Lesson 1.3.2a

1.3.2a Database design: keys, entity relationships, normalisation and indexing Quiz: OCR Computer Science, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 1.3.2a, Database design: keys, entity relationships, normalisation and indexing: 20 multiple choice questions for the OCR Computer Science (H446), Unit 3: Exchanging data, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What attribute uniquely identifies a record in a relational database table?

    • Foreign key
    • Candidate key
    • Composite key
    • Primary key

  2. Which normal form requires the removal of repeating groups or non-atomic attributes?

    • Boyce-Codd normal form
    • Third normal form
    • Second normal form
    • First normal form

  3. Which normal form eliminates partial dependencies on a composite primary key?

    • Unnormalised form
    • Second normal form
    • First normal form
    • Third normal form

  4. Which database normal form removes non-key attributes that depend on other non-key attributes?

    • Fourth normal form
    • Third normal form
    • Second normal form
    • First normal form

  5. What key links a record in one table to the primary key in another?

    • Surrogate key
    • Foreign key
    • Primary key
    • Candidate key

  6. What consists of two or more attributes that together uniquely identify a row?

    • Surrogate key
    • Composite key
    • Secondary key
    • Foreign key

  7. What data structure technique is used to speed up data retrieval operations on a table?

    • Indexing
    • Encapsulation
    • Aggregation
    • Normalisation

  8. Which relationship type cannot be directly implemented in a relational database without a junction table?

    • Many-to-one
    • Many-to-many
    • One-to-one
    • One-to-many

  9. An attribute depends on only part of a composite primary key. Which normal form is violated?

    • Second normal form
    • First normal form
    • Fourth normal form
    • Third normal form

  10. An attribute depends on another non-key attribute instead of the primary key. Which normal form is violated?

    • First normal form
    • Third normal form
    • Second normal form
    • Unnormalised form

  11. To represent a doctor treating many patients, and patients seeing many doctors, what table structure is required?

    • Index table
    • Foreign table
    • Composite table
    • Junction table

  12. A database field contains a comma-separated list of multiple telephone numbers. Which normal form does this violate?

    • Second normal form
    • Third normal form
    • Boyce-Codd normal form
    • First normal form

  13. What is a major operational disadvantage of having multiple indexes on a frequently updated database table?

    • Larger schema
    • Slower inserts
    • Broken relationships
    • Higher latency reads

  14. Where should the foreign key be placed when implementing a one-to-many relationship between Department and Employee?

    • Both tables
    • Employee table
    • Department table
    • Junction table

  15. What database rule prevents a foreign key from referencing a non-existent primary key value in another table?

    • Entity integrity
    • Domain integrity
    • Referential integrity
    • Transitive integrity

  16. If attribute X uniquely determines attribute Y, how is this functional dependency written in database notation?

    • Y -> X
    • X -> Y
    • X = Y
    • Y <-> X

  17. An automatically generated unique identifier with no real-world business meaning is known as what type of key?

    • Natural key
    • Surrogate key
    • Candidate key
    • Secondary key

  18. Any attribute or combination of attributes that could uniquely identify a database row is called what?

    • Candidate key
    • Secondary key
    • Surrogate key
    • Foreign key

  19. What term describes accidentally losing essential information when removing a record from an unnormalised database?

    • Transitive anomaly
    • Insertion anomaly
    • Deletion anomaly
    • Update anomaly

  20. What relationship cardinality exists between a UK citizen and their unique National Insurance number?

    • Many-to-many
    • Many-to-one
    • One-to-one
    • One-to-many

All OCR Computer Science quizzes