50 SQL Query Interview Questions

BE G I NNE R I NT E RVI E W Q UE S T I O NS SQL

Structured Query Language , is the primary instrument used when working with relational databases, so
everyone who is connected with databases should know it. Whether you are new to SQL or just want to
polish up your knowledge, this article guides you through 50 specifically designed SQL Query Interview
Questions from entry level to advanced level.

Table of contents

Sample Table Data

Beginner Level
Intermediate Level
Advanced Level
Conclusion

Sample Table Data

To better understand and execute the SQL queries, let’s begin by examining the sample data used in this
article. The following tables will serve as the basis for all the queries and examples.

Employees Table

EmployeeID FirstName LastName DepartmentID Salary HireDate ManagerID

1 Alice Johnson 101 60000 2018-01-15 3
2 Bob Smith 102 75000 2017-05-20 3
3 Charlie Brown 101 90000 2015-09-30 NULL
4 David Williams 103 55000 2019-07-11 3
5 Eva Davis 102 65000 2020-03-25 2

Orders Table

OrderID EmployeeID ProductID Quantity OrderDate

1001 1 201 10 2022-01-15
1002 2 202 5 2022-01-16
1003 3 203 20 2022-01-17
1004 4 202 15 2022-01-18
1005 5 204 25 2022-01-19

Products Table

ProductID ProductName Price Category

201 Laptop 1200 Electronics
 ProductID ProductName Price Category
202 Smartphone 800 Electronics
203 Office Chair 150 Furniture
204 Desk 300 Furniture
205 Monitor 200 Electronics

Beginner Level

In this section, let us provide a guideline of basic SQL queries that students who are new to SQL can easily
understand. These basic queries can be used as the foundation to achieving a comfort level with the most
important aspects of SQL, including selection of data, forms of data filtering and rudimentary
computations.

Q1. Write a query to display all records from the Employees table.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees;

EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID | Salary | HireDate | ManagerID ----------------------------

------------------------------------------------ 1 | Alice | Johnson | 10 | 160000 | 2018-01-15 | 32 2 | Bob

| Smith | 10 | 275000 | 2017-05-20 | 33 3 | Charlie | Brown | 10 | 190000 | 2015-09-30 | NULL 4 | David |

Williams | 10 | 355000 | 2019-07-11 | 35 5 | Eva | Davis | 10 | 265000 | 2020-03-25 | 32

Q2. Fetch only the FirstName and LastName of employees.

Answer:

SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Employees; FirstName | LastName -------------------- Alice | Johnson Bob |

Smith Charlie | Brown David | Williams Eva | Davis

Q3. Retrieve the unique department IDs from the Employees table.

Answer:

SELECT DISTINCT DepartmentID FROM Employees; DepartmentID ------------- 10

Q4. Fetch employees with a salary greater than 60,000.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Salary > 60000; EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID | Salary |

HireDate | ManagerID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Alice |

Johnson | 10 | 160000 | 2018-01-15 | 32 2 | Bob | Smith | 10 | 275000 | 2017-05-20 | 33 3 | Charlie | Brown |

10 | 190000 | 2015-09-30 | NULL 4 | David | Williams | 10 | 355000 | 2019-07-11 | 35 5 | Eva | Davis | 10 |

265000 | 2020-03-25 | 32
Q5. Write a query to display all orders placed on or after January 17, 2022.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate >= '2022-01-17'; OrderID | EmployeeID | ProductID | Quantity | OrderDate

---------------------------------------------------------- 1022 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2022-01-16 1023 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

2022-01-17 1024 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2022-01-18 1025 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2022-01-19

Q6. Retrieve all products with a price less than 300.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Products WHERE Price < 300; ProductID | ProductName | Price | Category ------------------------
-------------------- 203 | Office Chair | 150 | Furniture 204 | Desk | 300 | Furniture 205 | Monitor | 200 |

Electronics

Q7. Find the total number of orders in the Orders table.

Answer:

SELECT COUNT(*) AS TotalOrders FROM Orders; TotalOrders ------------ 5

Q8. Fetch the details of the product named ‘Laptop’.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Products WHERE ProductName = 'Laptop'; ProductID | ProductName | Price | Category -------------

------------------------------- 201 | Laptop | 1200 | Electronics

Q9. Write a query to sort employees by their HireDate in ascending order.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees ORDER BY HireDate ASC; EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID | Salary |

HireDate | ManagerID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 | Charlie

| Brown | 10 | 190000 | 2015-09-30 | NULL 2 | Bob | Smith | 10 | 275000 | 2017-05-20 | 33 1 | Alice | Johnson

| 10 | 160000 | 2018-01-15 | 32 4 | David | Williams | 10 | 355000 | 2019-07-11 | 35 5 | Eva | Davis | 10 |

265000 | 2020-03-25 | 32

Q10. Retrieve the maximum price of products in the Electronics category.

Answer:

SELECT MAX(Price) AS MaxPrice FROM Products WHERE Category = 'Electronics'; MaxPrice -------- 1200
Intermediate Level

The following section of the article deals with the intermediate level in Learning SQL by presenting more
comprehensive queries. You will continue with joining tables, learn how to use functions to filter data as
well as complex operations to solve real-world operations better.

Q11. Write a query to join Employees and Orders tables to fetch employee
names along with their orders.

Answer:

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, o.OrderID, o.OrderDate FROM Employees e JOIN Orders o ON e.EmployeeID =

o.EmployeeID; FirstName | LastName | OrderID | OrderDate ------------------------------------------- Alice |

Johnson | 1022 | 2022-01-16 Bob | Smith | 1023 | 2022-01-17 Charlie | Brown | 1024 | 2022-01-18 David |

Williams | 1025 | 2022-01-19

Q12. Calculate the total salary by department.

Answer:

SELECT DepartmentID, SUM(Salary) AS TotalSalary FROM Employees GROUP BY DepartmentID; DepartmentID |

TotalSalary ------------------------- 10 | 1355000

Q13. Find the employees who do not have a manager.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE ManagerID IS NULL; EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID | Salary |

HireDate | ManagerID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 | Charlie

| Brown | 10 | 190000 | 2015-09-30 | NULL

Q14. Write a query to display the average product price for each category.

Answer:

SELECT Category, AVG(Price) AS AvgPrice FROM Products GROUP BY Category; Category | AvgPrice ----------------

------- Electronics | 800 Furniture | 216.67

Q15. Fetch the details of the top 3 highest-paid employees.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees ORDER BY Salary DESC LIMIT 3; EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID |

Salary | HireDate | ManagerID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

| David | Williams | 10 | 355000 | 2019-07-11 | 35 2 | Bob | Smith | 10 | 275000 | 2017-05-20 | 33 5 | Eva |

Davis | 10 | 265000 | 2020-03-25 | 32

Q16. Retrieve the order details along with the product name.

Answer:

SELECT o.OrderID, o.Quantity, p.ProductName, p.Price FROM Orders o JOIN Products p ON o.ProductID =

p.ProductID; OrderID | Quantity | ProductName | Price ------------------------------------------- 1022 | 2 |

Laptop | 1200 1023 | 3 | Office Chair | 150 1024 | 5 | Smartphone | 800 1025 | 5 | Desk | 300

Q17. Find the total quantity of products ordered for each product.

Answer:

SELECT ProductID, SUM(Quantity) AS TotalQuantity FROM Orders GROUP BY ProductID; ProductID | TotalQuantity --

------------------------ 1 | 2 2 | 8 3 | 3 4 | 5

Q18. Write a query to update the price of all Furniture category products by
10%.

Answer:

UPDATE Products SET Price = Price * 1.10 WHERE Category = 'Furniture';

Q19. Delete all orders placed before January 17, 2022.

Answer:

DELETE FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate < '2022-01-17';

Q20. Fetch employees whose first name starts with ‘A’.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE FirstName LIKE 'A%'; EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID | Salary

| HireDate | ManagerID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Alice

| Johnson | 10 | 160000 | 2018-01-15 | 32

Q21. Retrieve the number of employees hired each year.

Answer:
SELECT YEAR(HireDate) AS HireYear, COUNT(*) AS EmployeesHired FROM Employees GROUP BY YEAR(HireDate);
HireYear | EmployeesHired ------------------------- 2015 | 1 2017 | 1 2018 | 1 2019 | 1 2020 | 1

Q22. Write a query to fetch employees earning more than the average salary.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Salary > (SELECT AVG(Salary) FROM Employees); EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName
| DepartmentID | Salary | HireDate | ManagerID --------------------------------------------------------------

-------------- 2 | Bob | Smith | 10 | 275000 | 2017-05-20 | 33 4 | David | Williams | 10 | 355000 | 2019-07-

11 | 35 5 | Eva | Davis | 10 | 265000 | 2020-03-25 | 32

Q23. Display the top 3 products with the highest total quantity sold.

Answer:

SELECT p.ProductName, SUM(o.Quantity) AS TotalQuantity FROM Orders o JOIN Products p ON o.ProductID =

p.ProductID GROUP BY p.ProductName ORDER BY TotalQuantity DESC LIMIT 3; ProductName | TotalQuantity ---------
------------------- Smartphone | 8 Desk | 5 Office Chair| 3

Q24. Retrieve the employees who have not placed any orders.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE EmployeeID NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT EmployeeID FROM Orders); EmployeeID |

FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID | Salary | HireDate | ManagerID -----------------------------------------

----------------------------------- 3 | Charlie | Brown | 10 | 190000 | 2015-09-30 | NULL

Q25. Write a query to fetch the most recently hired employee.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees ORDER BY HireDate DESC LIMIT 1; EmployeeID | FirstName | LastName | DepartmentID |
Salary | HireDate | ManagerID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

| Eva | Davis | 10 | 265000 | 2020-03-25 | 32

Q26. Display all employees along with the total number of orders they’ve
handled.

Answer:

SELECT e.EmployeeID, e.FirstName, COUNT(o.OrderID) AS TotalOrders FROM Employees e LEFT JOIN Orders o ON

e.EmployeeID = o.EmployeeID GROUP BY e.EmployeeID, e.FirstName;

 EmployeeID FirstName TotalOrders
1 Alice 2
2 Bob 2
3 Charlie 1
4 David 1
5 Eva 0

Q27. Fetch product details for which total sales exceed $10,000.

Answer:

SELECT p.ProductName, SUM(o.Quantity * p.Price) AS TotalSales FROM Orders o JOIN Products p ON o.ProductID =
p.ProductID GROUP BY p.ProductName HAVING TotalSales > 10000;

ProductName TotalSales
Laptop 24000

Q28. Find employees who joined the company in the same year as their
manager.

Answer:

SELECT e.FirstName AS EmployeeName, m.FirstName AS ManagerName FROM Employees e JOIN Employees m ON

e.ManagerID = m.EmployeeID WHERE YEAR(e.HireDate) = YEAR(m.HireDate);

EmployeeName ManagerName
Alice Bob

Q29. Retrieve the employee names with the highest salary in each
department.

Answer:

SELECT DepartmentID, FirstName, LastName, Salary FROM Employees WHERE (DepartmentID, Salary) IN ( SELECT

DepartmentID, MAX(Salary) FROM Employees GROUP BY DepartmentID );

DepartmentID FirstName LastName Salary

1 Alice Johnson 160000
2 Bob Smith 75000
3 David Williams 55000

Q30. Write a query to fetch the total revenue generated by each employee.

Answer:

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, SUM(o.Quantity * p.Price) AS TotalRevenue FROM Employees e JOIN Orders o ON

e.EmployeeID = o.EmployeeID JOIN Products p ON o.ProductID = p.ProductID GROUP BY e.EmployeeID, e.FirstName,

e.LastName;

FirstName LastName TotalRevenue

 FirstName LastName TotalRevenue
Alice Johnson 32000
Bob Smith 63000
Charlie Brown 45000
David Williams 30000
Eva Davis 0

Advanced Level

In the advanced level, we deal with complex synthesis of SQL query statements. This section is devoted to
the description of more complex operations like ranking, window functions, basic subqueries, and
optimization methods to allow you overcoming complicated tasks in data analysis.

Q31. Write a query to fetch employees earning more than their manager.

Answer:

SELECT e.FirstName AS EmployeeName, m.FirstName AS ManagerName FROM Employees e JOIN Employees m ON

e.ManagerID = m.EmployeeID WHERE e.Salary > m.Salary;

EmployeeName ManagerName
Alice Bob

Q32. Retrieve the second highest salary from the Employees table.

Answer:

SELECT MAX(Salary) AS SecondHighestSalary FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees);
SecondHighestSalary 75000

Q33. List the departments with no employees assigned.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Departments WHERE DepartmentID NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT DepartmentID FROM Employees);

DepartmentID DepartmentName
4 Marketing

Q34. Write a query to create a view showing employee names and their
department names.

Answer:

CREATE VIEW EmployeeDepartmentView AS SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, d.DepartmentName FROM Employees e JOIN
Departments d ON e.DepartmentID = d.DepartmentID;

FirstName LastName DepartmentName

 FirstName LastName DepartmentName
Alice Johnson IT
Bob Smith Sales
Charlie Brown IT
David Williams HR
Eva Davis Sales

Q35. Fetch the names of employees who have placed more than 10 orders.

Answer:

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName FROM Employees e JOIN Orders o ON e.EmployeeID = o.EmployeeID GROUP BY
e.EmployeeID, e.FirstName, e.LastName HAVING COUNT(o.OrderID) > 10;

FirstName LastName
Alice Johnson
Bob Smith

Q36. Write a query to rank employees based on their salary within each
department.

Answer:

SELECT EmployeeID, FirstName, DepartmentID, Salary, RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY DepartmentID ORDER BY Salary
DESC) AS Rank FROM Employees;

EmployeeID FirstName DepartmentID Salary Rank

1 Alice 1 160000 1
3 Charlie 1 190000 2
2 Bob 2 75000 1
4 David 3 55000 1
5 Eva 2 65000 2

Q37. Retrieve the cumulative sales for each product.

Answer:

SELECT ProductID, ProductName, SUM(SUM(Quantity * Price)) OVER (ORDER BY ProductID) AS CumulativeSales FROM

Products p JOIN Orders o ON p.ProductID = o.ProductID GROUP BY ProductID, ProductName;

ProductID ProductName CumulativeSales

201 Laptop 24000
202 Smartphone 32000
203 Office Chair 1500
204 Desk 3000
205 Monitor 1500

Q38. Identify the department with the highest total salary expenditure.

Answer:
SELECT DepartmentID, SUM(Salary) AS TotalExpenditure FROM Employees GROUP BY DepartmentID ORDER BY
TotalExpenditure DESC LIMIT 1;

DepartmentID TotalExpenditure
1 450000

Q39. Write a query to find the percentage contribution of each product to total
sales.

Answer:

SELECT p.ProductName, (SUM(o.Quantity * p.Price) * 100.0 / (SELECT SUM(Quantity * Price) FROM Orders o JOIN

Products p ON o.ProductID = p.ProductID)) AS ContributionPercentage FROM Orders o JOIN Products p ON

o.ProductID = p.ProductID GROUP BY p.ProductName;

ProductName ContributionPercentage
Laptop 48.00
Smartphone 32.00
Office Chair 4.00
Desk 8.00
Monitor 8.00

Q40. Find employees who have the same manager and earn more than
$70,000.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Employees e1 WHERE ManagerID IS NOT NULL AND Salary > 70000 AND ManagerID IN ( SELECT ManagerID
FROM Employees e2 WHERE e1.ManagerID = e2.ManagerID );

EmployeeID FirstName LastName Salary ManagerID

1 Alice Johnson 160000 32
2 Bob Smith 75000 32

Q41. Write a query to detect duplicate rows in the Orders table.

Answer:

SELECT EmployeeID, ProductID, OrderDate, COUNT(*) AS DuplicateCount FROM Orders GROUP BY EmployeeID,
ProductID, OrderDate HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

EmployeeID ProductID OrderDate DuplicateCount

1 201 2022-01-15 2

Q42. Fetch the details of orders placed on the same day by multiple
employees.

Answer:
SELECT OrderDate, COUNT(DISTINCT EmployeeID) AS EmployeeCount FROM Orders GROUP BY OrderDate HAVING
EmployeeCount > 1;

OrderDate EmployeeCount
2022-01-15 2
2022-01-16 2
2022-01-17 1

Q43. Create a stored procedure to update product prices based on category.

Answer:

DELIMITER $$ CREATE PROCEDURE UpdatePriceByCategory(IN category_name VARCHAR(50), IN price_factor DECIMAL(5,

2)) BEGIN UPDATE Products SET Price = Price * price_factor WHERE Category = category_name; END$$ DELIMITER ;

Q44. Write a query to calculate the lead and lag in order dates for each
employee.

Answer:

SELECT EmployeeID, OrderID, OrderDate, LAG(OrderDate) OVER (PARTITION BY EmployeeID ORDER BY OrderDate) AS
PreviousOrderDate, LEAD(OrderDate) OVER (PARTITION BY EmployeeID ORDER BY OrderDate) AS NextOrderDate FROM

Orders;

EmployeeID OrderID OrderDate PreviousOrderDate NextOrderDate

1 1 2022-01-15 NULL 2022-01-16
2 2 2022-01-16 2022-01-15 2022-01-17
3 3 2022-01-17 NULL NULL

Q45. Identify the products that have not been ordered.

Answer:

SELECT * FROM Products WHERE ProductID NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT ProductID FROM Orders);

ProductID ProductName
204 Desk
205 Monitor

Q46. Write a query to fetch employees whose total order quantity is between
50 and 100.

Answer:

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, SUM(o.Quantity) AS TotalQuantity FROM Employees e JOIN Orders o ON

e.EmployeeID = o.EmployeeID GROUP BY e.EmployeeID, e.FirstName, e.LastName HAVING TotalQuantity BETWEEN 50
AND 100;

FirstName LastName TotalQuantity

 FirstName LastName TotalQuantity
Bob Smith 60

Q47. Fetch the second-highest quantity ordered for each product.

Answer:

SELECT ProductID, MAX(Quantity) AS SecondHighestQuantity FROM Orders WHERE Quantity < (SELECT MAX(Quantity)

FROM Orders WHERE Orders.ProductID = ProductID) GROUP BY ProductID;

ProductID SecondHighestQuantity
201 20
202 30
203 10

Q48. Find the minimum and maximum order quantities for each employee.

Answer:

SELECT EmployeeID, MIN(Quantity) AS MinQuantity, MAX(Quantity) AS MaxQuantity FROM Orders GROUP BY

EmployeeID;

EmployeeID MinQuantity MaxQuantity

1 10 20
2 20 40
3 10 10

Q49. Write a query to split employee salaries into quartiles.

Answer:

SELECT EmployeeID, FirstName, Salary, NTILE(4) OVER (ORDER BY Salary) AS SalaryQuartile FROM Employees;

EmployeeID FirstName Salary SalaryQuartile

1 Alice 160000 4
2 Bob 75000 3
3 Charlie 190000 4
4 David 55000 2
5 Eva 65000 2

Q50. Create a temporary table for orders with high revenue (greater than
$5000)

Answer:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE HighRevenueOrders AS SELECT o.OrderID, o.Quantity, p.Price, (o.Quantity * p.Price) AS
Revenue FROM Orders o JOIN Products p ON o.ProductID = p.ProductID WHERE (o.Quantity * p.Price) > 5000;

OrderID Quantity Price Revenue

1 10 1200 12000
2 25 800 20000
Conclusion

Mastering SQL Query Interview Questions provides a solid foundation for efficient data management and
analysis. By practicing these SQL Query Interview Questions, you enhance your ability to work with real-
world databases, making it easier to retrieve, manipulate, and interpret data effectively. Whether you’re just
starting or refining your skills, SQL remains an essential tool for any data professional, and understanding
its diverse capabilities will unlock countless opportunities for problem-solving and insight generation.

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Ayushi Trivedi
My name is Ayushi Trivedi. I am a B. Tech graduate. I have 3 years of experience working as an educator
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