DP-203 Develop data processing Practice Question
You are designing a data processing solution in Azure Synapse Analytics. The solution must use a serverless SQL pool to query data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. The data is stored as Parquet files partitioned by date. Which TWO of the following statements are true regarding querying this data? (Select TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume serverless SQL pools behave like dedicated SQL pools, leading them to think indexes are needed or that external tables are mandatory, when in fact serverless pools are schema-on-read and rely on file metadata and statistics for performance.
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
✓
You can use the filepath() function in the query to retrieve the partition column values.
The `filepath()` function in a serverless SQL pool query returns the file path of the row being read. When data is partitioned by date in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, the partition column values are embedded in the folder structure (e.g., `/year=2023/month=01/day=15/`). Using `filepath(1)`, `filepath(2)`, etc., you can extract these values directly in the query without needing to parse the path manually.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
You can use the filepath() function in the query to retrieve the partition column values.
Why this is correct
The filepath function returns the partition path values.
- ✓
Partition elimination is automatically applied when filtering on the partition column in the WHERE clause.
Why this is correct
Serverless SQL pool prunes partitions based on the partition column filter.
- ✗
You must create an external table to query Parquet files; OPENROWSET is not supported.
Why it's wrong here
OPENROWSET is supported and can query Parquet files directly.
- ✗
You can create indexes on the serverless SQL pool to improve query performance.
Why it's wrong here
Serverless SQL pool does not support index creation.
- ✗
You can only query a single file at a time; wildcards are not supported.
Why it's wrong here
Wildcards are supported to query multiple files.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This DP-203 question is part of Courseiva's 760-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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 DP-203 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 DP-203 exam.