DP-300 Practice Question: Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources
You manage an Azure SQL Database that runs a reporting workload. Users report that a complex stored procedure occasionally returns results in under 5 seconds but sometimes takes over 60 seconds. You have enabled Query Store with the default settings. You need to identify the plan that is causing the slow executions and force the faster plan. Which Query Store report should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Regressed Queries will show plan variability, when it only shows queries that have degraded relative to a baseline, not those with multiple competing plans.
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
✓
Queries With High Variation
The stored procedure alternates between fast and slow executions, which indicates multiple execution plans with varying performance. The Queries With High Variation report in Query Store is designed to surface exactly this pattern. It allows you to compare plans and force the efficient plan, stabilizing performance. The other reports focus on resource consumption, waits, or regressions, but not on plan-to-plan variability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Top Resource Consuming Queries
Why it's wrong here
Top Resource Consuming Queries ranks queries by aggregate resource usage (CPU, duration, etc.) over the selected time interval. It helps identify the most expensive queries overall, but it does not directly show multiple plans for a single query or allow plan forcing. This scenario requires isolating plan variability for one stored procedure, so this report is not the best fit.
- ✗
Regressed Queries
Why it's wrong here
Regressed Queries identifies queries whose performance has recently degraded compared to a baseline period. It is useful when performance changes over time, but it does not focus on queries that alternate between good and bad plans. The described behavior is plan variability, not a sustained regression, so this report is not the right tool.
- ✓
Queries With High Variation
Why this is correct
Queries With High Variation highlights queries that have multiple execution plans with significantly different performance metrics. This directly addresses the scenario where a stored procedure sometimes runs fast and sometimes slow. From this report, you can drill into the query and force the better-performing plan, resolving the inconsistent performance.
- ✗
Query Wait Statistics
Why it's wrong here
Query Wait Statistics shows the categories of waits that queries experienced, such as CPU, memory, or I/O waits. While useful for diagnosing contention, it does not display different execution plans for the same query or provide a mechanism to force a plan. The problem here is plan choice, not wait type, so this report is not appropriate.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Optimizing Database Query and Index Performance
Key term
Query Store
Query Store is a built-in SQL Server feature that captures and stores a history of query execution plans and performance data for easy monitoring and troubleshooting.
Key term
Azure SQL Performance Tuning
Azure SQL Performance Tuning is the process of optimizing the speed and efficiency of queries and database operations in Microsoft Azure SQL Database or SQL Managed Instance to reduce latency and improve throughput.
About these practice questions
This DP-300 question is part of Courseiva's 574-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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
This DP-300 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-300 exam.