COMPTIA DATA+ DOMAIN 2 OF 5

CompTIA Data+: Data Acquisition and Preparation

The provider lists this domain at 22% of the exam.

In plain English

Getting data and making it usable. Most analysis time goes here: pulling data together, spotting gaps and oddities, and cleaning it before anything is measured.

What the provider lists under it

  • Data acquisition: integration and queries
  • Data exploration: missing values, duplicates, outliers
  • Data transformation: cleansing, merging, parsing, formatting

Terms worth knowing

  • ETL vs ELT: ETL transforms data before loading it. ELT loads it first and transforms it inside the destination.
  • Data warehouse vs data lake: A warehouse stores cleaned, structured data for reporting. A lake stores raw data of any kind cheaply.

Quick answers

How much of the CompTIA Data+ exam is Data Acquisition and Preparation?

The provider lists it at 22% of the exam, according to the CompTIA Data+ certification page (DA0-002).

What topics are in Data Acquisition and Preparation?

Data acquisition: integration and queries; Data exploration: missing values, duplicates, outliers; Data transformation: cleansing, merging, parsing, formatting.

The other CompTIA Data+ domains

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Domain names, weights and topic lists come from the CompTIA Data+ certification page (DA0-002), checked 2 November 2026. Providers change their outlines, so confirm the current version before you book. The plain-English explanations are ours, not the provider’s. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any certification vendor or exam body. Certification names, exam codes and product names are trademarks of their respective owners and are used only to identify the exam a practice product prepares for. Our questions are original and are not actual exam questions.