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200-901 Software Development and Design Practice Question

A developer is building a REST API client in Python using the requests library. They need to send a JSON payload with authentication. Which code snippet correctly sends a POST request with a JSON body and a Bearer token?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

✓

requests.post(url, json=payload, headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'})

The correct way is to use json parameter for JSON body and headers for authorization.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • ✗

    requests.post(url, data=payload, auth=token)

    Why it's wrong here

    Passing a raw token to auth produces invalid Basic authentication, and data sends form-encoded content rather than JSON. This pattern suits simple HTTP Basic credentials against form endpoints, not a Bearer-token JSON API, where headers and the json parameter are required.

  • ✓

    requests.post(url, json=payload, headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'})

    Why this is correct

    Passing json=payload serialises the dict and sets Content-Type to application/json automatically, while the headers dict supplies the Bearer token in the Authorization header. This satisfies both the JSON body and authenticated POST requirements in one call.

  • ✗

    requests.post(url, data=json.dumps(payload), headers={'Authorization': token})

    Why it's wrong here

    json.dumps with data sends a JSON string but omits the Content-Type: application/json header, and the Authorization value lacks the required 'Bearer ' prefix. This approach fits APIs accepting raw bodies with custom headers, not standard Bearer-token JSON endpoints.

  • ✗

    requests.post(url, params=payload, auth=('Bearer', token))

    Why it's wrong here

    params places the payload in the URL query string rather than the request body, and auth=('Bearer', token) generates Basic authentication, not a Bearer header. Query parameters suit GET filtering; Bearer JSON APIs need the json parameter and an Authorization header.

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