Video: Test Your Index Design Skills (with poll results)

You know how to design indexes, but you’re not sure how good your skills really are. In this quiz-packed session you’ll get a chance to test your skills! Kendra Little will walk you through a set of index design challenges. You’ll have time to answer each problem on your own, then find out whether the SQL Server engine thinks you made the right choice. At the end of the session you’ll get to tally your score (but you can keep it a secret if you like).

Take the quiz while you watch the video. If you’d like to dive straight into the questions, skip to 2:30.

Compare your answers to the group

Our webcast had 416 attendees and 80% of people answered each question. To find out the right answers (and why) watch the video above, but here’s the stats on how webcast viewers answered each question.

This is NOT the answer key— don’t assume the majority of people got every question right! This just lets you compare what you thought to what others thought.

Q1) A NonClustered Index is…

A) 4.39%
B) 19.26%
C) 73.65%
D) 2.70%

Q2) What will this query probably due given this table definition?

A) 13.92%
B) 70.55%
C) 9.06%
D) 6.47%

Q3) What is most likely the biggest problem with this table?

A) 4.35%
B) 69.93%
C) 17.39%
D) 8.33%

Q4) INCLUDED columns are…

A) 14.33%
B) 77.88%
C) 5.30%
D) 2.49%

Q5) A unique constraint is…

A only) 11%
A and B) 11%
A, B, and C) 16%
A, B, C, and D) 14%
A and C) 41%
A, C and D) 8%
A and D) 4%

(There were some other combos, but they all got low percentages)

Q6) Which one of these statements is ALWAYS true?

A) 16.77%
B) 36.13%
C) 14.52%
D) 32.58%

Q7) How many indexes were written to?

0) 2.33%
1) 17.00%
2) 46.67%
3) 34.00%

Q8) Why wouldn’t SQL Server Ask for an Index?

A) 22.73%
B) 45.45%
C) 26.22%
D) 5.59%

 

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8 Comments. Leave new

  • Great quiz Kendra,

    You were worried about the wording of question 7… that technically, the query could have updated zero rows… But I think you’re safe. The wording of the question “This command runs and updates one row” saves you. No loopholes!

    Reply
  • Alex Friedman
    July 25, 2014 11:52 am

    Very nice! I’ll be sure to test my team 🙂

    Reply
  • Betsy Gelvin
    July 28, 2014 12:42 pm

    Hi Kendra. My husband sent me this quiz. He’s a programmer. I’m not. I’m an ordinary mortal. He sent it to me because you endorsed something I bought (USLegalForms?). Thought you might find it interesting that I got the first 6 correct. Honest. No cheating. I waivered between A and C on the last one and finally chose C.

    Reply
    • Kendra Little
      July 28, 2014 12:43 pm

      Haha, you are clearly a natural! No really, if you look at the quiz results, lots of folks didn’t get those right 🙂

      Reply
  • Its a clever way to present Kendra, I felt more engaged than normal. There are loads of subjects you could cover this way.

    Reply

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