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5.2. Keyword Mapping and Distractor Identification
💡 Exam Strategy: When you see specific keywords in a question stem, they often point to specific answers. Common distractors test whether you confuse similar concepts.
| If you see this keyword... | Look for this answer... | Common Distractor |
|---|---|---|
| "Dynamic allocation of executors" | Spark optimization | Fixed node count |
| "Memory-optimized nodes" | Data-intensive Spark jobs | Compute-optimized |
| "Session tags" | Spark session reuse | New session per activity |
| "Deployment rules" | Environment-specific configuration | Manual connection updates |
| "Workspace settings" (for subdomain) | Assign workspace to subdomain | Admin portal domain settings |
| "Create Project From Database" | VS Code database project | Manage Packages |
| "partial(0,"XXXX-",4)" | Credit card masking | default() |
| "Type 2 SCD" | Historical tracking | Type 1 (overwrite) |
| "COPY INTO with wildcards" | Bulk file loading | Individual INSERTs |
| "CTAS" | Create Table As Select | SELECT INTO |
| "Event processor" | Eventstream transformation | Azure Data Factory |
| "Spark Structured Streaming" | Real-time Delta ingestion | Batch notebook |
| "KQL" | Eventhouse/KQL Database | T-SQL (warehouse) |
| "OPTIMIZE command" | Delta table file consolidation | VACUUM |
| "V-Order" | Parquet compression optimization | Z-Order |
| "Fail activity" | Controlled pipeline termination | Logging only |
| "BEGIN TRANSACTION" | Explicit transaction start | Implicit transaction |
| "Metadata mirroring" | Databricks | Cosmos DB |
| "Database mirroring" | Cosmos DB, Azure SQL | Databricks |
| "Shortcut" | Virtual data access | Copy data |
| "Monitor hub" | Activity monitoring | Capacity metrics |
| "Real-Time hub alerts" | Streaming monitoring | Power BI alerts |
| "Native execution engine" | Optimized Spark (no UDFs) | Traditional Spark |
| "Gateway version" | Refresh failure troubleshooting | Pipeline parameters |
| "Accelerated shortcut" | Fast KQL queries (cached) | Non-accelerated shortcut |
| "Non-accelerated shortcut" | Cost-effective, always current | Accelerated shortcut |
| "Managed Private Endpoint" | Private connectivity (no public internet) | Service principal |
| "Trusted Workspace Access" | Storage firewall bypass | Managed Private Endpoint |
| "Public access disabled" | Managed Private Endpoint required | Direct connection |
| "Data Workflow settings" | Dataflow Gen2 concurrency | Spark settings |
| "Log Analytics integration" | Workspace logging for compliance | Monitor Hub only |
Written byAlvin Varughese
Founder•15 professional certifications