Google ACE Deploying and Implementing a Cloud Solution Practice Question
A developer wants to run a one-time query on a large dataset stored in Cloud Storage using BigQuery without loading the data into a table. Which feature should they use?
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
✓
Use a BigQuery federated query with an external table definition
BigQuery federated queries allow querying external data sources (like Cloud Storage) directly using external tables or the EXTERNAL_QUERY function. This avoids loading 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.
- ✓
Use a BigQuery federated query with an external table definition
Why this is correct
A BigQuery federated query with an external table definition lets you query data that remains in Cloud Storage without loading it into BigQuery's managed storage. You define an external table pointing at files in GCS (CSV, JSON, Avro, Parquet, etc.) with optional schema auto-detection, and the query engine reads the source natively at query time. This matches a one-time analysis by eliminating the load job, copying no data, and charging only for the bytes scanned during execution.
- ✗
Create a permanent table and load the data using gcloud bq load
Why it's wrong here
The intended command would copy the dataset into a permanent BigQuery table via a load job, consuming time and creating durable storage costs for data you only need once. This is not a query operation but a data-ingestion operation, so it defeats the purpose of a lightweight, one-time query. Moreover, 'gcloud bq load' is not a valid invocation — the standard BigQuery CLI command is 'bq load', so the command itself is incorrect.
- ✗
Use Cloud SQL to query the data via federated query
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server, and it has no built-in federated query capability to read files directly from Cloud Storage. To query external data in Cloud SQL, you would first need to import it into the database, which again creates persistent state. Thus, this approach misapplies a transactional database service to an ad-hoc data lake query pattern.
- ✗
Use gcloud sql import to load data into BigQuery
Why it's wrong here
The 'gcloud sql import' command is specifically for importing SQL dump or CSV files into a Cloud SQL database, not into BigQuery. BigQuery has its own loading mechanisms such as 'bq load', the Cloud Console, or the Storage Write API, so this command would target the wrong service entirely. Even if you intended to move data to BigQuery, the required command is 'bq load' rather than any Cloud SQL import command.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Google Cloud Platform Overview
Key term
Cloud storage
Cloud storage is a service that lets you save data on remote servers accessed over the internet instead of on your computer's hard drive.
Key term
BigQuery
BigQuery is a fully managed, serverless data warehouse on Google Cloud that lets you run fast SQL queries on massive datasets without managing any infrastructure.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ACE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 ACE exam.