DA0-002 Data Acquisition and Preparation Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are common methods for acquiring data from external sources?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse data warehousing (a storage/management process) with data acquisition methods, or think manual data entry is a valid external acquisition method, when the exam specifically tests automated, programmatic techniques for pulling data from outside the organization.
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
✓
Public APIs
Public APIs (C) are a common method for acquiring data from external sources because they provide a standardized, programmatic interface (often RESTful over HTTP/HTTPS) for requesting and receiving structured data, such as JSON or XML, from third-party services like social media platforms or weather services. Web scraping (D) is another common method that involves programmatically extracting data from web pages by parsing HTML or DOM structures, often using tools like BeautifulSoup or Selenium, when no API is available.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Data warehousing
Why it's wrong here
Data warehousing is a storage and management approach, not an acquisition method.
- ✗
Manual data entry
Why it's wrong here
Manual entry is not a common method for acquiring external data due to inefficiency.
- ✓
Public APIs
Why this is correct
APIs provide structured access to external data.
- ✓
Web scraping
Why this is correct
Web scraping extracts data from external websites.
- ✗
Direct database connection to an internal server
Why it's wrong here
This is internal, not external.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DA0-002 question from scratch — 986 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DA0-002 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DA0-002 exam.