- A
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 2 approvals, and enable 'Allow force pushes'.
Why wrong: Force pushes bypass protections and are not recommended.
- B
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 1 approval from a specific team, and disable 'Require status checks'.
Why wrong: Disabling status checks would not enforce unit tests.
- C
Enable 'Require code owner review' and 'Require status checks to pass before merging'.
Why wrong: Code owner review only requires approval from code owners, not necessarily preventing self-merge.
- D
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 1 approval, and enable 'Require status checks to pass before merging' with the unit test check required.
This ensures at least one approval from someone else (author cannot self-approve) and status checks pass.
AZ-400 Configure processes and communications Practice Question
This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of configure processes and communications. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your team uses GitHub and wants to implement a policy that requires all pull requests to have a successful status check from a GitHub Actions workflow that runs unit tests. Additionally, the policy should require that the PR author is not allowed to merge their own PR. The repository is for a critical application and the main branch is protected. You need to configure the branch protection rules. Which combination of settings should you 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
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 1 approval, and enable 'Require status checks to pass before merging' with the unit test check required.
Option D is correct because it combines two essential protections: requiring at least one approval prevents the PR author from merging their own PR (since the author cannot self-approve), and requiring the unit test status check to pass ensures that only code with successful automated tests can be merged into the protected main branch. This directly satisfies both policy requirements.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 2 approvals, and enable 'Allow force pushes'.
Why it's wrong here
Force pushes bypass protections and are not recommended.
- ✗
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 1 approval from a specific team, and disable 'Require status checks'.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling status checks would not enforce unit tests.
- ✗
Enable 'Require code owner review' and 'Require status checks to pass before merging'.
Why it's wrong here
Code owner review only requires approval from code owners, not necessarily preventing self-merge.
- ✓
Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 1 approval, and enable 'Require status checks to pass before merging' with the unit test check required.
Why this is correct
This ensures at least one approval from someone else (author cannot self-approve) and status checks pass.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may think 'Require code owner review' alone prevents self-merge, but it does not—a code owner can approve their own PR unless additional settings are applied, and it does not enforce a separate approval from another contributor.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, GitHub branch protection rules are enforced at the Git level via the ref-update hook; when 'Require status checks' is enabled, the merge button is disabled until all required checks report a successful conclusion. The 'Require pull request reviews before merging' setting with 1 approval implicitly prevents self-merge because GitHub does not count the PR author's own approval as a valid review for this rule. In a real-world scenario, a team might also enable 'Dismiss stale pull request approvals when new commits are pushed' to ensure re-review after changes.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-400 question test?
Configure processes and communications — This question tests Configure processes and communications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable 'Require pull request reviews before merging' with 1 approval, and enable 'Require status checks to pass before merging' with the unit test check required. — Option D is correct because it combines two essential protections: requiring at least one approval prevents the PR author from merging their own PR (since the author cannot self-approve), and requiring the unit test status check to pass ensures that only code with successful automated tests can be merged into the protected main branch. This directly satisfies both policy requirements.
What should I do if I get this AZ-400 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
This AZ-400 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-400 exam.
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