The Exam is divided into 4 modules:
1. Create Database Objects | 24%
– CREATE/ALTER/DROP Database, [link], [video]
– CREATE/ALTER/DROP Table, [link], [video]
– ADD/DROP/Rename table’s Columns, [video]
– Data Types [video]:
– – (XML, DATETIME, SPATIAL, VARCHAR)
– Constraints [link], [video]
– – (Primary Key, Unique Key, Foreign Key, NOT NULL, Check, Default)
– Computed Columns [video]:
– Views
– Indexed Views (SCHEMABINDING, COUNT_BIG(*), CLUSTERED INDEX)
– Stored Procedures, [link].
– DML Triggers (INSERTED, UPDATED, UPDATE function) vs CHECK Constraint
– TRIGGER for VIEWS (INSTEAD OF)
– UDF (Functions), [link].
– SP vs UDF, [link].
2. Work with Data | 27%
– New Functions in SQL Server 2012 (IFF, TRY_PARSE, CONCAT, FORMAT), [link].
– FETCH-OFFSET, [link].
– SEQUENCE, [link].
– Ranking Functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK, NTILE), [link], [video].
– OVER() Window Function, [link]
– JOINS (INNER, OUTER LEFT, OUTER RIGHT, CROSS), [link].
– APPLY Operators (CROSS APPLY vs OUTER APPLY), [link].
– CTE and Sub-Queries, [link].
– PIVOT, [link].
– ROLLUP, CUBE & GROUPING SETS, [link].
– Dynamic SQL
– ANY, SOME, ALL
– CASE vs ISNULL vs COALESCE, [link].
– FOR XML RAW/AUTO/PATH [ELEMENTS], [link].
– Implementing XML Schemas and Handling of XML data
3. Modify Data | 24%
– Stored Procedure (with EXECUTE AS, RECOMPILE)
– MERGE Statement (TARGET, SOURCE, WHEN MATCHED, WHEN NOT MATCHED, OUTPUT),[link].
– EXCEPT vs INTERSECT
– UNION vs UNION ALL, [link].
– SCALAR vs TABLE Valued Functions.
– Use of APPLY with UDFs, [link].
– VARCHAR(MAX) and .WRITE(), [link].
4. Troubleshoot & Optimize | 25%
– Using Statistics
– SQL Internal JOINS (NESTED – Small, MERGE – Large Sorter, HASH – Large Unsorted), [link].
– TRANSACTIONS (BEGIN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK, XACT_ABORT, TRANCOUNT), [link].
– ISOLATION Levels (READ UNCOMMITTED, READ COMMITTED, REPEATABLE READ, SNAPSHOT, SERIALIZABLE)
– TRY/CATCH, [link].
– RAISE vs THROW [link]
– CURSORS (Row-Based) vs SET Based Approach
– Table Hints (UPDLOCK, ROWLOCK, TABLOCK, …etc)
– Query Hints (OPTION (OPTIMIZED FOR … [UNKNOWN]))
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