A comprehensive exam preparation guide built by analyzing 4 years of DBS comprehensive examination papers (2017-18, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24) from BITS Pilani. Questions are categorized into three types to help you study strategically.
| Year | Format | Closed Book | Open Book | Total Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 20 MCQ + 10 Short Answer | 60 min | — | 40 |
| 2022-23 | Part A (closed) + Part B (open) | 30 min | 85 marks | 105 |
| 2021-22 | Part A (closed MCQ) + Part B (open) | 30 min | 105 marks | 120 |
| 2017-18 | Part A (closed short) + Part B+C (open) | 45 min | 60 marks | 80 |
The exam consistently has a closed-book section testing recall and quick reasoning, and an open-book section requiring detailed problem solving. Negative marking applies to MCQs (typically 25-50%).
| Topic | 17-18 | 21-22 | 22-23 | 23-24 | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normalization (FDs, NFs, Decomposition) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 4/4 |
| B+ Tree Indexing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 4/4 |
| Transaction Management & Concurrency | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 4/4 |
| Crash Recovery (Logs, Checkpoints) | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 3/4 |
| Hashing (Extendible, Linear) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | 2/4 |
| File Organization & Storage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 4/4 |
| Relational Algebra & SQL | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | 3/4 |
| ER Model & Mapping | — | — | — | ✓ | 1/4 |
| Multidimensional Indexing (Grid, R-tree) | ✓ | — | — | — | 1/4 |
| Query Processing & Optimization | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | 2/4 |
| Materialized Views | ✓ | — | — | — | 1/4 |
| 4NF / Multivalued Dependencies | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | 2/4 |
Based on analysis of all 4 papers:
| Type | Approx. % | Where It Appears |
|---|---|---|
| Factual | ~25% | Mostly closed-book MCQs |
| Conceptual | ~30% | Closed-book short answers, open-book justifications |
| Solving | ~45% | Dominates open-book section |