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Free Professional Agentic Architect practice test: 30 questions with answers

30 original questions for Professional Agentic Architect, drawn from every topic area. Answer each one to see whether you got it right and why. No sign-up.

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Professional Agentic Architect exam guide: topics, cost and format

All 30 Professional Agentic Architect questions with answers

The same questions as the test above, grouped by exam topic. Open any question to see the answer and explanation.

Developing custom agents (6 questions)

  1. Question 1

    In the Agent Development Kit (ADK), which workflow agent type runs its sub-agents one after another in a fixed order?

    1. ASequentialAgent, which runs its sub-agents one after another in the order they are listed
    2. BParallelAgent, which runs its sub-agents concurrently and then waits for all of them to finish
    3. CLoopAgent, which repeats its sub-agents until a stop condition or an iteration limit is reached
    4. DLlmAgent, which lets a model reason and choose tools for a single task on its own
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    SequentialAgent executes its sub-agents in the listed order, which matches the requirement. ParallelAgent runs them concurrently, LoopAgent repeats them, and LlmAgent is a model-driven agent rather than an orchestration pattern.

  2. Question 2

    A research assistant uses three specialist sub-agents that gather information from independent sources. Their results only need to be combined at the end, and the team wants to reduce total wait time. Which ADK pattern is the best fit?

    1. AA parallel workflow that runs the source agents at the same time, followed by a final step that merges their results
    2. BA sequential workflow that runs each source agent only after the previous one has finished and returned its results
    3. CA loop workflow that repeats the three source agents until the first one returns a successful result, then stops
    4. DOne agent that calls each source tool one at a time inside a single prompt, reasoning about each result before the next call
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    Independent sources can be queried concurrently, so a parallel workflow shortens total wait time, and a final merge step combines the outputs. Sequential and single-agent designs wait on each call in turn, and a loop repeats work rather than gathering results from several sources.

  3. Question 3

    Which two statements about sessions and long-term memory in a managed agent runtime are correct? (Choose two.)

    1. AA session holds the events and state for one ongoing interaction between a user and the agent
    2. BLong-term memory can store facts extracted from earlier conversations for recall in later sessions
    3. CEvery new session automatically receives the complete event history of all earlier sessions in its context window
    4. DDeleting a session removes the underlying model weights from the hosting environment for that agent
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A, B

    A session is the record of one interaction, and long-term memory is a separate store that carries useful facts across sessions. New sessions do not inherit full histories by default, and deleting a session does not change the base model weights.

  4. Question 4

    A retrieval pipeline first uses vector similarity to find a large set of candidate passages. It then runs a more precise model to score each candidate against the query before passing only the best few to the agent. What is that second step called?

    1. AChunking, which splits the source documents into smaller passages before they are indexed
    2. BEmbedding, which converts the user's query into a vector that is used for the first similarity search
    3. CReranking, which reorders the candidates by a more accurate relevance score for the query
    4. DQuantization, which compresses the vectors in the index to reduce storage and memory use
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    Reranking applies a more precise scoring model to a shortlist produced by first-pass retrieval. Chunking and embedding happen during indexing or the first retrieval step, and quantization changes how vectors are stored rather than how candidates are ranked.

  5. Question 5

    A team needs an agent to route several hundred thousand short support tickets a day into eight fixed categories. The ticket data must stay inside the company's own environment. Which model choice is the best starting point?

    1. AA hosted model prompted to re-check every ticket three times, so that each category is confirmed before it is used
    2. BA large hosted frontier model, since larger models always produce more accurate classifications on any task at all
    3. CA large open model run on a single developer laptop, so that no infrastructure has to be set up, secured or monitored by the team
    4. DA small self-hosted model, evaluated and tuned against the eight categories, since the task is narrow and high-volume
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: D

    A narrow, high-volume task that must stay in-house usually suits a small self-hosted model validated against the categories. Larger hosted models are not automatically more accurate, and the laptop and repeated-check designs fail the scale, cost or data-location requirements.

  6. Question 6

    What does Agent Identity provide for an agent running on Google Cloud?

    1. AA setting that controls the agent's writing persona and tone, applied to every reply the agent generates in each conversation
    2. BA network inspection point that monitors the traffic passing between agents and the tools that they call
    3. CA distinct identity for each agent, so that its access can be granted and audited separately from human users and shared accounts
    4. DA public directory where any developer can publish agent cards without review or approval from an administrator
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    Agent Identity gives each agent its own identity so permissions can be scoped and audited per agent rather than shared. Persona settings, traffic inspection and public directories are different capabilities that do not establish who the agent is.

Evaluating and deploying agentic workflows (6 questions)

  1. Question 7

    A team's agent scores well on its evaluation set but fails in production on long, multi-turn conversations. Which change to the test set best addresses this gap?

    1. AAdd more single-turn questions with short answers, since they are easier to score consistently across runs
    2. BAdd multi-turn conversations and edge cases that resemble real user sessions, including the failing patterns
    3. CRemove the production cases that the agent fails, so that the pass rate reflects the more typical everyday use
    4. DLower the pass threshold until the evaluation results more closely match what the team sees in production dashboards
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B

    The evaluation set must cover the situations where the agent fails, so multi-turn and edge-case conversations drawn from real sessions reveal the gap. Adding easy single-turn items, removing failing cases or lowering the bar would make the score look better without measuring the problem.

  2. Question 8

    Which description best fits an ADK evalset?

    1. AA deployed endpoint that serves a share of live traffic so the team can compare two versions of an agent
    2. BA Terraform module that provisions the virtual machines used to run agent evaluations in parallel
    3. CA log sink that copies all agent traffic into a BigQuery dataset for later analysis by the team
    4. DA file that stores evaluation cases with user inputs, expected tool use and reference responses
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: D

    An evalset packages evaluation cases, including the inputs and the expected behaviour, so an agent can be scored repeatably. The other options describe a serving endpoint, infrastructure provisioning and log export, which are not evaluation datasets.

  3. Question 9

    A team uses an LLM to judge whether agent answers are helpful. The judge gives different scores to the same answer across runs. What is the most appropriate improvement?

    1. AIncrease the judge's temperature so that it explores more ways of scoring each answer before settling on a value
    2. BRemove the automated judge and rely on the team lead's opinion for every release, since it is the most consistent option
    3. CDefine an explicit rubric with criteria and examples, and calibrate the judge against human-labelled answers
    4. DRun the judge on only one answer per day to save cost, since fewer scores means less inconsistency across the team
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    A clear rubric and calibration against human labels make an autorater's judgments consistent and checkable. Removing the judge, raising its temperature or scoring fewer answers does not address the cause, which is an underspecified scoring standard.

  4. Question 10

    What is the main purpose of a continuous evaluation pipeline for an agentic workflow?

    1. ATo replace all human testing with automatic deployment of every new agent version directly to production environments
    2. BTo re-run evaluations automatically when prompts, models, tools or data change, so regressions are caught early
    3. CTo archive every user conversation permanently so that the company can meet legal retention requirements
    4. DTo cache model responses to repeated questions so that the same answers cost less to produce each time
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B

    A continuous evaluation pipeline runs the evaluation suite whenever something that affects agent behaviour changes, which surfaces regressions before they reach users. Automatic deployment, archival and response caching are separate concerns.

  5. Question 11

    A team has a custom agent that runs a self-managed Python web server with GPU sidecar containers. It must run inside the team's existing Kubernetes cluster and follow the cluster's network policies. Which deployment runtime fits best?

    1. AAgent Runtime, because it runs arbitrary custom web servers with GPU sidecars inside the team's existing cluster
    2. BCloud Run, because it offers the same cluster-level networking control and sidecar placement as Kubernetes does
    3. CCloud Functions, because a single function can host the web server and its sidecars without any container setup
    4. DGoogle Kubernetes Engine, because it gives the most control over cluster networking, pods and sidecar containers
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: D

    GKE provides cluster-level control over pods, sidecars and network policies, which matches the requirement. Agent Runtime is a managed agent service rather than a host for arbitrary clusters, and Cloud Run and Cloud Functions do not give the same cluster-level control.

  6. Question 12

    A classification agent's accuracy has slowly declined over three months, although no code or prompt has changed. Recent traffic includes product categories that the evaluation set never covered. What is the most likely cause and the right response?

    1. AData drift, so the team should monitor input distributions, label recent examples and update prompts, tools or data
    2. BRising network latency between the agent and its tools, so the team should add more compute capacity to the service
    3. CLogs filling the disk on the serving host, so the team should delete older logs and restart the agent service
    4. DSilent corruption of the model weights in storage, so the team should re-upload the model from its original source file
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    Input data that shifts away from what the agent was tested on causes gradual accuracy loss even when the code is unchanged, so monitoring the inputs and refreshing the evaluation is the right response. The other causes would not produce a gradual decline tied to new product categories.

Using coding agents for application development (6 questions)

  1. Question 13

    A developer lets a coding agent refactor a service from a Cloud Workstation. The agent's environment currently holds a long-lived key for the production database. Which change best reduces the risk?

    1. AKeep the production key in the environment, since the agent needs it to test database changes end to end against live data
    2. BAdd a note to the service's README asking developers not to run the agent's migration scripts against production
    3. CRun the agent in an isolated sandbox with short-lived, least-privilege credentials that cannot reach production data
    4. DTurn off code completion in the IDE for the duration of the refactor so the agent's edits are easier to review
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    An isolated sandbox with short-lived, least-privilege credentials limits what a faulty or manipulated agent can reach. Keeping the production key, relying on a README note, or changing IDE settings does not contain the risk.

  2. Question 14

    What is the main purpose of connecting a coding agent to an MCP server?

    1. ATo compile the application's source code into container images automatically as part of each agent run and deployment
    2. BTo store the agent's long-term memory in a managed vector index so that it survives between sessions
    3. CTo enforce IAM roles on every Google Cloud project that the agent touches during a coding task
    4. DTo expose tools, resources and prompts through a standard protocol that the agent can discover and call
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: D

    The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets agents discover and call tools and read resources or prompts from a server. Compilation, memory storage and IAM enforcement are handled by other tools or services, not by the protocol.

  3. Question 15

    A team wants its coding agent to apply internal coding standards in every session, and to load a specific deployment procedure only when a task needs it. Which two configuration mechanisms fit these needs? (Choose two.)

    1. AA higher sampling temperature, so that the agent varies its output and avoids repeating the same mistakes
    2. BPersistent rules that give the agent standing guidance on conventions in every session
    3. CA skill that packages the instructions and reference material for one procedure and loads only when relevant
    4. DWrite access to every repository in the organization, so the agent can copy conventions from other projects
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B, C

    Rules provide always-on guidance, while a skill holds procedure-specific instructions that load on demand. Raising temperature adds randomness rather than consistency, and broad repository access does not define which standards the agent should follow.

  4. Question 16

    A coding agent is asked to fix a SQL injection flaw in an API handler that builds database queries from user input. Which approach follows safe practice?

    1. AMake the minimal change to use parameterized queries, add tests with malicious inputs, and have a human review the diff before merge
    2. BAsk the agent to rewrite the whole service in a different language so that this class of bug cannot appear in any future release
    3. CApply the patch directly to the main branch and deploy it right away, since security fixes should bypass the normal review cycle to save time
    4. DDisable the endpoint and close the ticket without changing the handler, since most users do not need that endpoint at all
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    Parameterized queries fix the root cause, and tests with malicious inputs plus human review confirm the fix before it merges. Bypassing review skips verification, a full rewrite is disproportionate, and disabling the endpoint leaves the flaw in the code.

  5. Question 17

    In a coding agent workflow, what is the main benefit of delegating a bounded subtask to a subagent?

    1. AThe subtask runs on a smaller model version, which guarantees lower cost for every change the main agent makes in the project
    2. BThe subtask runs in its own context and returns a concise summary, which keeps the main agent's context focused
    3. CThe subagent's output is guaranteed to be free of bugs, so the main agent never needs to run tests afterward
    4. DAll file edits made by the subagent are committed to version control automatically under the main agent's name
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B

    A subagent works on a bounded task in a separate context and reports back, which keeps the main agent's context uncluttered. Delegation does not guarantee lower cost, bug-free output, or automatic commits, and tests are still needed.

  6. Question 18

    A code-review agent only needs to read repositories and list issues, but its MCP configuration also exposes tools that merge pull requests and delete branches. What is the best correction?

    1. AExpose only the read and list tools from the MCP server to this agent, so risky operations are not available to it
    2. BKeep every tool enabled but add a sentence to the system prompt that asks the agent not to merge pull requests
    3. CRaise the agent's token budget so that it can review more code in each run before it has to stop working
    4. DMove the merge tool's credentials into a separate text file in the repository, where they are kept for safekeeping
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    Limiting the agent's MCP configuration to read and list tools removes the risky capability instead of relying on instructions. A prompt request can be ignored, a larger token budget does not change permissions, and moving credentials into a repository file exposes them.

Securing and governing agentic workflows (6 questions)

  1. Question 19

    An agent helps employees check their own leave balances by calling an HR system's API. Which design follows best practice for authorizing the agent's tool calls?

    1. AAsk employees to type their HR password into the chat so that the agent can sign in as them for each request it makes
    2. BStore one shared administrator service-account key in the agent and use it for every employee's request to the HR system
    3. CHave each employee authorize the agent via OAuth 2.0, request only the read scope it needs, and keep tokens server-side
    4. DGive the agent an unrestricted token for the HR system so that it never fails with a permission error during a conversation
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    User-delegated OAuth 2.0 with least-privilege scopes means the agent can only read what each employee is allowed to read. A shared admin key, pasted passwords or an unrestricted token all remove per-user limits and create a larger risk if the agent is misused.

  2. Question 20

    What is the primary function of Model Armor in an agentic workflow?

    1. AScreening prompts and model responses for risks such as prompt injection and sensitive data exposure
    2. BRecording every conversation in an audit store that is retained for the length of the company's retention policy
    3. CEncrypting the vector index at rest with keys that the customer manages in their own key management system
    4. DAssigning each agent an IAM role automatically, based on the tools that are listed in the agent's definition file
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    Model Armor is a screening layer that inspects what goes into a model and what comes out for security and safety risks. Customer-managed encryption, audit retention and IAM assignment are real controls, but they are not what Model Armor does.

  3. Question 21

    What does a principal access boundary policy do in Google Cloud IAM?

    1. ALimits how many model tokens an agent may generate in a single request before the response is cut off
    2. BCaps which resources a set of principals can be granted access to, whatever roles are assigned elsewhere
    3. CFilters user messages for prompt injection before they reach the model, using a fixed list of known patterns
    4. DCreates a separate Google Cloud project for each agent so that billing and logs stay isolated from one another
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B

    A principal access boundary policy sets the outer limit on the resources that principals can access, so roles granted elsewhere cannot exceed it. Token limits, prompt filtering and project creation are different controls that a boundary policy does not provide.

  4. Question 22

    An agent summarizes web pages and can also send emails with a tool. One page contains hidden text telling the agent to forward the user's contacts to an outside address. Which two controls reduce this risk most? (Choose two.)

    1. AGive the agent full access to the user's mailbox so that it can check each request against the user's history
    2. BTreat retrieved page content as untrusted data rather than instructions, and keep it separate from system instructions
    3. CLet the model decide on its own whether instructions found in web content are trustworthy enough to follow
    4. DRequire explicit human approval before the email tool can send any message that includes contact details
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B, D

    Keeping untrusted retrieved content separate from instructions and requiring human approval for sensitive actions are standard defenses against prompt injection. Broader mailbox access increases exposure, and letting the model judge injected instructions for itself is the weakness the attack relies on.

  5. Question 23

    An agent answers order questions by calling an order API with one broad service account that can read every customer's orders. A user asked about another customer's order and got the answer. Which design change best prevents this?

    1. AAsk the model to refuse questions about other customers, since the model's refusal is the only control the system needs
    2. BNarrow the service account's read access to orders created after a fixed date, so older records are not exposed
    3. CPass the end user's identity through to the order API, so the backend enforces that user's own access to each order
    4. DLog every answer the agent gives, so that privacy incidents can be reviewed after they happen and reported
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    Propagating the end user's identity lets the backend apply per-user access checks, so the broad service account stops being the limit. Model refusals can be bypassed, date-based scoping still exposes recent orders across customers, and logging only reports leaks after they happen.

  6. Question 24

    An operations team wants one place to monitor traffic from its agents to models and tools, and to see which agents are active. Which Google Cloud capability fits this need?

    1. AAgent Gateway, which monitors agent traffic and tracks agents so that the team can see what they are doing
    2. BModel Armor, which keeps a full copy of every agent conversation for seven years for later review by auditors
    3. CPrincipal access boundary, which records each agent's network traffic and lists the active agents in a dashboard
    4. DAgent Identity, which proxies every API call through one shared endpoint that the operations team can inspect
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A

    Agent Gateway is the capability for monitoring agent traffic and tracking agents. Model Armor screens content, a principal access boundary limits access and Agent Identity gives each agent its identity, so none of them provides traffic monitoring.

Building agents using low-code tools (6 questions)

  1. Question 25

    A retail company is building a customer-support agent in CX Agent Studio. The conversation must follow a strict order: verify identity, collect the order number, then check shipping status, and the verification step must never be skipped. Which design best meets this requirement?

    1. APlace every instruction in one long system prompt and let the model decide the order of the steps on each turn
    2. BModel each stage as a page with its own instructions, and add transition routes that advance only when the verification condition is met
    3. CCreate a separate agent for each possible customer question and have a support engineer route each conversation to the right one by hand
    4. DKeep the full chat history in a database and have the model re-read it on every turn to infer which step the customer is currently on
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B

    Pages with transition routes enforce a fixed order because a route fires only when its condition holds, so verification cannot be skipped. A single system prompt cannot guarantee the sequence, a separate agent per question is impractical, and re-reading history leaves the current step to guesswork rather than a defined state.

  2. Question 26

    In a state-based agent workflow built in a low-code console, what is the role of an event handler?

    1. AIt sets the conditions under which the conversation moves from one page to another as the user progresses
    2. BIt runs a defined response when a specific event occurs, such as a timeout or unexpected input
    3. CIt stores few-shot examples that the model copies into each new page so that its responses keep a consistent format
    4. DIt assigns Google Cloud IAM roles to the agent so that each page can call the tools it needs during a conversation
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: B

    An event handler reacts to a named event, such as a timeout or unexpected input, with a defined response. Transition routes decide when the conversation changes page, few-shot examples shape output format, and IAM roles control access, so those are different mechanisms.

  3. Question 27

    A company builds a low-code agent that answers employee benefits questions. Which two actions most directly keep its answers grounded in the company's approved documents? (Choose two.)

    1. AConnect the agent to the approved benefits policy documents as an enterprise data source
    2. BRequire the agent to cite the policy document and section it used for each answer
    3. CRely on the model's general knowledge of employment law so that no company sources need to be connected
    4. DRaise the temperature setting so that the agent produces more varied and creative wording in its replies
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: A, B

    Connecting approved sources and requiring citations both tie each answer to company documents that users can verify. Relying on general knowledge can contradict the company's own policies, and a higher temperature adds variation in wording rather than factual grounding.

  4. Question 28

    An insurance claims team wants its agent to answer questions about recorded inspection videos and photos of vehicle damage. Which approach is most appropriate for ingesting this unstructured multimodal data?

    1. AHave staff write a detailed manual summary of every video and photo, checked line by line for accuracy, before the agent can use any of the files
    2. BSend only the file names and upload dates to the agent, because the model can only work with text fields
    3. CKeep the original media in governed storage and index it so a multimodal model can retrieve and reason over relevant segments
    4. DReduce each video to a single still frame so the model receives one image per file and can process it quickly
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    Multimodal models can work with images, audio and video when the originals are stored and indexed so relevant segments can be retrieved. Manual summaries are slow, file names discard the content, and a single frame loses most of what a video contains.

  5. Question 29

    A company connects its shared drive to Gemini Enterprise search. Employees report that answers quote files they are not allowed to open. Which change addresses the root cause?

    1. ARaise the number of documents the retriever returns, so that the agent has more sources to choose from when it answers
    2. BGive every employee the same group membership in the drive so that the access rules are identical for all users
    3. CUse a connector that carries each file's source permissions into search, so results are filtered per user
    4. DRemove the shared drive from the index and ask employees to upload the files they need into the chat one at a time
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: C

    A permission-aware connector keeps each file's access rules in the search index, so users only see results they could open in the drive. Returning more documents, flattening group memberships or uploading files by hand does not enforce per-user access.

  6. Question 30

    A low-code agent answers simple catalog lookups correctly, but gets multi-step eligibility questions wrong. The team wants step-by-step reasoning only for the eligibility questions. What is the most suitable change?

    1. ASet the temperature to zero and expect the model to reason step by step more carefully on every question it sees
    2. BAdd chain-of-thought instructions to every page, so that simple catalog lookups also show their reasoning to users
    3. CDelete the few-shot examples from all templates, since examples add reasoning noise that slows the model down
    4. DAdd chain-of-thought instructions and two or three worked examples to the eligibility prompt template only
    Show answer and explanation
    Correct answer: D

    Targeted chain-of-thought with worked examples applies step-by-step reasoning where the multi-step logic sits, without cluttering simple lookups. Applying it everywhere adds latency and noise, deleting examples removes useful guidance, and temperature alone does not make a model reason.