Practice Midterm Exam
(These are intended to give you a sense for the types of multiple choice questions you might get. This is NOT a full
exam – the actual exam is LONGER.)
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following is not a potential advantage of the database approach?
a. minimal data redundancy. (Stored attribute/data in multiple tables) (Data duplication- unnecessary
copy of files)
b. reduced program maintenance. (need programs, many programs, work will increase
c. improved sharing of data. (DBMS- many users can use it, sharing increases)
d. data independence. (aka program data independence, if need to change description of data
(metadata) but do not need to change anything in program, achieved in database system
structured independence- users still have access to data
e. none of the above (all ARE advantages).
2. Recognizing that there are two subtypes of customer (e.g., profit and non-profit), each with different
characteristics, is an example of:
a. generalization
b. specialization
c. weak entities
d. business rules
e. none of the above.
3. The primary key of the relation JOB is the attribute JobNumber. Two other attributes of JOB are
ContractorName and ContractorAddress. There is a functional dependency between ContractorName and
ContractorAddress (such that contractor name determines contractor address). In what normal form is the JOB
relation?
a. First (but not second) normal form.
b. Second (but not third) normal form.
c. Third normal form.
d. Fourth normal form.
e. none of the above.
JOB (Job Number, Contractor Name, Contractor Address
Functional Dependency between Contractor Name Contractor Address
4. The primary key of the relation SALE is the attribute SaleNumber. Two other attributes of SALE are VendorName
and VendorLocation. The VendorLocation is functionally dependent on the VendorName. This is an example of a
relation that has a:
a. partial functional dependency.
b. transitive dependency.
c. multivalued dependency.
d. repeating group.
e. none of the above.
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