What is scalability in the context of system design?

The ability of a system to handle increased load by adding resources

The measure of how quickly a system responds to an individual request

The percentage of total uptime a system maintains over a given year

The capacity of a system to automatically recover from a node failure

The total time taken for a request to travel from client to server and back

The number of requests a system can process within a specific timeframe

The delay introduced specifically by the database disk-seek operations

The variance in response times over a large set of user requests

The volume of work or number of requests processed in a given period

The maximum capacity of a single network link in a distributed cluster

The average time a user spends waiting for a page to load completely

The amount of data stored in a database divided by the number of nodes

What is availability?

The proportion of time a system remains functional and accessible

The ability of a system to remain consistent during a network partition

The total number of concurrent users a system can support at peak

The speed at which a system can reboot after a catastrophic crash

What is consistency in distributed systems?

The requirement that all nodes see the same data at the same time

The guarantee that a system will always return a response to every request

The ability of a database to store data in a strictly normalized format

The process of ensuring that all log files are formatted identically

What is partitioning (sharding)?

Dividing a large dataset into smaller chunks across multiple nodes

Creating exact copies of the same data across multiple geographic regions

The process of grouping multiple API requests into a single batch

A technique for hiding private database fields from the public API

What is a single point of failure (SPOF)?

Any component whose failure causes the entire system to stop functioning

A bug in the source code that causes a single request to fail

The primary bottleneck that limits the total throughput of the system

A hardware node that only processes one type of transaction at a time

What is eventual consistency?

A model where data will be consistent across all nodes given enough time

A consistency model that guarantees immediate updates to all replicas

A database feature that prevents any data from ever being overwritten

A guarantee that a system will never return a stale read under any load

What is CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)?

An architectural pattern that uses different models for reading and writing data

A protocol for ensuring that every database write is encrypted at rest

A method for merging multiple microservices into a single deployment

A strategy for caching API queries based on the user identity

What is event sourcing?

A pattern that stores the state of a system as a sequence of immutable events

A technique for triggering serverless functions based on user clicks

A method for logging application errors to a centralized dashboard

A way to automatically generate unit tests from production logs

What is rate limiting?

The practice of controlling the rate of requests sent or received by a network

A mechanism that automatically increases server capacity during high traffic

A compression technique used to reduce the size of large API payloads

The process of assigning priorities to different types of database queries

What is bulkhead isolation?

A pattern that partitions resources to prevent a failure in one from affecting others

A security strategy that places all database servers behind a secondary firewall

A method for encrypting data as it travels between internal microservices

The practice of storing all backup files on a physical off-site hard drive

What is the circuit breaker pattern?

A mechanism to stop requests to a failing service to allow it to recover

A software tool that automatically restarts a server when it runs out of RAM

A design rule that requires every function to have a try-catch block

A load balancing algorithm that redirects traffic to the fastest available node

What is the CAP theorem?

The principle that a distributed system can only provide two of three specific guarantees

A law stating that the speed of a system is limited by its slowest component

A requirement that all cloud providers must maintain three copies of user data

The rule that an API must respond within 100ms to be considered "high performance"

What is the BASE model?

A model focusing on availability and eventual consistency over strict ACID rules

A set of rules ensuring that every transaction is Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, and Durable

A standard for building APIs that only return data in a binary-serialized format

A database design where all tables are derived from a single "Base" table

What is database sharding?

The horizontal partitioning of data across multiple independent database instances

The process of combining small tables into one large table to reduce joins

A method for compressing database indexes to save on-disk storage space

Creating read-only copies of a database to handle high query volume

What is database denormalization?

Adding redundant data to a schema to improve read performance by avoiding joins

Removing all duplicate fields from a table to ensure data integrity

The process of converting a relational database into a NoSQL document store

A security practice where sensitive data is replaced with random tokens

What is the Cache-Aside strategy?

A pattern where the application code is responsible for managing the cache state

A strategy where the database automatically updates the cache on every write

A method of caching that only stores data for the duration of a single user session

A hardware-level cache that sits directly between the CPU and the system RAM

What are Bloom Filters?

A space-efficient probabilistic data structure used to test if an element is in a set

A type of filter used to remove duplicate entries from a distributed log

A specialized algorithm for compressing high-resolution images for the web

A security mechanism that blocks incoming traffic from suspicious IP ranges

What is consistent hashing?

A hashing technique that minimizes key remapping when the number of slots changes

A requirement that all nodes in a cluster use the exact same hashing algorithm

A method for ensuring that a hash value never changes even if the input data changes

A security protocol that verifies the hash of a file before it is executed

What is the Saga pattern?

A sequence of local transactions where each updates data and triggers the next

A monolithic database transaction that locks all tables until completion

A storytelling technique used by architects to explain system requirements

A load testing tool that simulates millions of users over a long duration

What is the difference between Token Bucket and Leaky Bucket?

Token Bucket allows for bursts of traffic, while Leaky Bucket enforces a steady rate

Leaky Bucket is used for hardware, while Token Bucket is used for software

Token Bucket consumes more memory than Leaky Bucket due to token storage

Leaky Bucket allows for priority-based requests, while Token Bucket does not

What is Hexagonal Architecture?

A pattern that isolates core logic from external concerns using ports and adapters

A network topology where every server is connected to exactly six other servers

A database schema where every table has exactly six defined relationships

A project management style that organizes developers into six-person squads

What are Bounded Contexts in DDD?

Explicit boundaries within which a specific domain model is defined and applicable

A limit on the number of microservices that can belong to a single team

A technical constraint that prevents a database from growing beyond a certain size

The scope of a single transaction within a relational database system

What are the three pillars of Observability?

Uptime, Latency, and Throughput

Compute, Storage, and Networking

Alerts, Dashboards, and Reports

When is a Time-Series Database (TSDB) most appropriate?

For handling massive volumes of timestamped data like metrics or sensor readings

For storing complex relational data with many many-to-many relationships

For managing high-speed transactional data in a banking application

For hosting static assets like images and videos for a global audience

What is Semantic Versioning (SemVer)?

A versioning scheme using MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH to signal the nature of changes

A way of naming software versions after famous scientists or cities

A requirement that all API versions must be written in a specific human language

A method for versioning database rows using a timestamp column

What is an idempotency key?

A unique value sent by a client to ensure a request is only processed once

A secret key used to sign API requests for security and authentication

A primary key in a database that is generated using a random number

A key used to compress repetitive data in a JSON payload

Why is Average Latency often a misleading metric?

It hides outliers (tail latency) that significantly affect user experience

It is mathematically impossible to calculate an average in distributed systems

It requires significantly more CPU power to calculate than the median

It only considers successful requests and ignores all failed ones

What is Distributed Consensus (e.g., Raft)?

An algorithm for achieving agreement on a single data value across a cluster

A method for distributing load equally across all web servers in a region

A legal agreement between cloud providers to share user data in emergencies

A technique for reducing the total size of a distributed database

Quizzes

Prev in ArchitectureMulti-Cloud Strategy & Architecture

Architecture Software Engineering

System Design & Architecture: Scalability & Resilience

Mohammad Abu Mattar20 QuestionsAdvancedPublished: 24 Mar, 2026

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System Design & Architecture: Scalability & Resilience

Up to 20 questions, shuffled on every run

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Enterto start

Welcome to the System Design & Architecture quiz! Test your knowledge on scalability, reliability, performance, trade-offs, distributed systems patterns, and architectural decisions for production systems. Each question has a timer and hints to guide you. Good luck!

Answer key and explanations20 questions

The quiz above draws 20 questions at random from these 30, so a second attempt will not be the same run. Everything in the pool is listed here.

What is scalability in the context of system design?
AnswerThe ability of a system to handle increased load by adding resources
What is latency?
AnswerThe total time taken for a request to travel from client to server and back
What is throughput?
AnswerThe volume of work or number of requests processed in a given period
What is availability?
AnswerThe proportion of time a system remains functional and accessible
What is consistency in distributed systems?
AnswerThe requirement that all nodes see the same data at the same time
What is partitioning (sharding)?
AnswerDividing a large dataset into smaller chunks across multiple nodes
What is a single point of failure (SPOF)?
AnswerAny component whose failure causes the entire system to stop functioning
What is eventual consistency?
AnswerA model where data will be consistent across all nodes given enough time
What is CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)?
AnswerAn architectural pattern that uses different models for reading and writing data
What is event sourcing?
AnswerA pattern that stores the state of a system as a sequence of immutable events
What is rate limiting?
AnswerThe practice of controlling the rate of requests sent or received by a network
What is bulkhead isolation?
AnswerA pattern that partitions resources to prevent a failure in one from affecting others
What is the circuit breaker pattern?
AnswerA mechanism to stop requests to a failing service to allow it to recover
What is the CAP theorem?
AnswerThe principle that a distributed system can only provide two of three specific guarantees
What is the BASE model?
AnswerA model focusing on availability and eventual consistency over strict ACID rules
What is database sharding?
AnswerThe horizontal partitioning of data across multiple independent database instances
What is database denormalization?
AnswerAdding redundant data to a schema to improve read performance by avoiding joins
What is the Cache-Aside strategy?
AnswerA pattern where the application code is responsible for managing the cache state
What are Bloom Filters?
AnswerA space-efficient probabilistic data structure used to test if an element is in a set
What is consistent hashing?
AnswerA hashing technique that minimizes key remapping when the number of slots changes
What is the Saga pattern?
AnswerA sequence of local transactions where each updates data and triggers the next
What is the difference between Token Bucket and Leaky Bucket?
AnswerToken Bucket allows for bursts of traffic, while Leaky Bucket enforces a steady rate
What is Hexagonal Architecture?
AnswerA pattern that isolates core logic from external concerns using ports and adapters
What are Bounded Contexts in DDD?
AnswerExplicit boundaries within which a specific domain model is defined and applicable
What are the three pillars of Observability?
AnswerLogs, Metrics, and Traces
When is a Time-Series Database (TSDB) most appropriate?
AnswerFor handling massive volumes of timestamped data like metrics or sensor readings
What is Semantic Versioning (SemVer)?
AnswerA versioning scheme using MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH to signal the nature of changes
What is an idempotency key?
AnswerA unique value sent by a client to ensure a request is only processed once
Why is Average Latency often a misleading metric?
AnswerIt hides outliers (tail latency) that significantly affect user experience
What is Distributed Consensus (e.g., Raft)?
AnswerAn algorithm for achieving agreement on a single data value across a cluster