PDE Storing the Data Practice Question
A company wants to use BigQuery to query data stored in Parquet files in Cloud Storage without loading the data into BigQuery. Which BigQuery feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Google often tests the distinction between features that query external data (external tables) versus features that process data within BigQuery (like BI Engine) or across clouds (Omni), leading candidates to confuse Omni's multi-cloud capability with external data access in the same cloud.
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
✓
BigQuery external tables
BigQuery external tables allow querying data stored in Cloud Storage (including Parquet files) directly without loading it into BigQuery storage. This feature uses a federated query engine that reads the data on the fly, supporting formats like Parquet, Avro, ORC, CSV, and JSON. Option C is correct because it directly addresses the requirement to query Parquet files in Cloud Storage without ingestion.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
BigQuery Omni
Why it's wrong here
BigQuery Omni is for querying data in other clouds, not for external tables on GCS.
- ✗
BigQuery ML
Why it's wrong here
BigQuery ML is for machine learning, not for external file querying.
- ✓
BigQuery external tables
Why this is correct
External tables allow querying data directly from GCS without loading into BigQuery storage.
- ✗
BigQuery BI Engine
Why it's wrong here
BI Engine is an in-memory analysis engine, not for external file querying.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PDE question from scratch — 890 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 PDE 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 PDE exam.