Test Prep CFA-Level-I Exam Prep
CFA® Level I Chartered Financial Analyst (Page 3 )

• Microservices: An application-design approach that divides an application into smaller services. It does not inherently reduce the number of operating systems.
• Virtualization: Creates virtual machines, but each VM generally requires its own complete operating system. This improves isolation but does not minimize OS instances as effectively.
• Infrastructure as code: Uses code to automate infrastructure deployment and configuration. It improves consistency but does not determine how many operating systems are used.

• How quickly the vendor must respond to an incident or request
• Target resolution times
• Availability or uptime requirements
• Performance metrics and penalties for not meeting them

• SOW (Statement of Work): Describes the project’s scope, tasks, deliverables, and timeline.
• MOA (Memorandum of Agreement): Documents a formal agreement to cooperate or perform specific activities.
• MOU (Memorandum of Understanding): Records a mutual understanding or intent, often less binding than a contract.

• 10 TB with maximum I/O performance: Use EC2 instance store. It provides very high-throughput, low-latency local storage suitable for temporary video-processing data. The application must tolerate data loss because instance store is ephemeral.
• 300 TB of highly durable media: Use Amazon S3, which is designed for highly durable object storage and can scale to this size.
• 900 TB of inactive archival media: Use S3 Glacier, which provides lower-cost storage for data that is rarely accessed.

• A: Amazon EBS offers high performance but is not the best fit for the question’s “maximum possible I/O” requirement compared with local instance store.
• B: Amazon EFS is durable and shared, but is generally more expensive and less suitable for very large archival storage.
• C: Uses EC2 instance store for performance, but incorrectly uses EFS for the 300-TB durable tier and S3 rather than Glacier for archival data.

1. Create or verify cost groups

1. Set up the item model group

1. Create the costing version

1. Enter or calculate item costs

1. Activate the standard costs

• Sending calls to available agents quickly
• Balancing interactions across agents
• Preventing calls from being handled manually one at a time

• Workforce Management: Forecasts demand and schedules enough staff; it supports wait-time reduction but does not directly distribute calls.
• Skill-based Routing: Routes calls based on agent skills and may improve the customer experience, but the question is asking about the core feature that distributes calls efficiently.
• IVR: Lets callers navigate menus and self-service options; it does not primarily assign calls to agents.

1. Start with the Customer table.
2. Use Merge Queries and select the Address table.
3. Match Customer[Address ID] to Address[Address ID].
4. Use a Left Outer join so every customer is retained.
5. Expand only City, State/Region, and Country.

• Append adds rows vertically; it is for stacking similarly structured tables.
• Group By summarizes rows and does not retrieve address columns.
• Transpose swaps rows and columns and is unrelated to table relationships.

• SQL injection
• Cross-site scripting (XSS)
• Malicious file uploads
• Common web-application exploits

• Layer 4 firewall: Filters primarily by IP addresses, ports, and transport protocols; it lacks detailed web-application inspection.
• NGFW: Provides advanced network filtering and may include application awareness, but a WAF is more specialized for protecting web applications.
• UTM: Combines several security functions in one device, but it is not specifically focused on web-application attacks.

• Restrict a port to a defined number of MAC addresses
• Use statically configured or “sticky” MAC addresses
• Shut down or restrict the port when violations occur

• Load balancer: Distributes application traffic; it does not protect switch MAC tables.
• IPS: May detect suspicious traffic but is not the primary control for switch-port MAC limits.
• NGFW: Filters routed network traffic, not the switch’s CAM/MAC address table directly.

• The user authenticates with the external Identity Provider.
• Salesforce receives the SAML assertion.
• Salesforce uses attributes in that assertion—such as username, email, first name, last name, and profile/community information—to create the user during the first login.
• On later logins, Salesforce updates or uses the existing user record.

• On-the-fly provisioning is a general phrase; the Salesforce capability being tested is specifically JIT provisioning.
• Salesforce APIs would require a separate integration and provisioning process.
• Identity Connect is designed primarily to synchronize users from an identity directory, not to create users at the moment of their first SAML login.

• Database data: Aggregates are used to retrieve structured data, commonly from entities and database sources.
• Screen scope: A Screen Aggregate belongs to the screen where it is defined and is not directly reusable as a screen-level aggregate elsewhere.
• Asynchronous and parallel execution: Multiple Screen Aggregates can run asynchronously and in parallel, helping the screen load data efficiently.

• Documented and evaluated
• Assessed for security, cost, and operational impact
• Reviewed and approved by the appropriate personnel
• Tested before implementation
• Tracked with version history and rollback procedures

• Risk management process: May help assess the issues, but it does not authorize and manage design changes.
• Product design process: Applies primarily while creating a new design.
• Design review process: Normally evaluates a design before release; this design is already released.

sql 
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.usp_CreateOrder 
AS 
BEGIN 
    SET NOCOUNT ON; 
    SET XACT_ABORT ON; 


    BEGIN TRY 
        BEGIN TRANSACTION; 


        INSERT INTO dbo.Orders (/ columns /) 
        VALUES (/ values /); 


        SET @OrderID = SCOPE_IDENTITY(); 


        COMMIT TRANSACTION; 
    END TRY 
    BEGIN CATCH 
        IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0 
            ROLLBACK TRANSACTION; 


        THROW; 
    END CATCH; 
END;

• BEGIN TRY contains the transactional work.
• SCOPE_IDENTITY() retrieves the identity generated by the INSERT; it belongs after the insert, not as the error-handling logic.
• COMMIT runs only if all statements succeed.
• BEGIN CATCH handles failures.
• IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0 prevents attempting a rollback when no transaction is active.
• ROLLBACK undoes partial changes.
• THROW re-raises the original error with consistent details for the application.
• SET XACT_ABORT ON ensures many run-time errors automatically terminate and roll back the transaction.

1. Find the subnet-mask increment in the octet where the prefix ends.
2. Identify the network address by finding the subnet boundary at or below the given IP.
3. The first usable address is network address + 1.
4. The broadcast address is one address before the next subnet.
5. The last usable address is broadcast - 1.

• 172.28.228.144/18

• 172.28.228.144/23

1. Start with the 48-bit MAC address.
2. Split it into two 24-bit halves.
3. Insert FF:FE between the halves, creating a 64-bit value.
4. Invert the U/L bit—the seventh bit from the left in the first MAC byte.

text 
MAC:       00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E 
EUI-64:    02:1A:2B:FF:FE:3C:4D:5E

• FE80 is the prefix commonly used for an IPv6 link-local address, not part of the EUI-64 interface ID.
• The interface ID is not random.
• The MAC address is modified by inserting FF:FE and changing the U/L bit.

• Basic: No technical or architectural guidance.
• Standard: Technical support, but not the required design-assessment service.
• Professional Direct: Provides advisory and architecture guidance.
• Premier: Provides it too, but is unnecessarily expensive for this requirement.

• Conserve public IPv4 addresses: IPv4 addresses are limited, so many internal devices share a smaller number of public addresses through NAT.
• Reduce direct exposure: Private addresses are not directly routable from the public Internet, which helps reduce unsolicited access to internal devices.

• Generates a syslog message
• Shuts down the PoE port
• Places the port into error-disabled (err-disabled) state
• Frees the power allocation

• A device starting to draw power does not necessarily generate a syslog message.
• Monitoring does not pause data traffic while checking power.
• Drawing less than the configured minimum does not automatically mean the device has failed and should be disconnected.

Why

cmd 
PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Scripts\ConfigureVM.ps1

Why the other options are less suitable

• GPO logon script: Runs only when a user logs on and may not run during initial VM provisioning.
• GPO startup script: Can work, but requires the VM to be joined to the domain and the policy to be applied. It is also normally evaluated at each startup.
• Place scripts in a VHD: Merely placing scripts on a disk does not cause them to execute.

• Filtering or reshaping columns
• Joining with an analysis-specific dataset
• Creating calculated fields
• Applying business logic for a particular project

• Data blending: Combining different data sources, not specifically the final processing step.
• Data enhancement: A broad term for enriching data.
• Data testing: Checking data quality or pipeline correctness.
• Last-mile ETL: The precise term for additional transformations performed after the main pipeline, often directly before analytics or reporting.

• Planning and designing products and services
• Developing and delivering them
• Managing risks, suppliers, and resources
• Measuring performance
• Continually improving value delivery

• Value stream steps describe activities used to create and deliver value; they do not themselves provide the broader capabilities.
• Vision and operating model provide direction and structure, but they are not the practical management capabilities that enable the work.
• Value chain is the operating model showing how activities combine to create value; it is enabled by practices and resources.

• Matching hashes: The software is unchanged.
• Different hashes: The software was modified or corrupted.

• Encryption: Protects confidentiality.
• Baselines: Define approved configurations or normal performance.
• Tokenization: Replaces sensitive data with tokens.

• Uses on-premises data or resources
• Runs components in the cloud
• Can scale across multiple cloud environments when demand increases

• Public cloud: Resources are hosted entirely by a cloud provider.
• Private cloud: Resources are dedicated to one organization, usually in its own environment.
• Hybrid: Combines on-premises and cloud resources.

• Azure creates a corresponding service principal in Microsoft Entra ID.
• The identity’s lifecycle is tied to the Azure resource.
• If the resource is deleted, Azure automatically deletes the identity.
• Only the associated resource can use that identity to request tokens.
• You can grant the identity permissions to access services such as Key Vault or Storage without storing credentials in code.

• Field name and label
• Data type
• Reference table
• Default value
• Whether the field is mandatory or read-only
• Field attributes and configuration

• A: Labels and translations are handled through documentation and translation-related records.
• C: Table relationships may be represented through reference fields, but this is not the primary description of the Dictionary.
• D: Spell-checking language data is unrelated to the System Dictionary.

• Financial performance
• Customer perspective
• Internal business processes
• Learning and growth

• Increasing the number of indicators can make the scorecard cluttered and less useful. Measures should be limited to those that are strategically important.
• The scorecard is mainly a tool for implementing and monitoring strategy, not for formulating strategy.
• It should contain both leading indicators and lagging indicators. Leading indicators predict future performance, while lagging indicators measure results already achieved.

Question 3: AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway

• A: S3 bucket per user — S3 is object storage, not a traditional shared file system; mounting it requires extra tools and is less efficient.
• B: File Gateway — Provides a local file share using standard file protocols while storing files in Amazon S3. This preserves convenient local access and extends storage capacity.
• C: WorkSpaces and WorkDocs — Designed for virtual desktops and document collaboration, not large shared file storage.
• D: EC2 with EBS — EBS is attached to one EC2 instance and is not designed for direct multi-user file sharing.

• B. Users accessing Salesforce from public Wi-Fi

• C. Users choosing the same password as their Facebook password

• A: 2FA does not protect an already-authenticated, unlocked session if someone accesses an unattended laptop.
• D: Weak password-reset questions are an account-recovery weakness. 2FA primarily strengthens login authentication, not necessarily the security-question reset process.

sql 
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table;

• A: It does not normally need to scan all data files for this operation.
• B: Results are not simply reused from a query cache every time. Caching is separate from Delta’s metadata optimization.
• D: The relevant metadata is maintained through the Delta transaction log, not directly treated as a Parquet-file metadata operation in this context.

1. Define – establish the project’s objectives, scope, feasibility and requirements.
2. Design – plan how the project will be carried out, including resources, schedules and controls.
3. Deliver – execute the project and produce the required outputs.
4. Develop – close the project formally and capture learning for future projects.

• Filing documentation and records
• Closing project and accounting systems
• Settling costs
• Handing over the completed work and obtaining sign-off
• Reviewing performance and giving feedback

• Server provisioning
• Operating systems and runtime infrastructure
• Scaling
• Much of the maintenance and patching

• Thin clients reduce endpoint hardware requirements but do not specifically streamline code deployment.
• Private cloud provides dedicated cloud infrastructure but usually requires more management and expense.
• Virtual machines improve resource utilization, but administrators still manage the VMs, operating systems, and deployments.

• MAC flooding: Overwhelms a switch’s MAC address table, potentially causing traffic to be broadcast.
• DNS spoofing: Provides false DNS responses to redirect users.
• ARP poisoning: Sends false ARP information to associate an attacker’s MAC address with another device’s IP address.

1. The sender hashes the original message and sends the message plus its hash.
2. The receiver applies the same hashing algorithm to the received message.
3. The receiver compares the newly calculated hash with the sender’s hash.
4. Matching values indicate that the message was not altered in transit.

• A binary image is not the normal description of a hash result.
• Using a different algorithm produces a different type of digest, so the values cannot be directly compared.
• Hashing verifies integrity, but by itself does not prove who sent the message. Digital signatures or MACs address authentication and integrity together.

• The VM keeps its configuration, disks, IP settings, and associated resources.
• The operation may cause downtime.
• You cannot guarantee that it will move specifically to Host2; Azure selects the new host.
• Update management is for update configuration, not host relocation.
• Moving to another subscription does not move the VM to a different physical host.
• Usage location is unrelated to VM placement.

python 
def add_integers(a, b): 
    return a + b

• Uses def to define a function.
• Accepts two parameters, a and b.
• Uses return to send their sum back to the caller.
• Uses indentation to define the function body.

python 
result = add_integers(3, 4) 
result is 7

• Forecasting lets sales leaders predict revenue for upcoming fiscal periods, compare forecasts with targets, and review performance by salesperson or team.
• Opportunity Stages help determine the likelihood that opportunities will close. Each stage can have a probability, which contributes to forecast calculations.

• Sales Quotes: Used to present pricing or product proposals to customers; they do not provide revenue forecasting.
• Opportunity List View: Helps users filter and view opportunities, but it is not the forecasting tool.

• vBond — orchestration plane: Authenticates devices, helps them discover each other, and assists with NAT traversal and initial control-connection setup.
• vSmart — control plane: Distributes routing and policy information to WAN Edge devices using the overlay control plane.
• vManage — management plane: Provides centralized configuration, monitoring, and orchestration through its GUI/API.
• WAN Edge — data plane: Forwards user traffic across the SD-WAN fabric.

• Prevent connections to malware command-and-control servers
• Identify infected systems making those DNS requests
• Collect information for incident response

• A: Attackers do not normally use sinkholes to map a company’s domain structure.
• B: Redirecting employees from legitimate sites to attacker-owned sites describes malicious DNS manipulation, not a defensive sinkhole.
• D: Attracting attackers away from real resources is more closely associated with a honeypot or deception system.

• You provision the virtual machine.
• You manage the guest operating system, applications, and configuration.
• Azure manages the physical servers, datacenter, and underlying virtualization infrastructure.

• Fileless malware: Nothing in the command indicates malware executing only in memory.
• Living-off-the-land binaries: Mimikatz is a credential-access tool, not a normal system utility used for LOLBin abuse.
• Social engineering: The command shows technical credential abuse, not manipulation of an accountant.

1. Ensure BOMs can include subcomponents ? Configure an entity relationship

1. Report changes made by engineers ? Enable auditing

• Configure entity relationship
• Configure auditing

• staff use the new system;
• transactions and reports are checked;
• problems are corrected;
• feedback is collected.

• Phased changeover: different parts or functions are introduced in stages, often according to a planned sequence.
• Pilot changeover: one representative department, branch or group acts as a test site before wider implementation.
• Parallel changeover: old and new systems operate at the same time.
• Direct changeover: the old system is stopped and the new one starts immediately.

• Vertical scaling (scale up) means increasing the size of an existing VM—for example, adding CPU or RAM.
• Vertical scaling down means reducing the VM’s size when less capacity is needed.
• Horizontal scaling (scale out) means adding more VM instances rather than making one VM larger.
• Elasticity is the broader ability to automatically adjust resources based on demand; it does not specifically mean adding CPU or memory to one VM.
• Agility refers to the ability to provision or change resources quickly.

• Looking up accounts, contacts, and opportunities
• Logging calls and updating Salesforce records
• Accessing previously available customer information when temporarily offline

• Salesforce Touch App: Primarily an older tablet-focused experience, not the best general solution for the sales team.
• Custom hybrid app: Unnecessary development when Salesforce provides the required capabilities natively.
• SalesforceA: Intended mainly for Salesforce administrators, not sales representatives.

• Identified risks
• Risk owners or responsible parties
• Likelihood and impact
• Risk response plans
• Current status
• Risk thresholds or trigger conditions

• Risk tolerance: The amount and type of risk an organization is willing to accept; it is not primarily a tracking document.
• Risk transfer: Moving the financial or operational impact of a risk to another party, such as through insurance or outsourcing.
• Risk analysis: The process of evaluating a risk’s likelihood and impact.

• Geo-redundant storage (GRS) replicates data to a secondary Azure region, but the secondary copy is normally unavailable for read access.
• RA-GRS provides geo-replication and read-only access to the secondary region, satisfying all requirements.
• Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) replicates data across availability zones within the same Azure region, not separate geographic regions.
• Locally redundant storage (LRS) keeps copies within a single datacenter or region and does not provide geographic resiliency.

• Input feature distributions differ from training data ? Analyze dataset drift metrics

• Model accuracy drops without code changes ? Analyze dataset drift metrics

• Endpoint latency increases under load ? Investigate scaling and infrastructure metrics

• netstat: Shows local network connections and listening ports, but not which WAN path carries the traffic.
• nslookup: Resolves domain names to IP addresses.
• ping: Tests reachability and latency but does not show the route.

• Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates define Azure resources in a declarative JSON file.
• You can deploy the same template repeatedly for each business unit, ensuring that identical resources are created consistently.
• Templates reduce manual administrative effort and support repeatable, automated deployments.
• Parameters can customize values such as names, regions, and sizes while keeping the overall resource configuration the same.

• SQL injection (SQLi): Attacks databases by inserting malicious SQL commands.
• Cross-site scripting (XSS): Injects scripts into web pages viewed by other users.
• Sideloading: Installing an application from outside the official app store. It may install unauthorized apps, but it does not generally unlock the operating system or enable restricted system features.