Data Engineer Associate: practice questions
Original practice questions for the current exam, free and unlimited. Every code question was executed on Spark with Delta Lake before it was published, so the answer key is what the engine printed.
Data Engineer Associate set
15 questions, drawn fresh from the bank. Every code question was executed on Spark before it shipped, and each answer links to the documentation it rests on.
No account needed to practise. Sign in to keep your best score per set, see progress on your account page, and turn wrong answers into a reading list.
A sample question, with the answer
A Delta table is overwritten with df.write.mode("overwrite"). What happens to the table's earlier versions?
- aThey are deleted immediately; overwrite resets history
- bThey remain queryable with time travel until VACUUM removes the filescorrect
- cThey are moved to a backup table named <table>_history
- dOnly the latest two versions are kept
Why: Overwrite is a new commit in the transaction log, not a reset. Earlier versions stay queryable with VERSION AS OF or TIMESTAMP AS OF until their files age past the retention window and a VACUUM physically removes them.
Exam facts
Facts reflect the official materials at our last review; exams change, so verify against the official page before booking.
Prep with the AI assistant you already use
Databricks’ recommended prep flow now includes an official AI Prep Guide of copy-paste prompts. Here is ours, tuned to this exam. Paste it into any assistant, or ask the Brickster Assistant, which answers with citations from this archive.
I am preparing for the Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate exam. Quiz me with 10 original multiple-choice questions in the style of that exam, one at a time, across these areas: delta-lake, etl, spark, dbsql, data-quality, unity-catalog. Never reuse real exam content. Do not show the answer until I respond. After each answer, explain why, and ground the explanation in docs.databricks.com. Keep score. At the end, list my weakest areas and what to read for each.
Go deeper on the weak spots
Each topic below has a live page with an AI synthesis of recent activity and the items behind it. Wrong answers in the set above link to these too.
Frequently asked
How many questions is the Databricks Data Engineer Associate exam?
45 scored questions in 90 minutes, per the official exam guide current as of May 4, 2026. It costs $200, is proctored, and the credential is valid for two years. Databricks does not publish the passing score.
Are these real exam questions?
No, and that is deliberate. Real exam content is covered by the exam NDA, and Databricks warns that using dumps can void your certification. Every question here is original, written from public documentation, and the code questions were executed on a real Spark engine before publication.
Is there an official Databricks practice exam?
No. Databricks states in its certification FAQ that it currently offers no practice exams. The official exam guide contains a handful of sample questions, and the official AI Prep Guide suggests generating your own mock exam with an AI assistant. This page gives you a verified question set to drill instead.
brickster.ai is an independent community project, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Databricks, Inc. Nothing here is drawn from real exam content, and no practice result predicts a certification outcome.