Basic SQL Interview Questions (For Freshers)

1.​ What is SQL?

2.​ What are the different types of SQL statements?
3.​ What is a primary key?
4.​ Explain the difference between primary key and unique key.
5.​ What is a foreign key?
6.​ What are joins in SQL? Name different types of joins.
7.​ What is the difference between INNER JOIN and OUTER JOIN?
8.​ What is a self join?
9.​ What is a subquery in SQL?
10.​What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE?
11.​Explain the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR.
12.​What are indexes in SQL?
13.​What are constraints in SQL?
14.​Explain the concept of normalization.
15.​What is denormalization?
16.​What are the different normal forms?
17.​Explain the difference between a clustered and non-clustered index.
18.​What is a stored procedure?
19.​What are views in SQL?
20.​What is a unique constraint?
21.​What is the difference between HAVING and WHERE clauses?
22.​What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?
23.​What is the purpose of the GROUP BY clause?
24.​What are aggregate functions? Provide examples.
25.​Explain the difference between COUNT(), COUNT(column), and COUNT(*).
26.​What is a composite key?
27.​Explain the difference between a natural join and a cross join.
28.​What is a default constraint in SQL?
29.​What is a cursor in SQL?
30.​What are the ACID properties of a transaction?

Intermediate SQL Questions (For Experience)

1.​ What is a common table expression (CTE)?

2.​ Explain recursive CTE with an example.
3.​ What is a correlated subquery?
4.​ Explain the difference between RANK(), DENSE_RANK(), and ROW_NUMBER().
5.​ How do you use the CASE statement in SQL?
6.​ What is the difference between UNION and JOIN?
7.​ What is a trigger? Explain types of triggers.
8.​ What are transaction isolation levels?
9.​ Explain the use of the COALESCE() function.
10.​What is a pivot table in SQL?
11.​What are window functions?
12.​What is the difference between DELETE and DROP?
 13.​How do you optimize SQL queries for performance?
14.​What is the difference between EXISTS and IN?
15.​Explain the difference between logical and physical database design.
16.​What is the difference between a scalar subquery and a table subquery?
17.​What is the WITH clause?
18.​How do you create a temporary table?
19.​What are derived tables?
20.​Explain indexing strategies for performance optimization.

Advanced SQL Scenario-Based Questions

1.​ Write a query to find the second highest salary of employees.

2.​ How would you find duplicate records in a table?
3.​ How do you delete duplicate rows from a table without using a temporary table?
4.​ Write a query to get the nth highest salary.
5.​ How do you find the employees who have not placed any orders?
6.​ Given a table of student marks, write a query to find the top three scorers.
7.​ Write a query to find the department with the highest number of employees.
8.​ How would you update a column value based on a condition in another table?
9.​ Write a query to display records with even row numbers.
10.​Write a query to retrieve the last 5 records from a table.
11.​How do you find the total salary department-wise?
12.​How would you calculate running totals in a result set?
13.​Write a query to reverse a string in SQL.
14.​How would you swap values of two columns in a single query?
15.​Write a query to get the cumulative sum in a result set.
16.​Given a table of orders, write a query to find customers with more than five orders.
17.​Write a query to find the third last record in a table.
18.​How do you find missing numbers in a sequence?
19.​How would you find the first non-null value in a list of columns?
20.​Write a query to find the most frequently ordered product.

Complex SQL Scenario-Based Questions

1.​ Explain how to design a database for an online bookstore.

2.​ Describe steps to normalize a poorly designed table with redundant data.
3.​ Given a sales table, how do you retrieve monthly sales trends?
4.​ How would you track changes to a record without losing history?
5.​ How do you implement a soft delete mechanism?
6.​ Describe how you would design an audit log table.
7.​ How would you handle performance issues in a query that uses multiple joins?
8.​ What is your approach to handling deadlocks?
9.​ How do you ensure data consistency in a distributed database environment?
10.​How would you detect and prevent SQL injection attacks?
11.​Given tables for customers and orders, how would you write a query to show
customers with no orders in the last year?
12.​How would you design a table for storing hierarchical data?
13.​Describe how to implement pagination in SQL.
14.​Write a query to rank employees based on their salaries.
15.​Given a table of logs, write a query to find the first and last entry for each user.
16.​How do you find gaps between consecutive dates in a table?
17.​How would you design a database for a car rental system?
18.​Describe how to handle time zone differences in a global application.
19.​How do you optimize a query with nested subqueries?
20.​How would you write a query to transpose rows into columns?
21.​How do you detect and correct data anomalies in a database?
22.​Explain the concept of sharding in databases.
23.​How do you handle large data imports efficiently in SQL?
24.​How would you use partitioning to improve query performance?
25.​Write a query to calculate a moving average.
26.​How do you implement referential integrity across multiple databases?
27.​What strategies would you use to archive old data?
28.​Explain the concept of materialized views and their benefits.
29.​Describe how to use a bitmap index.
30.​How would you design a solution to store and retrieve versioned records?