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SQL Associate

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Certification Requirements

DataCamp's SQL Associate Certification is ideal for anyone who needs to use SQL in their role, regardless of whether they are in a data team or not. The Certification will be awarded to individuals who successfully complete one timed exam (SQ101) and one practical exam (SQ501P).

What to expect on the exams

SQ101 is a 60-minute exam that most candidates typically complete in 45 minutes. This exam will contain Data Management, SQL, and theory content as well as the exploratory analysis SQL content. To successfully pass this exam, you should be able to:

  • Interpret a database schema and explain database design concepts (such as normalization, design, schemas, data storage options)

  • Perform data extraction, joining, and aggregation tasks

  • Perform cleaning tasks to prepare data for analysis
  • Assess data quality and perform validation tasks
  • Calculate metrics to effectively report characteristics of data and relationships between features using PostgreSQL
 

What to expect on the practical exam

The final step in this certification is a practical exam. SQ501P assesses your skills in the below competencies. The practical exam is graded automatically, and you will need to get all elements of the practical exam correct to pass.

 

To pass the practical exam, you'll need to be able to:

Perform data extraction, joining, and aggregation tasks 

  1. Aggregate numeric and categorical variables and dates by groups using PostgreSQL.
  2. Interpret a database schema and combine multiple tables by rows or columns using PostgreSQL.
  3. Extract data based on different conditions using PostgreSQL.
  4. Use subqueries to reference a second table (e.g. a different table, an aggregated table) within a query in PostgreSQL.
    1.  

Perform cleaning tasks to prepare data for analysis

  1. Match strings in a dataset with specific patterns.
  2. Convert values between data types.
  3. Clean categorical and text data by manipulating strings.
  4. Clean date and time data.
      1.  

Assess data quality and perform validation tasks 

  1. Identify and replace missing values.
  2. Perform different types of data validation tasks (e.g. consistency, constraints, range validation, uniqueness).
  3. Identify and validate data types in a data set.
  4.  

Interpret a database schema and explain database design concepts (such as normalization, design, schemas, data storage options)

  1. Explain the design schema of a database.
  2. Identify from a schema how tables are connected and how to join multiple tables.
  3. Explain concepts in database design (normalization, design schemas, data storage options, etc)
  4.  

Calculate metrics to effectively report characteristics of data and relationships between features using PostgreSQL.

  1. Calculate measures of center (e.g. mean, median, mode) for variables using PostgreSQL.
  2. Calculate measures of spread (e.g. range, standard deviation, variance) for variables using PostgreSQL.
  3. Calculate skewness for variables using PostgreSQL.
  4. Calculate missingness for variables and explain its influence on reporting characteristics of data and relationships in PostgreSQL.

Sample practical exam can be found here: https://app.datacamp.com/certification/technology-certifications/sql/associate/practical-hub 

 

If you have certification-related questions or feedback, please submit your inquiry here.