COF-C03 Practice Question: Snowflake AI Data Cloud Features and Architecture
A Snowflake user runs a SELECT statement against a large fact table. The query returns results in under a second, and the query profile shows that no warehouse was started. Which Snowflake feature most likely served the result?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the Query Result Cache, which persists query output in Cloud Services, with a warehouse-local data cache that requires compute to be running.
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
✓
The Snowflake Query Result Cache in the Cloud Services layer.
The Query Result Cache is a Cloud Services layer feature that stores the output of completed queries for up to 24 hours. When an identical query is submitted and the micro-partitions referenced by the original query are unchanged, Snowflake returns the cached result directly, bypassing the warehouse entirely. This is why the query completed quickly with no warehouse start.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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The result set persisted by the user's open session.
Why it's wrong here
A session holds temporary state such as the current role, warehouse, and open transaction, not durable query results. While Snowflake may keep some client-side state, it does not use a session-scoped store to return full result sets across independent executions without compute.
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The metadata cache maintained by the Cloud Services layer.
Why it's wrong here
The metadata store in Cloud Services holds information such as table definitions, micro-partition statistics, and file references. It helps the optimizer plan queries but does not store query result sets, so it cannot return the rows of a completed SELECT without running compute.
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The local disk cache on the virtual warehouse.
Why it's wrong here
The local disk cache on a warehouse stores data files retrieved from remote storage for reuse by that warehouse. It cannot serve a query when the warehouse is not running, because the cache lives on the warehouse's compute nodes. Here no warehouse started, so this cache could not have produced the result.
- ✓
The Snowflake Query Result Cache in the Cloud Services layer.
Why this is correct
The Query Result Cache persists the results of executed queries in the Cloud Services layer for up to 24 hours. If an identical query is reissued and the underlying data has not changed, Snowflake returns the cached result without provisioning a warehouse, which explains the sub-second response and the absence of a warehouse start.
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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 Snowflake exam blueprint
This COF-C03 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Snowflake 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 COF-C03 exam.