DA0-002 Data Concepts and Environments Practice Question
An analyst is reviewing a table that stores customer orders. The table contains columns: OrderID, CustomerName, Product1, Product1Qty, Product2, Product2Qty. This design violates which normal form?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates think the table is already in 1NF because it has a primary key (OrderID), but they overlook the repeating group columns that violate the atomicity requirement of 1NF.
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
✓
First normal form (1NF)
The table violates First Normal Form (1NF) because it contains repeating groups (Product1, Product1Qty, Product2, Product2Qty) instead of storing each product in a separate row. 1NF requires that each column contains atomic values and that there are no repeating groups or arrays. The presence of multiple product columns for a single order breaks this atomicity and normalization rule.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
No violation
Why it's wrong here
Storing Product1, Product1Qty, Product2 and Product2Qty as repeating column groups places multiple values in a single attribute position, which breaches first normal form. Claiming no violation is tempting when OrderID appears to be a clean primary key, but key uniqueness does not resolve the multivalued columns that 1NF forbids.
- ✗
Third normal form (3NF)
Why it's wrong here
The repeating Product1/Product2 groups breach first normal form by storing multiple values per attribute, so the design never reaches the stage 3NF addresses. 3NF is tempting because it targets transitive dependencies between non-key columns, which would be the correct diagnosis if each product occupied its own atomic row and CustomerName depended on a non-key attribute.
- ✗
Second normal form (2NF)
Why it's wrong here
2NF is about partial dependencies, but 1NF is violated first.
- ✓
First normal form (1NF)
Why this is correct
Repeating Product1/Product2 column groups makes the table non-atomic, violating 1NF's requirement that each column hold a single value and no repeating groups exist. Splitting into an OrderItems table (OrderID, Product, Quantity) satisfies 1NF before addressing higher normal forms.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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