FC0-U71 Data and Database Fundamentals Practice Question
A technician is documenting a hospital system where each patient can have many appointments, but every appointment belongs to exactly one patient and one doctor. The technician must describe how the Appointment table relates to the Patient table. Which term correctly describes this relationship?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse one-to-many with many-to-many, which would only apply if a single appointment could involve multiple patients simultaneously.
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
✓
One-to-many
Because one patient can be associated with many appointments while each appointment is tied to a single patient, the relationship is one-to-many. This is implemented by placing a PatientID foreign key in the Appointment table, which also allows a similar DoctorID foreign key to capture the appointment-to-doctor link.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Many-to-many
Why it's wrong here
Many-to-many would mean a single appointment could belong to multiple patients and a patient could have many appointments, which is not how appointments work. Each appointment record belongs to exactly one patient. A many-to-many relationship also normally requires a junction table, which this design does not need for the patient side.
- ✗
Recursive
Why it's wrong here
A recursive relationship links rows within the same table, such as an Employee table where a ManagerID points back to another employee. The Patient and Appointment tables are different entities, so the relationship is not recursive. Applying this term would incorrectly suggest the foreign key points to the same table it lives in.
- ✗
One-to-one
Why it's wrong here
A one-to-one relationship means each record in one table matches at most one record in the other, such as a person and a single passport number. Here a patient clearly can have multiple appointments over time, so the cardinality is greater than one on the appointment side. This term understates the relationship and would mislead anyone reading the documentation.
- ✓
One-to-many
Why this is correct
This is correct because one patient row can be referenced by many appointment rows, while each appointment row references exactly one patient through a foreign key. That is the definition of a one-to-many relationship. The same pattern applies between Doctor and Appointment, so documenting it as one-to-many accurately captures the cardinality in both directions.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This FC0-U71 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 FC0-U71 exam.