Google Cloud Digital Leader (GCP CDL) Practice Exam
What Is the Google Cloud Digital Leader Exam?
The Google Cloud Digital Leader Certification is an entry-level credential designed for individuals who want to demonstrate a broad understanding of Google Cloud’s core products, services, and their business impact. This exam is ideal for professionals across business and technical roles—including sales, marketing, project managers, and executives—who need to make informed decisions about cloud-based solutions.
Earning the Digital Leader certification validates your ability to articulate the capabilities of Google Cloud and how it can drive innovation and operational efficiency within an organization.
What You Will Learn with This Practice Exam
Our expertly crafted GCP Digital Leader Practice Exam will prepare you to:
Understand Google Cloud’s core infrastructure, products, and services.
Navigate cloud adoption frameworks and digital transformation strategies.
Analyze the value proposition of Google Cloud in terms of scalability, security, and cost-efficiency.
Explain how cloud-based tools like BigQuery, App Engine, and Cloud Functions support innovation.
Recognize the role of compliance, security, and data governance in cloud architecture.
Apply basic principles of AI, ML, and data analytics within Google Cloud’s ecosystem.
Each question in this practice exam comes with a detailed explanation (70–100 words), helping reinforce concepts and sharpen your reasoning skills before the actual test.
Topics Covered in This GCP CDL Practice Exam
This comprehensive practice test is aligned with the latest Google Cloud Digital Leader exam blueprint and covers all key domains:
Digital Transformation with Google Cloud
Infrastructure and Application Modernization
Understanding Google Cloud Products and Services
Data Management, Analytics, and Machine Learning
Security, Operations, and Cloud Governance
Cloud Economics and Billing Optimization
Whether you’re from a technical or business background, these topics will help you connect business goals with cloud technology.
Why Choose Exam Sage for Your GCP CDL Preparation?
At Exam Sage, we focus on providing industry-leading, exam-aligned practice tests that not only simulate the real exam environment but also teach you the “why” behind every correct answer.
✅ Updated Content: Reflects the latest GCP exam format and objectives.
✅ In-Depth Explanations: Learn from detailed, educational answer rationales—no guesswork.
✅ Instant Digital Access: Study anytime, anywhere, on any device.
Who Should Use This Practice Test?
This GCP CDL practice exam is ideal for:
Professionals preparing for the Google Cloud Digital Leader certification
IT Managers, Consultants, and Project Leads exploring cloud migration
Business stakeholders who need foundational cloud knowledge
Students and recent graduates looking to launch a career in cloud computing
Teams adopting Google Cloud across departments
Whether you’re new to cloud or looking to validate your understanding, this resource helps build both confidence and competence.
Boost Your Exam Readiness with Exam Sage
With Exam Sage, you’re not just memorizing answers—you’re building cloud fluency. Our Google Cloud Digital Leader Practice Exam ensures you’re fully equipped to pass the test and apply cloud strategies in real-world scenarios.
Start your preparation today and take the next step toward becoming a certified Digital Leader!
Sample Questions and Answers
1. What is the primary benefit of using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for businesses?
A) Unlimited free storage
B) Ability to scale resources on demand
C) Free hardware maintenance
D) Guaranteed zero downtime
Answer: B) Ability to scale resources on demand
Explanation: GCP provides businesses the ability to dynamically scale computing resources based on demand, helping optimize costs and performance. This flexibility is a key advantage of cloud platforms over traditional on-premises infrastructure.
2. Which Google Cloud service is designed for running containerized applications?
A) BigQuery
B) App Engine
C) Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
D) Cloud Functions
Answer: C) Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Explanation: GKE is Google Cloud’s managed Kubernetes service for deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications using Kubernetes clusters.
3. What does the Google Cloud IAM (Identity and Access Management) service primarily control?
A) Billing and payments
B) User authentication and access permissions
C) Network configurations
D) Application performance
Answer: B) User authentication and access permissions
Explanation: IAM allows administrators to define who can do what on specific resources by managing roles and permissions securely.
4. Which of the following is a serverless compute option on Google Cloud?
A) Compute Engine
B) App Engine Standard Environment
C) Kubernetes Engine
D) Cloud Storage
Answer: B) App Engine Standard Environment
Explanation: App Engine Standard is a fully managed, serverless platform that lets you deploy applications without managing underlying infrastructure.
5. How does Google Cloud ensure data durability in Cloud Storage?
A) By replicating data across multiple geographic locations
B) By encrypting data at rest only
C) By limiting data access to the owner
D) By charging extra for backup
Answer: A) By replicating data across multiple geographic locations
Explanation: Google Cloud Storage replicates data across regions to ensure high availability and durability, protecting data from localized failures.
6. What is a key characteristic of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in Google Cloud?
A) Users manage only the applications and data
B) Google manages the entire software stack
C) Users control virtual machines and networking
D) It is only used for database services
Answer: C) Users control virtual machines and networking
Explanation: IaaS provides raw computing resources like VMs, networking, and storage that users configure and manage.
7. Which Google Cloud product is designed for large-scale data analytics?
A) Cloud SQL
B) BigQuery
C) Cloud Storage
D) Cloud Functions
Answer: B) BigQuery
Explanation: BigQuery is Google Cloud’s fully managed data warehouse designed for fast SQL-based analytics on massive datasets.
8. What is the purpose of VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) in Google Cloud?
A) To manage database access
B) To isolate and manage network resources
C) To create virtual machines
D) To deploy serverless functions
Answer: B) To isolate and manage network resources
Explanation: VPC allows users to create isolated virtual networks, control IP addressing, and set firewall rules for resources.
9. Which storage class is most cost-effective for infrequently accessed data on Google Cloud Storage?
A) Standard
B) Nearline
C) Coldline
D) Archive
Answer: D) Archive
Explanation: Archive storage is the cheapest option designed for data accessed less than once a year, suitable for long-term backups.
10. What does the “shared responsibility model” mean in Google Cloud?
A) Google manages everything; customers have no responsibilities
B) Customers are responsible for physical security only
C) Responsibilities are divided between Google and the customer
D) Customers manage hardware maintenance
Answer: C) Responsibilities are divided between Google and the customer
Explanation: Google Cloud manages security of the cloud infrastructure, while customers are responsible for securing in the cloud, such as data and access control.
11. Which Google Cloud product enables developers to build event-driven applications?
A) Cloud Functions
B) Compute Engine
C) Cloud SQL
D) Cloud Run
Answer: A) Cloud Functions
Explanation: Cloud Functions is a serverless platform for running small event-driven functions triggered by cloud events.
12. What is the benefit of using Google Cloud’s multi-region storage?
A) Reduced latency by placing data closer to users globally
B) Cheaper than regional storage
C) Automatic data deletion after 30 days
D) Requires manual data replication
Answer: A) Reduced latency by placing data closer to users globally
Explanation: Multi-region storage replicates data across multiple regions, improving availability and reducing latency for global users.
13. Which GCP service can automatically scale applications based on traffic?
A) Compute Engine
B) App Engine
C) Cloud Storage
D) BigQuery
Answer: B) App Engine
Explanation: App Engine automatically scales the number of instances up or down based on incoming application traffic without manual intervention.
14. What is the primary purpose of Cloud Pub/Sub in GCP?
A) Managing virtual machines
B) Asynchronous messaging and event ingestion
C) Real-time video streaming
D) Long-term storage
Answer: B) Asynchronous messaging and event ingestion
Explanation: Cloud Pub/Sub is a messaging service that allows asynchronous communication between independent systems and services.
15. Which Google Cloud tool helps monitor and manage cloud resources and applications?
A) Cloud Storage
B) Cloud Monitoring (formerly Stackdriver)
C) Cloud SQL
D) Cloud IAM
Answer: B) Cloud Monitoring (formerly Stackdriver)
Explanation: Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into performance, uptime, and overall health of cloud infrastructure and applications.
16. What is the role of Cloud Billing in GCP?
A) Managing user access permissions
B) Tracking and managing resource usage costs
C) Deploying applications
D) Monitoring application performance
Answer: B) Tracking and managing resource usage costs
Explanation: Cloud Billing helps organizations view, track, and manage costs associated with GCP resources.
17. Which service should you use for relational databases in GCP?
A) Cloud Bigtable
B) Cloud SQL
C) BigQuery
D) Cloud Datastore
Answer: B) Cloud SQL
Explanation: Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server.
18. What is Google Cloud’s recommended way to securely store API keys and secrets?
A) Environment variables only
B) Hardcoded in application source code
C) Secret Manager
D) Cloud Storage public buckets
Answer: C) Secret Manager
Explanation: Secret Manager allows secure storage and management of sensitive information like API keys with access control and audit logging.
19. Which Google Cloud product provides a managed environment for deploying microservices and serverless containers?
A) Cloud Run
B) Compute Engine
C) Cloud Functions
D) Kubernetes Engine
Answer: A) Cloud Run
Explanation: Cloud Run lets you deploy and run stateless containers in a fully managed serverless environment.
20. What does the term “cloud-native” generally refer to?
A) Applications built exclusively for on-premises servers
B) Applications designed to leverage cloud capabilities like scalability and resilience
C) Applications that never require updates
D) Hardware used in cloud data centers
Answer: B) Applications designed to leverage cloud capabilities like scalability and resilience
Explanation: Cloud-native applications are architected to fully utilize cloud environment features such as elasticity, managed services, and distributed systems.
21. Which Google Cloud service is designed for unstructured, NoSQL databases?
A) Cloud SQL
B) Cloud Bigtable
C) Cloud Spanner
D) BigQuery
Answer: B) Cloud Bigtable
Explanation: Cloud Bigtable is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database optimized for large analytical and operational workloads.
22. What is the function of Cloud Load Balancing in GCP?
A) Managing access control
B) Distributing incoming traffic across multiple instances or regions
C) Data storage
D) Running batch jobs
Answer: B) Distributing incoming traffic across multiple instances or regions
Explanation: Load Balancing improves availability and responsiveness by distributing traffic evenly and enabling failover.
23. Which tool is used to deploy infrastructure as code in Google Cloud?
A) Cloud Console
B) Deployment Manager
C) Cloud Monitoring
D) Cloud IAM
Answer: B) Deployment Manager
Explanation: Deployment Manager allows you to specify resources in configuration files and deploy them automatically, enabling Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
24. What type of pricing model does Google Cloud use?
A) Fixed monthly fee regardless of usage
B) Pay-as-you-go based on resource consumption
C) Annual subscription only
D) Pay upfront for reserved resources
Answer: B) Pay-as-you-go based on resource consumption
Explanation: Google Cloud charges based on actual usage of resources, offering cost efficiency and flexibility.
25. Which Google Cloud service provides a globally distributed relational database?
A) Cloud SQL
B) Cloud Spanner
C) Cloud Bigtable
D) Cloud Datastore
Answer: B) Cloud Spanner
Explanation: Cloud Spanner is a fully managed, horizontally scalable, globally distributed relational database designed for mission-critical applications.
26. How does Google Cloud ensure compliance with industry standards?
A) By outsourcing data management
B) Through certifications and regular audits
C) By limiting user access to GCP
D) By encrypting data only
Answer: B) Through certifications and regular audits
Explanation: Google Cloud undergoes rigorous audits and maintains certifications (e.g., ISO, SOC, GDPR) to ensure compliance and data security.
27. What is the best practice for optimizing costs on Google Cloud?
A) Leaving all resources running 24/7
B) Using committed use contracts and auto-scaling
C) Using the most expensive storage options
D) Deploying all applications in one region
Answer: B) Using committed use contracts and auto-scaling
Explanation: Committed use discounts lower costs for predictable workloads, and auto-scaling reduces costs by adjusting resources based on demand.
28. What is the function of Cloud Identity?
A) It manages billing accounts
B) It provides user identity and access management for Google Cloud and SaaS apps
C) It deploys applications
D) It stores data
Answer: B) It provides user identity and access management for Google Cloud and SaaS apps
Explanation: Cloud Identity centralizes user authentication and access control, enabling secure and simple identity management.
29. Which of these services is best for migrating existing virtual machines to Google Cloud?
A) Transfer Service
B) Migrate for Compute Engine
C) Cloud Functions
D) Cloud Run
Answer: B) Migrate for Compute Engine
Explanation: This service helps organizations migrate VMs from on-premises or other clouds directly into Compute Engine with minimal downtime.
30. What is the role of Google Cloud’s Sustainability efforts?
A) Increasing data center energy consumption
B) Committing to carbon neutrality and renewable energy use
C) Reducing the number of cloud regions
D) Charging more for eco-friendly services
Answer: B) Committing to carbon neutrality and renewable energy use
Explanation: Google Cloud aims to operate carbon-free by 2030, investing in renewable energy and improving data center efficiency to minimize environmental impact.
31. Which Google Cloud service offers managed machine learning capabilities without requiring extensive ML expertise?
A) Cloud AutoML
B) TensorFlow
C) AI Platform Notebooks
D) BigQuery
Answer: A) Cloud AutoML
Explanation: Cloud AutoML enables users to build and deploy custom machine learning models easily, leveraging Google’s advanced ML technology without needing deep expertise.
32. What does Google Cloud’s “Shared VPC” allow organizations to do?
A) Share virtual machine images between projects
B) Centralize network administration across multiple projects
C) Share storage buckets publicly
D) Share billing information
Answer: B) Centralize network administration across multiple projects
Explanation: Shared VPC allows organizations to set up a common network infrastructure that multiple projects can use, improving security and management.
33. What type of database is Cloud Firestore?
A) Relational
B) Document-based NoSQL
C) Columnar
D) Graph
Answer: B) Document-based NoSQL
Explanation: Firestore is a flexible, scalable NoSQL database for mobile, web, and server applications, storing data as documents in collections.
34. What is the key advantage of using Cloud CDN (Content Delivery Network)?
A) Automatically encrypts all data
B) Improves website latency by caching content close to users globally
C) Increases storage capacity
D) Manages API keys
Answer: B) Improves website latency by caching content close to users globally
Explanation: Cloud CDN reduces latency by caching content at edge locations around the world, providing faster content delivery.
35. Which GCP service supports real-time stream processing?
A) Dataflow
B) BigQuery
C) Cloud SQL
D) Cloud Storage
Answer: A) Dataflow
Explanation: Dataflow is a fully managed service for stream and batch data processing, allowing real-time analytics and ETL pipelines.
36. What is a benefit of Google Cloud’s “Preemptible VM Instances”?
A) Always run with guaranteed uptime
B) Lower cost but may be stopped by Google at any time
C) Provide unlimited storage
D) Automatically scale without limits
Answer: B) Lower cost but may be stopped by Google at any time
Explanation: Preemptible VMs are short-lived, cost-effective compute instances suitable for fault-tolerant workloads that can handle interruptions.
37. What does Cloud Composer help you do?
A) Manage Kubernetes clusters
B) Orchestrate complex workflows and data pipelines using Apache Airflow
C) Store large datasets
D) Monitor applications
Answer: B) Orchestrate complex workflows and data pipelines using Apache Airflow
Explanation: Cloud Composer is a managed Apache Airflow service used for workflow orchestration and automation.
38. Which Google Cloud service is primarily designed to provide API management and security?
A) Cloud Endpoints
B) Cloud Functions
C) Cloud Storage
D) Cloud IAM
Answer: A) Cloud Endpoints
Explanation: Cloud Endpoints helps deploy, secure, monitor, and manage APIs on Google Cloud.
39. What is the primary purpose of the Google Cloud Marketplace?
A) A place to buy Google hardware
B) A platform to discover, deploy, and manage pre-built solutions and software
C) Billing dashboard
D) Cloud storage location
Answer: B) A platform to discover, deploy, and manage pre-built solutions and software
Explanation: The Marketplace offers ready-to-use solutions that can be easily deployed on GCP.
40. How does Google Cloud support hybrid cloud environments?
A) By only supporting on-premises infrastructure
B) Through Anthos, which manages workloads across on-premises and multiple clouds
C) By charging extra for hybrid setups
D) By requiring all data to be moved to Google Cloud
Answer: B) Through Anthos, which manages workloads across on-premises and multiple clouds
Explanation: Anthos enables hybrid and multi-cloud management for consistent operations and policies.
41. Which Google Cloud service allows building, deploying, and managing APIs at scale?
A) Cloud Run
B) API Gateway
C) Cloud Functions
D) Cloud Storage
Answer: B) API Gateway
Explanation: API Gateway offers a fully managed solution for creating, securing, and monitoring APIs.
42. Which service offers Google Cloud’s managed Redis and Memcached solutions?
A) Cloud SQL
B) Memorystore
C) Bigtable
D) Firestore
Answer: B) Memorystore
Explanation: Memorystore provides fully managed in-memory data stores compatible with Redis and Memcached.
43. What is the maximum uptime SLA offered by Google Cloud for Compute Engine?
A) 99.5%
B) 99.9%
C) 99.99%
D) 100%
Answer: C) 99.99%
Explanation: Compute Engine offers a 99.99% SLA, guaranteeing high availability for VM instances.
44. What does the term “immutable infrastructure” mean in the context of Google Cloud?
A) Infrastructure that cannot be updated
B) Infrastructure that is replaced rather than changed when updates occur
C) Infrastructure that is always online
D) Infrastructure with no backups
Answer: B) Infrastructure that is replaced rather than changed when updates occur
Explanation: Immutable infrastructure means any change involves deploying new instances rather than modifying existing ones, improving reliability.
45. What feature does Google Cloud offer to protect against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks?
A) Cloud Armor
B) Cloud Run
C) Cloud Functions
D) Cloud SQL
Answer: A) Cloud Armor
Explanation: Cloud Armor provides DDoS protection and security policies at the network edge.
46. What is the primary function of Google Cloud’s Transfer Service?
A) Transfer billing data
B) Migrate data into Google Cloud Storage from external sources
C) Transfer virtual machines
D) Manage user permissions
Answer: B) Migrate data into Google Cloud Storage from external sources
Explanation: Transfer Service helps move large datasets from on-premises or other clouds into Google Cloud Storage efficiently.
47. What is the purpose of “labels” in Google Cloud resources?
A) To encrypt resources
B) To organize and group resources for billing and management
C) To restrict access
D) To improve network performance
Answer: B) To organize and group resources for billing and management
Explanation: Labels are key-value pairs applied to resources to enable filtering and grouping for cost tracking and administration.
48. Which of these is NOT a Google Cloud region type?
A) Multi-region
B) Region
C) Zone
D) Planet
Answer: D) Planet
Explanation: Google Cloud regions and zones are geographic locations where resources are hosted. “Planet” is not a valid type.
49. How does Google Cloud handle encryption of data?
A) Data is encrypted only during transit
B) Data is encrypted at rest and in transit by default
C) Data encryption is optional and user-managed only
D) Data is not encrypted
Answer: B) Data is encrypted at rest and in transit by default
Explanation: Google Cloud encrypts customer data by default both at rest and during transit, enhancing security.
50. What type of workload is Cloud Bigtable optimized for?
A) Relational transactions
B) Large-scale analytical queries
C) Time-series and operational workloads with massive throughput
D) Serverless functions
Answer: C) Time-series and operational workloads with massive throughput
Explanation: Bigtable is designed for large-scale, low-latency workloads such as IoT, finance, and user analytics.
51. Which GCP service is designed for scalable, managed message queues?
A) Cloud Pub/Sub
B) Cloud Functions
C) Cloud Spanner
D) Cloud SQL
Answer: A) Cloud Pub/Sub
Explanation: Cloud Pub/Sub provides reliable, asynchronous messaging for event-driven systems and distributed applications.
52. What is Google Cloud’s best practice for disaster recovery?
A) Regularly backup data to multiple regions
B) Store all data in one zone only
C) Disable logging to improve performance
D) Use only local backups
Answer: A) Regularly backup data to multiple regions
Explanation: Backups across multiple geographic locations ensure data availability and disaster resilience.
53. What does Google Cloud’s “Resource Manager” service provide?
A) Billing reports
B) Hierarchical organization of resources like projects and folders
C) Security patches
D) Network monitoring
Answer: B) Hierarchical organization of resources like projects and folders
Explanation: Resource Manager helps structure GCP resources for management, access control, and billing.
54. What is the difference between Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner?
A) Cloud SQL is NoSQL, Cloud Spanner is relational
B) Cloud SQL is regional, Cloud Spanner is globally distributed and strongly consistent
C) Cloud SQL is serverless, Cloud Spanner requires management
D) Both are identical services
Answer: B) Cloud SQL is regional, Cloud Spanner is globally distributed and strongly consistent
Explanation: Cloud Spanner offers global distribution with strong consistency, while Cloud SQL is regional and supports traditional relational databases.
55. How can users reduce costs on Google Cloud when running long-term workloads?
A) Use preemptible VMs
B) Use on-demand VMs
C) Use committed use discounts
D) Avoid auto-scaling
Answer: C) Use committed use discounts
Explanation: Committed use contracts provide discounts in exchange for long-term usage commitments, reducing costs.
56. What is Google Cloud’s main tool for logging and error reporting?
A) Cloud Monitoring
B) Cloud Logging (formerly Stackdriver Logging)
C) Cloud Build
D) Cloud IAM
Answer: B) Cloud Logging (formerly Stackdriver Logging)
Explanation: Cloud Logging collects and stores logs from applications and infrastructure for analysis and troubleshooting.
57. Which of the following is a Google Cloud serverless event-driven compute platform?
A) Compute Engine
B) Cloud Functions
C) Kubernetes Engine
D) Cloud SQL
Answer: B) Cloud Functions
Explanation: Cloud Functions runs code in response to events without requiring infrastructure management.
58. Which GCP product allows you to create managed virtual private networks (VPNs) to securely connect on-premises networks to Google Cloud?
A) Cloud Router
B) Cloud VPN
C) Cloud Load Balancer
D) Cloud Identity
Answer: B) Cloud VPN
Explanation: Cloud VPN establishes encrypted connections between on-premises networks and Google Cloud VPCs.
59. Which service is best for automating infrastructure deployment and configuration on GCP?
A) Cloud Console
B) Cloud Deployment Manager
C) Cloud Monitoring
D) Cloud Shell
Answer: B) Cloud Deployment Manager
Explanation: Deployment Manager allows you to define and automate resource deployment using templates.
60. What is the primary use of Cloud Scheduler?
A) Monitor applications
B) Automate scheduled tasks and batch jobs
C) Manage API keys
D) Store large datasets
Answer: B) Automate scheduled tasks and batch jobs
Explanation: Cloud Scheduler lets users schedule automated jobs, like triggering HTTP endpoints or Pub/Sub topics on a defined timetable.
