SPLK-1002 Advanced Searching and Statistics Practice Question
A search returns 1000 results per second. The user wants to see a trend of counts over the past hour in 5-minute intervals. Which command should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Splunk often tests the misconception that `stats` or `chart` can be used with a `span` parameter to create time-based buckets, when in fact only `timechart` (and `bucket` in conjunction with `stats`) supports this syntax for time aggregation.
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
✓
timechart span=5min count
The `timechart` command is designed to create a time-based chart with automatic binning of events into time buckets. By specifying `span=5min`, you explicitly set the bucket size to 5-minute intervals, and `count` calculates the number of events per bucket. This directly satisfies the requirement to see a trend of counts over the past hour in 5-minute intervals.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
timechart span=5min count
Why this is correct
`timechart` with `span=5min` correctly creates a time series of event counts per 5-minute bucket.
- ✗
chart count over _time span=5min
Why it's wrong here
`chart` does not have a span option; it requires a x-axis field.
- ✗
stats count by _time span=5min
Why it's wrong here
`stats` does not support span; need to use `bucket` first.
- ✗
streamstats count span=5min
Why it's wrong here
`streamstats` does not have a span option; it computes running stats.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SPLK-1002 question from scratch — 475 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 SPLK-1002 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Splunk 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 SPLK-1002 exam.