CPA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield CPA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. What is the purpose of a URL query string? → To pass additional parameters to a web resource
2. What does CORS stand for in web development? → Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
3. What does an HTTP status code of 201 indicate? → A new resource was successfully created
4. What is the critical path in CPA project scheduling? → The longest sequence of dependent tasks determining minimum duration
5. What is a work breakdown structure in CPA practice? → Hierarchical decomposition of deliverables into manageable work packages
6. What is the purpose of `git commit` in version control? → Records a snapshot of the staged changes in the local repository history
7. What is change management in CPA technology? → A structured process for evaluating and implementing changes safely
8. What does 'if' in programming refer to? → A conditional statement
9. What is a milestone in CPA project management? → A significant event marking progress at a key point in the timeline
10. What is continuous integration in software development? → Automatic code integration and testing
11. What is the purpose of an algorithm? → To solve a problem in a series of steps
12. What is change management in CPA technology? → A structured process for evaluating and implementing changes safely
13. What is backup and disaster recovery for in CPA technology? → Ensuring data restoration and operations resumption after failures
14. What is a webhook in web development? → An HTTP callback triggered by a specific event that sends data to a specified URL
15. Which HTTP method is used to partially update an existing resource? → PATCH
16. What is multi-factor authentication in CPA security? → Requiring two or more verification factors for access
17. What are the five process groups in CPA project management? → Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, Closing
18. In Unix-like systems, what is the init process (PID 1)? → The ancestor of all processes, responsible for system initialization and orphan adoption
19. What is trend analysis in CPA reporting? → Examining data over time to identify patterns and changes
20. What is code optimization? → Improving performance and resource usage
21. What is the role of an IDE (Integrated Development Environment)? → To provide a development environment with tools for coding, testing, and debugging
22. What is a Git branch? → A lightweight movable pointer to a specific commit, enabling parallel lines of development
23. In a CI/CD pipeline, what is the purpose of the 'CD' (Continuous Delivery) stage? → To automatically prepare every successful build for potential release to production
24. Which Git command creates a new local branch AND switches to it in one step (modern syntax)? → git switch -c new-feature
25. What does REST stand for in the context of web APIs? → Representational State Transfer
26. What is a binary search tree? → A tree where left children are smaller than the parent
27. What is the purpose of the HTTP Authorization header? → To provide credentials for authenticating the client with the server
28. What is a stack in data structures? → A collection where the last item added is the first to be removed
29. What is the role of an artifact repository (e.g., Nexus, Artifactory) in a DevOps pipeline? → To store and manage binary build artifacts, libraries, and deployment packages
30. Why is documentation important in CPA technology? → It ensures knowledge transfer, troubleshooting, and operational continuity