit
Ans: d) Bit

Revision Set (81–100)

81. Primary key must be:

a) Unique and NOT NULL
b) Nullable
c) Unique
d) Foreign
Ans: a) Unique and NOT NULL
82. Which clause groups rows in SQL?
a) GROUP BY
b) ORDER BY
c) CLASSIFY
d) SORT BY
Ans: a) GROUP BY
83. HAVING clause is used with:
a) WHERE
b) GROUP BY
c) ORDER BY
d) SELECT
Ans: b) GROUP BY
84. Which SQL clause filters after grouping?
a) WHERE
b) ORDER BY
c) HAVING
d) LIMIT
Ans: c) HAVING
85. Which of the following is NOT a constraint?
a) UNIQUE
b) PRIMARY
c) CHECK
d) COLUMN
Ans: d) COLUMN
86. Which key can be null?
a) Primary key
b) Foreign key
c) Super key
d) Composite key
Ans: b) Foreign key
87. Which of the following is not a valid SQL data type?
a) VARCHAR
b) NUMBER
 c) TEXT
d) WORD
Ans: d) WORD
88. Which function returns number of rows?
a) COUNT()
b) SUM()
c) LENGTH()
d) MAX()
Ans: a) COUNT()
89. Which of the following aggregates gives average?
a) AVG()
b) SUM()
c) COUNT()
d) MIN()
Ans: a) AVG()
90. Which function finds the highest value?
a) MAX()
b) HIGH()
c) TOP()
d) MAXIMUM()
Ans: a) MAX()
91. Which operator is used for pattern matching in SQL?
a) LIKE
b) MATCHES
c) FIND
d) IN
Ans: a) LIKE
92. Wildcard for single character in SQL is:
a) %
b) _
c) *
d) ?
Ans: b) _
93. Which clause removes duplicate records?
a) UNIQUE
b) DISTINCT
c) FILTER
d) CLEAN
Ans: b) DISTINCT
94. Which of these is a valid JOIN type?
a) CROSS JOIN
b) LINEAR JOIN
c) CENTER JOIN
d) TABLE JOIN
Ans: a) CROSS JOIN
95. Which SQL command creates a new table?
a) NEW
b) BUILD
c) CREATE
d) GENERATE
Ans: c) CREATE
96. Which command deletes a table?
a) REMOVE
b) DELETE
c) DROP
 d) ERASE
Ans: c) DROP
97. Which SQL keyword is used to rename a column?
a) NAME
b) RENAME
c) AS
d) ALIAS
Ans: c) AS
98. What does NOT NULL constraint do?
a) Ensures uniqueness
b) Prevents null values
c) Links tables
d) Checks data type
Ans: b) Prevents null values
99. Which command is used to add a column?
a) ADD COLUMN
b) INSERT COLUMN
c) ALTER TABLE ADD
d) CREATE COLUMN
Ans: c) ALTER TABLE ADD
100. What is the result of SELECT *?
a) Selects all rows
b) Selects all columns
c) Selects all tables
d) Selects all from database
Ans: b) Selects all columns

by:

Avishek Dey
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering