FC0-U71 Data and Database Fundamentals Practice Question
A bookstore owner wants to list all book titles stored in a table named Inventory, sorted alphabetically by title. Which SQL statement should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse the filtering clause WHERE with the sorting clause ORDER BY, leading to attempts to place sort directions inside a WHERE condition.
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
✓
SELECT title FROM Inventory ORDER BY title;
Sorting query output is accomplished with the ORDER BY clause, which arranges rows by one or more columns and defaults to ascending order. The statement that selects the title column and applies ORDER BY title returns every book title in alphabetical order, matching the bookstore owner's request without filtering or aggregating the data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
SELECT title FROM Inventory WHERE title ASC;
Why it's wrong here
The WHERE clause filters rows based on a condition and does not accept a sort direction such as ASC. Writing WHERE title ASC is syntactically invalid because ASC is not a comparison operator; sorting is performed with ORDER BY, so this statement would fail rather than return an alphabetized list of book titles.
- ✗
SELECT title FROM Inventory SORT BY title;
Why it's wrong here
SORT BY is not a valid SQL keyword for relational database queries. The correct clause for arranging output is ORDER BY, which can specify ascending or descending order. Using SORT BY would cause a syntax error, and even if a system accepted it, it would not follow the standard SQL behavior expected for sorting query results.
- ✗
SELECT title FROM Inventory GROUP BY title;
Why it's wrong here
GROUP BY is used to aggregate rows that share a value, typically alongside functions such as COUNT or SUM. Applying GROUP BY to the title column would collapse duplicate titles into single rows but would not guarantee alphabetical ordering, and it is not the correct clause for simply sorting a full list of titles for display.
- ✓
SELECT title FROM Inventory ORDER BY title;
Why this is correct
This statement selects the title column from the Inventory table and uses ORDER BY title to sort the result alphabetically in ascending order by default. It directly satisfies the requirement to list all titles in alphabetical order without retrieving unnecessary columns or applying filters that would exclude rows.
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Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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