Query Exam Concepts
This term -- Fall 2006 -- I've decided not to give a Query Exam. I
like the textbook, so most examples and assignments will from it. On the other
hand, you should look at the sort of exam questions that I've used in the past
to test students on their ability to write queries.
You will find Sections 5 through Section 18 contain several practice
exams and answer solutions. Sections 1 through 4 come from an on-line textbook
originally written by James Coakley, and they use a mythical Coffee Roasting company
to explain how to write queries.
Study Suggestions
The best way to learn how to write reliable queries is practice writing
queries and then to check your work against an answer sheet. For that reason,
this part of the BA271 website contains lots of prior Query Quizzes along with their answers. I
strongly recommend working through them query-by-query until you can reliably
create queries on your own that match the results shown in the answer pages.
Here are my best recommendations for how to proceed:
- Begin by working through Section 5 below. As you build queries, check
your work against Section 6. If your queries produce identical results to
the queries in Section 6, great. If not, determine what you did wrong and
fix your queries.
- Next, work through Section
11, Practice Exam 4. Then determine what you did wrong, if anything, by
looking at Section 12. Note that
Section 12 contains
videos showing how I would solve these queries.
- Continue working down through Sections 7 and 8, Sections 9 and 10, and
so on until you find that you build most queries correctly.
- Test your ability by working through the queries in Section 17. Pretend
like this is the actual Query Quiz. Time yourself to determine how long it
takes you to complete the four queries. Once all four queries have been
built, use the grading system described in Grading the Query Quiz above to
determine what your score actually would have been. If you are happy with
this score, you can stop. If not, continue building practice queries.
-- Dave Sullivan
Query Exam Table of Contents
Section 1: Basic Business Processes of
Firm
The
Purchasing Cycle
The
Production Cycle
The Sales Cycle
Section 2: Database Management Concepts
Section 3: Database Schema for the
Purchasing Cycle
Section 4: Ad-Hoc Queries
Using
Microsoft Access
Ad-Hoc
Inquiries to Select Records
Ad-Hoc
Inquiries to Perform Calculations
Ad-Hoc
Inquiries to Compare Fields
Section 5: Practice Queries
Section 6: Practice Queries -- Answers
Section 7:
BA271 Winter term, 2003 Query Exam
Section 8:
BA271
Winter term, 2003, Query Exam -- Answers
Section 9:
BA271 Winter term, 2004, Query Exam
Section 10:
BA271
Winter term, 2004 Query Exam -- Answers
Section 11:
BA271
Fall term, 2004, Query Exam
Section 12:
BA271
Fall term, 2004 Query Exam -- Answers
Section 13: BA271
Winter term, 2005, Query Exam
Section 14:
BA271
Winter term, 2005 Query Exam -- Answers
Section 15:
BA271
Spring term, 2005, Query Exam
Section 16:
BA271
Spring term, 2005 Query Exam -- Answers
Section 17:
BA271 Fall term, 2005, Query Exam
Section 18:
BA271 Fall term, 2005 Query Exam -- Answers
Section 19:
BA271 Winter term, 2006, Query Exam
Section 20:
BA271 Winter term, 2006 Query Exam -- Answers
Section 21:
BA271 Spring term, 2006, Query Exam
Section 22:
BA271 Spring term, 2006 Query Exam -- Answers
What Each Section Teaches
- Section 1 describes the business processes of the
Coffee Roasting Company. You need to understand the firm's basic business
processes so you can decide what information is needed to support those
processes. Only after you have acquired this perspective can you design the
firm's database.
- Section 2 introduces the concept of a relational
database management system.
- Section 3 defines what a database schema is and
explains the schema for the Purchasing Cycle of the Coffee Roasting Company.
- Section 4 shows how to create queries to manipulate
data and answer ad-hoc (one-time, non-requiring) questions.
- Section 5 was originally written as an
assignment that required students to write ten queries. Section 6 shows
correct answers for the Section 5 assignment.
- Sections 7 through 16 contain actual Query Quizzes along with Answer Keys.
You should work through these exams and self-score your progress as you master
the process of writing basic queries reliably.
"The Coffee Roasting Company" began as an integrated database and spreadsheet
applications project written by James R. Coakley and Linda
Gammill. It has been enhanced and augmented by other faculty in the College
of Business at Oregon State University, particularly
Norma Nielson (who now
works at the University of Calgary), Pat
Frishkoff, and Dave
Sullivan.
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