Nitya CloudTech Pvt Ltd.
SQL Scenario-Based Interview
Questions & Answers
Nitya CloudTech Pvt Ltd.
1. Calculate the Rolling Average Sales Over the Last 7 Days
Q: Write a query to calculate the rolling average sales for each day over the
past 7 days.
A:
SELECT sale_date, sales_amount,
AVG(sales_amount) OVER (ORDER BY sale_date ROWS BETWEEN 6
PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS rolling_avg_7_days
FROM daily_sales;
2. Identify the Second-Highest Salary in Each Department
Q: Write a query to find the second-highest salary in each department.
A:
SELECT department_id, MAX(salary) AS second_highest_salary
FROM employees
WHERE salary < (
SELECT MAX(salary)
FROM employees e
WHERE e.department_id = employees.department_id
)
GROUP BY department_id;
3. Find Orders Placed Within a Specific Timeframe
Q: Retrieve all orders placed between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM.
A:
SELECT order_id, order_time
FROM orders
WHERE CAST(order_time AS TIME) BETWEEN '09:00:00' AND '17:00:00';
4. Detect Data Gaps for Each Product
Q: Identify dates where no sales were recorded for each product in the sales
table.
A:
SELECT p.product_id, d.date
FROM products p
CROSS JOIN dates d
Nitya CloudTech Pvt Ltd.
LEFT JOIN sales s ON p.product_id = s.product_id AND d.date =
s.sale_date
WHERE s.sale_date IS NULL;
5. Calculate Cumulative Sum of Sales by Month
Q: Calculate the cumulative sales by month.
A:
SELECT month, sales_amount,
SUM(sales_amount) OVER (ORDER BY month) AS cumulative_sales
FROM monthly_sales;
6. Identify Employees in Multiple Departments
Q: Write a query to identify employees assigned to more than one
department.
A:
SELECT employee_id
FROM employee_departments
GROUP BY employee_id
HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT department_id) > 1;
7. Find Products with Zero Sales in the Last Quarter
Q: List all products that had no sales in the last quarter.
A:
SELECT product_id, product_name
FROM products
WHERE product_id NOT IN (
SELECT DISTINCT product_id
FROM sales
WHERE sale_date >= DATEADD(quarter, -1, GETDATE())
);
8. Count Orders with Discounts in Each Category
Q: Count the number of orders with discounts in each category.
A:
SELECT category_id, COUNT(*) AS discounted_orders
FROM orders
WHERE discount > 0
GROUP BY category_id;
Nitya CloudTech Pvt Ltd.
9. Identify Employees Whose Tenure is Below Average
Q: Find employees with tenure less than the average tenure of all employees.
A:
SELECT employee_id, name, tenure
FROM employees
WHERE tenure < (SELECT AVG(tenure) FROM employees);
10. Identify the Most Popular Product in Each Category
Q: Find the most popular product in each category based on sales.
A:
SELECT category_id, product_name, MAX(sales) AS max_sales
FROM products
GROUP BY category_id, product_name
ORDER BY max_sales DESC;
11. Detect Orders that Exceed a Monthly Threshold
Q: Identify orders that exceeded a $10,000 monthly threshold.
A:
SELECT customer_id, SUM(order_amount) AS total_spent
FROM orders
GROUP BY customer_id, MONTH(order_date)
HAVING SUM(order_amount) > 10000;
12. Find Customers Who Have Never Ordered a Specific Product
Q: Identify customers who have never ordered product "P123".
A:
SELECT customer_id
FROM customers
WHERE customer_id NOT IN (
SELECT customer_id
FROM orders
WHERE product_id = 'P123'
);
13. Calculate Each Employee’s Percentage of Departmental Sales
Q: Write a query to calculate each employee's sales as a percentage of total
departmental sales.
Nitya CloudTech Pvt Ltd.
A:
SELECT employee_id, sales,
sales * 100.0 / SUM(sales) OVER (PARTITION BY department_id)
AS dept_sales_percentage
FROM employee_sales;
14. Find Products with Sales Growth Between Two Periods
Q: Write a query to identify products with sales growth from Q1 to Q2.
A:
SELECT p.product_id,
q1.sales AS q1_sales, q2.sales AS q2_sales,
(q2.sales - q1.sales) / NULLIF(q1.sales, 0) * 100 AS
growth_rate
FROM (SELECT product_id, SUM(sales) AS sales FROM sales WHERE quarter
= 'Q1' GROUP BY product_id) q1
JOIN (SELECT product_id, SUM(sales) AS sales FROM sales WHERE quarter
= 'Q2' GROUP BY product_id) q2
ON q1.product_id = q2.product_id;
15. Identify Customers with Consecutive Months of Purchases
Q: Find customers with orders in consecutive months.
A:
SELECT customer_id, order_date,
DATEDIFF(month, LAG(order_date) OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id
ORDER BY order_date), order_date) AS months_diff
FROM orders
WHERE months_diff = 1;
16. Calculate Average Order Value (AOV) by Month
Q: Write a query to calculate AOV by month.
A:
SELECT month, AVG(order_amount) AS avg_order_value
FROM orders
GROUP BY month;
17. Rank Sales Representatives by Quarterly Performance
Q: Rank sales representatives based on quarterly sales.
A:
Nitya CloudTech Pvt Ltd.
SELECT sales_rep_id, quarter, total_sales,
RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY quarter ORDER BY total_sales DESC)
AS rank
FROM quarterly_sales;
18. Find the Month with the Highest Revenue in Each Year
Q: Write a query to find the month with the highest revenue for each year.
A:
SELECT year, month, revenue
FROM (
SELECT year, month, revenue,
RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY year ORDER BY revenue DESC) AS
rank
FROM monthly_revenue
) AS yearly_revenue
WHERE rank = 1;
19. Identify Items with Stockouts
Q: Identify items that experienced stockouts (when stock quantity was zero).
A:
SELECT item_id, date
FROM inventory
WHERE stock_quantity = 0;
20. Calculate Average Time Between Orders by Customer
Q: Write a query to calculate the average time between orders for each
customer.
A:
SELECT customer_id,
AVG(DATEDIFF(day, LAG(order_date) OVER (PARTITION BY
customer_id ORDER BY order_date), order_date)) AS
avg_days_between_orders
FROM orders;
