# BigQuery - Advanced Features (Data Analytics)

> Partitioning, clustering, materialized views, UDFs, nested queries, STRUCT, ARRAY

- 20 interview questions
- Mid-Level
- [Interview Questions: Data Analytics](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions.md)

## 1. What is the primary role of partitioning in BigQuery?

**Answer**

Partitioning divides a table into segments based on a column (often a date), which reduces the amount of data scanned during queries. When a query filters on the partition column, BigQuery only reads the relevant partitions instead of scanning the entire table. This improves performance and reduces query costs, which are billed based on the volume of data scanned.

## 2. What types of partitioning are available in BigQuery?

**Answer**

BigQuery offers three types of partitioning: by DATE, TIMESTAMP, or DATETIME column (most common), by integer range (INTEGER RANGE), and by ingestion time (_PARTITIONTIME). Date-based partitioning is the most widely used because most analyses filter on time periods. Integer range partitioning is useful for numeric identifiers.

## 3. What is a STRUCT in BigQuery?

**Answer**

A STRUCT (or RECORD) is a data type that groups multiple named fields of potentially different types into a single column. For example, a STRUCT can contain a name (STRING), an age (INT64), and an email (STRING). STRUCTs allow modeling hierarchical data directly within a table, avoiding costly joins. Fields are accessed using dot notation (struct_col.field).

## 17 more questions available

- What is an ARRAY in BigQuery?
- What is the purpose of the UNNEST function in BigQuery?

Sign up for free: https://sharpskill.dev/en/login

## Other Data Analytics interview topics

- [Google Sheets - Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/google-sheets-basics.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Google Sheets - Advanced Formulas](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/google-sheets-advanced.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [SQL - Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/sql-basics.md): 25 questions, Junior
- [SQL - Aggregations and Grouping](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/sql-aggregations.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [SQL - Joins](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/sql-joins.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [BigQuery - Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/bigquery-fundamentals.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Data Cleaning](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/data-cleaning.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [KPIs and Business Metrics](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/kpis-metrics.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Descriptive Statistics](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/descriptive-statistics.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Zapier and No-Code Automation](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/zapier-automation.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Data Visualization Principles](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/data-viz-principles.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Python & Pandas - Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/python-pandas-basics.md): 20 questions, Junior
- [Google Sheets - Automated Dashboards](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/google-sheets-dashboards.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [SQL - Subqueries and CTEs](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/sql-subqueries-ctes.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [SQL - Window Functions](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/sql-window-functions.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [Data Modeling](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/data-modeling.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [Funnel and Conversion Analysis](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/funnel-analysis.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [Cohort and Retention Analysis](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/cohort-retention.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [Google Tag Manager and Tracking](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/gtm-tracking.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [APIs and Webhooks](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/apis-webhooks.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [dbt - Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/dbt-fundamentals.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [AB Testing and Applied Statistics](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/ab-testing.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [Looker Studio (Google Data Studio)](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/looker-studio.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [Power BI - Fundamentals](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/power-bi-fundamentals.md): 20 questions, Mid-Level
- [SQL - Advanced Analytical Queries](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/sql-advanced-analytics.md): 20 questions, Senior
- [dbt - Advanced Features](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/dbt-advanced.md): 20 questions, Senior
- [Power BI - DAX and Advanced Dashboards](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/power-bi-dax.md): 20 questions, Senior
- [Python Analytics - Advanced Analysis and ML](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/python-analytics-advanced.md): 20 questions, Senior

---

Source: SharpSkill (https://sharpskill.dev), tech interview preparation for your real stack.
HTML version of this page: https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/data-analytics/interview-questions/bigquery-advanced