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. In a heatmap used for correlation analysis, what does a cell value close to 1 (dark color) represent? → The two variables have a strong positive correlation
3. What does CORS stand for in web development? → Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
4. What does an HTTP status code of 201 indicate? → A new resource was successfully created
5. Which conflict resolution technique produces a temporary solution by negotiating a middle ground? → Compromising
6. Which type of testing verifies that individual units of code work correctly in isolation? → Unit testing
7. Which procurement document is used when the buyer wants sellers to propose innovative solutions and does NOT specify detailed requirements? → Request for Proposal (RFP)
8. A developer deploys an application that needs to store user session data accessible by multiple app servers. Which cloud service type is BEST suited? → In-memory distributed cache (e.g., Redis)
9. In software project estimation, what does 'story point' measure in Agile teams? → The relative complexity and effort of a backlog item
10. What is the critical path in CPA project scheduling? → The longest sequence of dependent tasks determining minimum duration
11. What is a work breakdown structure in CPA practice? → Hierarchical decomposition of deliverables into manageable work packages
12. What is the purpose of `git commit` in version control? → Records a snapshot of the staged changes in the local repository history
13. What is change management in CPA technology? → A structured process for evaluating and implementing changes safely
14. What is the purpose of the 'Dependency Inversion Principle' in SOLID design? → Both high-level and low-level modules should depend on abstractions
15. Which structural design pattern composes objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies? → Composite
16. Which isolation level prevents dirty reads but still allows non-repeatable reads? → Read Committed
17. Which protocol is used to securely transfer files over a network using SSH? → SFTP
18. Which type of join returns only rows that have matching values in both tables? → INNER JOIN
19. In graph theory, a graph with no cycles is called a: → Acyclic graph
20. What does 'if' in programming refer to? → A conditional statement
21. What is the purpose of a database trigger? → To automatically execute a set of SQL statements in response to a data event
22. In a microservices architecture, how do individual services typically communicate with each other? → APIs over a network (REST or messaging)
23. What is the main purpose of database normalization? → To reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity
24. Which control structure is most appropriate when you need to execute a block of code at least once before checking a condition? → do-while loop
25. What does 'phishing' typically rely on to compromise a victim? → Tricking users into revealing credentials via deceptive messages
26. What is an 'off-by-one' error? → A loop or index that iterates one too many or too few times
27. What is a milestone in CPA project management? → A significant event marking progress at a key point in the timeline
28. What is continuous integration in software development? → Automatic code integration and testing
29. A data analyst wants to identify which rows in a pandas DataFrame contain null values. Which method should they use? → df.isnull()
30. What is the purpose of an algorithm? → To solve a problem in a series of steps