9.3. Practice Questions
1. A developer makes four commits locally on a feature branch but hasn't pushed yet. A teammate opens the repository on GitHub. What will the teammate see?
A. All four commits, since committing publishes automatically B. None of the four commits, since they exist only in the developer's local repository C. Only the most recent commit D. The commits, but only after 24 hours
Answer: B. Commits are local until explicitly pushed — nothing about committing publishes to a remote automatically (1.3.2).
2. Which of the following is true of a repository created from a template, compared to one created by forking?
A. Both share commit history with the source B. Neither can be made public C. A template-based repository starts a fresh, independent history; a fork stays connected to its upstream source D. A fork cannot be used to open a pull request
Answer: C. Templates start clean, disconnected history for new projects; forks stay connected to upstream specifically to support contributing back via pull request (3.2, 8.6).
3. An organization wants IT to centrally manage which employees have Copilot access and enforce a usage policy across the whole company. Which is the minimum Copilot tier that supports this?
A. Copilot Individual B. Copilot Business C. A GitHub Free personal account D. GitHub Desktop Enterprise
Answer: B. Copilot Individual has no organization-level policy layer; Business (and Enterprise) add admin-managed seats and org-wide policy control (5.3).
4. A pull request description includes "Fixes #88." The pull request is later closed without being merged. What happens to issue #88?
A. It closes automatically regardless of merge status B. It remains open, because the auto-close only triggers on merge C. It is deleted D. It is automatically reassigned
Answer: B. The closing-keyword auto-close fires specifically on merge, not on closing a PR without merging (4.2).
5. A repository is set to private with no branch protection rules configured. A contributor has write access. What can that contributor do?
A. Nothing, since private repositories block all direct pushes
B. Push directly to main with no review, since visibility and branch protection are separate controls
C. Only open pull requests, never push directly
D. Only view the repository, not modify it
Answer: B. Visibility controls who can see a repository; branch protection is a separate control that must be explicitly configured to require reviews before merging (7.4).
6. Which statement correctly distinguishes 2FA from a passkey?
A. They are the same feature with different names B. 2FA replaces the password; a passkey supplements it C. 2FA supplements a password with a second factor; a passkey can replace the password with a phishing-resistant credential D. Passkeys only work with GitHub Mobile
Answer: C. 2FA adds a second verification step to an existing password; a passkey is a phishing-resistant credential capable of replacing the password step entirely (7.1).
7. A team wants to quickly fix a typo in a configuration file from a browser, with no need to run or test any code. Which tool is the best fit?
A. GitHub Codespaces B. GitHub Desktop C. github.dev D. A self-hosted Actions runner
Answer: C. github.dev opens instantly for editing with no compute behind it — ideal for a quick edit with no execution needed; Codespaces would be unnecessary overhead here (5.5).
8. A public repository has no LICENSE file. Which statement is accurate?
A. It is automatically open source since it's public B. Default copyright law applies, so others have no explicit right to reuse the code C. GitHub assigns it the MIT license by default D. It cannot be forked
Answer: B. Visibility and licensing are separate — without an explicit LICENSE file, default copyright law applies even though the repository is publicly visible (3.1, 8.1).
