Apache Cassandra Developer Associate study plan

Diagram the write path and read path end to end, labeling commitlog, memtable, SSTable, bloom filter, partition index, and cache roles

Compute token ownership for a given token range and partitioner using murmur3, and explain how a partition key maps to replicas

Distinguish simple, network topology, and rack-aware snitches and predict replica placement for a two-datacenter topology

Derive the first-draft table design for a chat application by listing access patterns before choosing keys

Model one-to-many and many-to-many relationships using clustering columns, and explain why denormalization replaces joins

Choose partition keys that bound partition size, and calculate row counts per partition for a given write rate and retention window

Design collection columns and static columns for a concrete schema, and justify when a separate table is better

Write the CQL DDL for three tables covering the same domain, each tuned to a different query

Write SELECT statements that respect partition-key restrictions and explain which WHERE clauses require ALLOW FILTERING

Use BATCH for same-partition writes and explain why logged batches across partitions hurt performance

Implement lightweight transactions with IF EXISTS and IF NOT EXISTS, and describe the Paxos round trip they trigger

Create and query a secondary index and a materialized view, and list the query patterns each one supports poorly

Use TTL, WRITETIME, and timestamps to control data expiry and resolve conflicting writes

Read and interpret tracing output and the system_traces tables for a slow query

Compare consistency levels ONE, QUORUM, and ALL against replication factor, and compute which combinations tolerate a single node failure

Tune a query by changing clustering order or adding a denormalized table, then measure the difference

Configure a driver session with contact points, load balancing policy, retry policy, and a token-aware policy

Implement prepared statements and bound parameters, and demonstrate reuse of a single prepared statement across calls

Set per-statement consistency and idempotence flags, and explain how speculative execution interacts with retries

Handle pagination of large result sets and apply backpressure with a bounded request queue

Read compaction strategy trade-offs for size-tiered, leveled, and time-windowed compaction, and pick one per workload

Interpret nodetool tablestats output for read and write latency, SSTable counts, and tombstone counts

Diagnose a tombstone-heavy read and propose a fix involving TTL, collection usage, or query pattern

Tune the bloom filter, caching, and chunk length settings for a read-heavy table and justify each change

Run nodetool status, ring, and describecluster, and interpret node states including DN, UJ, and LE

Explain repair, hinted handoff, and read repair, and schedule repairs for a given replication factor and window

Add a node to a cluster and describe the streaming and bootstrap steps, including what to monitor

Back up and restore using snapshots and incremental backups, and verify the restore on a scratch node

Take two timed practice exams and log every missed question by domain

Re-derive the weakest two domain topics from memory without notes, then check against source material

Rewrite the week 2 schema to fix every flaw found during review

Write a one-page cheat sheet of consistency math, compaction rules, and CQL restrictions