50 Free GCP Associate Cloud Engineer Practice Questions

Preparing for the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer? These 50 free practice questions cover all domains.

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Compute (Questions 1–15)

Question 1

Which GCP compute service provides serverless container execution?

a) Compute Engine
b) Google Kubernetes Engine
c) Cloud Run
d) Cloud Functions

Show Answer

Answer: c) Cloud Run

Explanation: Cloud Run runs containers in a serverless environment, scaling automatically and charging only for resources used. It's ideal for stateless HTTP workloads.

Question 2

Which Compute Engine machine family is best for memory-intensive workloads?

a) E2 (general purpose)
b) N2 (general purpose)
c) M2 (memory-optimized)
d) C2 (compute-optimized)

Show Answer

Answer: c) M2 (memory-optimized)

Explanation: M2 instances offer high memory-to-CPU ratios for workloads like SAP HANA, large in-memory databases, and memory-intensive analytics.

Question 3

What is a preemptible VM?

a) A VM that runs at a discount but can be terminated within 24 hours
b) A VM that cannot be stopped
c) A VM with dedicated hardware
d) A VM with SSD storage

Show Answer

Answer: a) A VM that runs at a discount but can be terminated within 24 hours

Explanation: Preemptible VMs cost 60-91% less but can be terminated at any time (max 24 hours). Best for batch jobs, fault-tolerant workloads.

Question 4

Which GKE feature provides automatic scaling of node pools?

a) Cluster Autoscaler
b) Horizontal Pod Autoscaler
c) Vertical Pod Autoscaler
d) Node Auto-Repair

Show Answer

Answer: a) Cluster Autoscaler

Explanation: Cluster Autoscaler automatically adds/removes nodes based on pending pods. HPA scales pods (not nodes), VPA adjusts pod resource requests.

Question 5

What is the difference between Cloud Run and Cloud Functions?

a) Cloud Run runs containers; Cloud Functions runs functions
b) Cloud Functions runs containers; Cloud Run runs functions
c) They are identical
d) Cloud Run is cheaper

Show Answer

Answer: a) Cloud Run runs containers; Cloud Functions runs functions

Explanation: Cloud Run deploys container images and handles any HTTP workload. Cloud Functions is event-driven and runs code in response to events (Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, HTTP).

Questions 6–15

[Full set covers App Engine, GKE workloads, VM instances, images, snapshots, and machine types]

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Storage (Questions 16–25)

Question 6

Which Cloud Storage class is best for data accessed once a quarter?

a) Standard
b) Nearline
c) Coldline
d) Archive

Show Answer

Answer: b) Nearline

Explanation: Nearline is for data accessed less than once a month (30-day minimum). Coldline is for quarterly (90-day), Archive for yearly (365-day).

Question 7

Which persistent disk type provides the highest performance?

a) pd-standard
b) pd-balanced
c) pd-ssd
d) pd-extreme

Show Answer

Answer: d) pd-extreme

Explanation: pd-extreme offers the highest IOPS (up to 500,000+ with larger disks) for demanding databases. pd-ssd is standard SSD performance.

Question 8

Which service provides managed MySQL and PostgreSQL databases?

a) Cloud Spanner
b) Cloud SQL
c) BigQuery
d) Firestore

Show Answer

Answer: b) Cloud SQL

Explanation: Cloud SQL provides managed MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server with automated backups, replication, and failover.

Questions 9–25

[Full set covers Cloud Storage lifecycle, IAM conditions, VPC networking, firewall rules, and Cloud NAT]

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Operations (Questions 26–35)

Question 9

Which query language is used in Cloud Logging?

a) SQL
b) Logging Query Language (LQL)
c) KQL
d) PromQL

Show Answer

Answer: b) Logging Query Language (LQL)

Explanation: Cloud Logging uses a Google-developed query language for filtering and analyzing log data. Cloud Monitoring uses MQL (Monitoring Query Language).

Question 10

Which service provides uptime monitoring and alerting?

a) Cloud Logging
b) Cloud Monitoring
c) Cloud Trace
d) Error Reporting

Show Answer

Answer: b) Cloud Monitoring

Explanation: Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into performance, uptime, and health of applications and infrastructure with dashboards, alerts, and uptime checks.

Questions 11–35

[Full set covers monitoring dashboards, alerts, log exports, Error Reporting, Cloud Trace, Profiler]

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Security (Questions 36–45)

Question 11

Which GCP service manages encryption keys?

a) Cloud KMS
b) Cloud HSM
c) Secret Manager
d) Both a and b

Show Answer

Answer: d) Both a and b

Explanation: Cloud KMS manages encryption keys (software-backed). Cloud HSM (Hardware Security Module) provides FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified hardware key management.

Question 12

Which IAM role type should be used for granting permissions to a specific resource?

a) Primitive role
b) Predefined role
c) Basic role
d) Custom role

Show Answer

Answer: b) Predefined role

Explanation: Predefined roles are curated by GCP for specific services. Primitive roles (Owner, Editor, Viewer) are too broad. Custom roles provide granular permissions.

Questions 13–45

[Full set covers IAM, service accounts, VPC firewalls, Cloud Armor, DLP, Security Command Center]

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Billing and Support (Questions 46–50)

Question 13

Which tool estimates costs before deploying resources?

a) Cloud Billing
b) Pricing Calculator
c) Cost Management
d) Budgets

Show Answer

Answer: b) Pricing Calculator

Explanation: The Google Cloud Pricing Calculator estimates costs based on configuration before deployment. Budgets and alerts track actual spending.

Questions 14–50

[Full set covers budget alerts, export billing data to BigQuery, support plans, quota management]

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How Did You Score?

• 0–25 correct: Review the ACE Exam Guide.
• 26–40 correct: On track.
• 41–50 correct: Ready for the exam!

Access all ACE practice questions →