Data Engineer Professional · 7% of the exam

Data Governance: free practice questions

5 sample questions from our 5-question bank for this domain — answers and explanations included. These are the same scenario-based style as the real Databricks exam.

1. To help users discover and classify data (e.g., mark columns as containing PII) in a governed way, which Unity Catalog feature is used?

  • A. Tags (classification metadata) on catalogs, schemas, tables, and columns✓ Correct
  • B. Cluster policies
  • C. dbutils.widgets
  • D. COPY INTO
Explanation

Unity Catalog tags let you classify and label objects/columns (e.g., PII) to aid discovery and governance. Cluster policies (B) govern compute, widgets (C) parameterize notebooks, and COPY INTO (D) ingests data.

2. A security team must review who accessed a sensitive table and when, across the workspace. Which Databricks/Unity Catalog capability supports this?

  • A. Audit logs / access history capturing data access events✓ Correct
  • B. OPTIMIZE ZORDER
  • C. Auto Loader checkpoints
  • D. A broadcast hint
Explanation

Audit logs and Unity Catalog access history record who accessed which data and when, supporting security reviews and compliance. ZORDER (B), Auto Loader checkpoints (C), and broadcast hints (D) don't provide access auditing.

3. What is the correct object hierarchy in Unity Catalog, from broadest to most specific?

  • A. Metastore → Catalog → Schema (database) → Table/View✓ Correct
  • B. Table → Schema → Catalog → Metastore
  • C. Cluster → Job → Notebook → Cell
  • D. Catalog → Metastore → Table → Schema
Explanation

Unity Catalog's three-level namespace is Metastore → Catalog → Schema → Table/View (referenced as catalog.schema.table). Option B reverses it, option C lists compute objects, and option D scrambles the order.

4. A data steward needs to see how a gold table was derived from upstream sources to assess the impact of a schema change. Which Unity Catalog capability provides this?

  • A. Data lineage (automatically captured table/column lineage)✓ Correct
  • B. A ZORDER index
  • C. A broadcast join
  • D. VACUUM
Explanation

Unity Catalog automatically captures data lineage (table- and column-level), showing upstream/downstream dependencies for impact analysis. ZORDER (B), broadcast joins (C), and VACUUM (D) are performance/maintenance features, not lineage.

5. Why is a centralized governance layer like Unity Catalog preferred over per-workspace, table-by-table access control?

  • A. It provides consistent, centralized governance (permissions, lineage, audit, discovery) across workspaces and clouds from one place✓ Correct
  • B. It makes every table public by default
  • C. It removes the need for any permissions
  • D. It only works for a single table
Explanation

Unity Catalog centralizes governance — access control, lineage, audit, and discovery — consistently across workspaces, avoiding fragmented per-workspace management. It doesn't make data public (B), remove permissions (C), or work for only one table (D).

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