[PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
**Question 1.** Which Google Cloud service is primarily used to enforce fine‑grained access
control over BigQuery datasets?
A) Cloud IAM
B) Cloud KMS
C) Cloud DLP
D) Cloud Asset Inventory
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud IAM lets you assign roles and permissions at the dataset level, enabling
granular access control for BigQuery.
**Question 2.** In a data‑processing pipeline, which Google Cloud component provides
serverless stream processing with Apache Beam semantics?
A) Cloud Dataflow
B) Cloud Dataproc
C) Cloud Composer
D) Cloud Run
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Dataflow runs Apache Beam pipelines in a fully managed, serverless
environment for both batch and streaming workloads.
**Question 3.** Which encryption method protects data at rest in Google Cloud Storage by
default?
A) Customer‑Supplied Encryption Keys (CSEK)
B) Customer‑Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK)
C) Google‑Managed Encryption Keys (GMEK)
D) Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
, [PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
Answer: C
Explanation: GMEK is automatically applied to all Cloud Storage objects, providing encryption at
rest without user intervention.
**Question 4.** When designing a globally consistent relational database on GCP, which service
should you choose?
A) Cloud SQL
B) Cloud Spanner
C) AlloyDB
D) Bigtable
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Spanner offers horizontal scalability with strong, external consistency across
regions.
**Question 5.** Which Google Cloud service is best suited for low‑latency, high‑throughput
time‑series data from IoT devices?
A) Cloud Firestore
B) Cloud Bigtable
C) Cloud SQL
D) Cloud Datastore
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Bigtable is optimized for massive write throughput and low‑latency reads,
ideal for time‑series and IoT workloads.
**Question 6.** To automatically delete objects older than 365 days in a Cloud Storage bucket,
you should configure a:
A) Object versioning policy
, [PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
B) Lifecycle rule
C) IAM policy
D) Retention policy
Answer: B
Explanation: Lifecycle rules can transition or delete objects based on age, storage class, or
custom conditions.
**Question 7.** Which feature of BigQuery allows you to pre‑compute and store query results
for faster subsequent reads?
A) Partitioned tables
B) Clustering
C) Materialized views
D) Search indexes
Answer: C
Explanation: Materialized views automatically maintain a refreshed copy of query results,
reducing query latency.
**Question 8.** In a streaming pipeline, which Watermark strategy helps handle late‑arriving
events?
A) Fixed windows only
B) Event‑time watermarks
C) Processing‑time triggers only
D) No watermarks needed
Answer: B
Explanation: Event‑time watermarks indicate progress of event time, allowing the system to
decide when a window is complete despite late data.
, [PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
**Question 9.** Which Google Cloud service provides a managed Apache Airflow environment
for orchestrating data workflows?
A) Cloud Composer
B) Cloud Scheduler
C) Cloud Functions
D) Cloud Run
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Composer is a fully managed Airflow service that schedules and monitors
complex pipelines.
**Question 10.** When you need to enforce GDPR‑compliant data residency for a dataset
stored in BigQuery, you should:
A) Use a multi‑regional dataset in `us‑central1`
B) Store data in a regional dataset within the EU location
C) Enable Cloud DLP to mask data
D) Replicate data to `asia‑north1`
Answer: B
Explanation: Placing the dataset in an EU regional location ensures data never leaves the EU,
satisfying GDPR residency requirements.
**Question 11.** Which Google Cloud product enables you to discover, profile, and tag data
assets across multiple clouds?
A) Data Catalog
B) Dataplex
C) Dataform
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
**Question 1.** Which Google Cloud service is primarily used to enforce fine‑grained access
control over BigQuery datasets?
A) Cloud IAM
B) Cloud KMS
C) Cloud DLP
D) Cloud Asset Inventory
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud IAM lets you assign roles and permissions at the dataset level, enabling
granular access control for BigQuery.
**Question 2.** In a data‑processing pipeline, which Google Cloud component provides
serverless stream processing with Apache Beam semantics?
A) Cloud Dataflow
B) Cloud Dataproc
C) Cloud Composer
D) Cloud Run
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Dataflow runs Apache Beam pipelines in a fully managed, serverless
environment for both batch and streaming workloads.
**Question 3.** Which encryption method protects data at rest in Google Cloud Storage by
default?
A) Customer‑Supplied Encryption Keys (CSEK)
B) Customer‑Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK)
C) Google‑Managed Encryption Keys (GMEK)
D) Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
, [PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
Answer: C
Explanation: GMEK is automatically applied to all Cloud Storage objects, providing encryption at
rest without user intervention.
**Question 4.** When designing a globally consistent relational database on GCP, which service
should you choose?
A) Cloud SQL
B) Cloud Spanner
C) AlloyDB
D) Bigtable
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Spanner offers horizontal scalability with strong, external consistency across
regions.
**Question 5.** Which Google Cloud service is best suited for low‑latency, high‑throughput
time‑series data from IoT devices?
A) Cloud Firestore
B) Cloud Bigtable
C) Cloud SQL
D) Cloud Datastore
Answer: B
Explanation: Cloud Bigtable is optimized for massive write throughput and low‑latency reads,
ideal for time‑series and IoT workloads.
**Question 6.** To automatically delete objects older than 365 days in a Cloud Storage bucket,
you should configure a:
A) Object versioning policy
, [PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
B) Lifecycle rule
C) IAM policy
D) Retention policy
Answer: B
Explanation: Lifecycle rules can transition or delete objects based on age, storage class, or
custom conditions.
**Question 7.** Which feature of BigQuery allows you to pre‑compute and store query results
for faster subsequent reads?
A) Partitioned tables
B) Clustering
C) Materialized views
D) Search indexes
Answer: C
Explanation: Materialized views automatically maintain a refreshed copy of query results,
reducing query latency.
**Question 8.** In a streaming pipeline, which Watermark strategy helps handle late‑arriving
events?
A) Fixed windows only
B) Event‑time watermarks
C) Processing‑time triggers only
D) No watermarks needed
Answer: B
Explanation: Event‑time watermarks indicate progress of event time, allowing the system to
decide when a window is complete despite late data.
, [PDE] Google Cloud Certified Professional
Data Engineer Certification Exam Guide
**Question 9.** Which Google Cloud service provides a managed Apache Airflow environment
for orchestrating data workflows?
A) Cloud Composer
B) Cloud Scheduler
C) Cloud Functions
D) Cloud Run
Answer: A
Explanation: Cloud Composer is a fully managed Airflow service that schedules and monitors
complex pipelines.
**Question 10.** When you need to enforce GDPR‑compliant data residency for a dataset
stored in BigQuery, you should:
A) Use a multi‑regional dataset in `us‑central1`
B) Store data in a regional dataset within the EU location
C) Enable Cloud DLP to mask data
D) Replicate data to `asia‑north1`
Answer: B
Explanation: Placing the dataset in an EU regional location ensures data never leaves the EU,
satisfying GDPR residency requirements.
**Question 11.** Which Google Cloud product enables you to discover, profile, and tag data
assets across multiple clouds?
A) Data Catalog
B) Dataplex
C) Dataform
