100+ Free New Relic APM Practitioner Practice Questions

Pass your New Relic Certified APM Practitioner - Associate (APA) exam on the first try — instant access, no signup required.

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Question 1

Score: 0/0

Which APM agent is required to instrument a Spring Boot application running on the JVM?

New Relic Java agent

New Relic Browser agent

New Relic Infrastructure agent

New Relic Mobile agent

to track

2026 Statistics

Key Facts: New Relic APM Practitioner Exam

Exam Questions

New Relic

70%

Passing Score

New Relic

90 min

Exam Duration

New Relic

$250

Exam Fee

New Relic (USD)

2 years

Validity

New Relic

Online

Proctored

Webassessor

The APA exam has 60 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes with a 70% passing score. Online proctored via Webassessor; the credential is valid for 2 years. The exam fee is approximately $250 USD (free voucher available after completing the prep course). NVF Foundation cert is recommended but not required.

Sample New Relic APM Practitioner Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your New Relic APM Practitioner exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1Which APM agent is required to instrument a Spring Boot application running on the JVM?

A.New Relic Java agent

B.New Relic Browser agent

C.New Relic Infrastructure agent

D.New Relic Mobile agent

Explanation: The New Relic Java agent attaches via the -javaagent JVM flag and auto-instruments Spring, Servlet, JDBC, Kafka, and many other libraries. Browser, Infrastructure, and Mobile agents serve other layers.

2Which file typically configures the New Relic .NET agent on a Windows server?

A.newrelic.config

B.appsettings.json only

C.web.config only

D.newrelic.exe

Explanation: The .NET agent reads newrelic.config (XML) for license key, app name, log level, and behavior. Environment variables can override values for containerized scenarios.

3Which require statement enables the New Relic Node.js agent at the very start of an application?

A.require('newrelic') as the first line of the entry file

B.import 'jest'

C.require('express')

D.import 'react'

Explanation: The Node.js agent must be loaded before any other module so it can patch require() and instrument supported libraries. Loading later misses many spans.

4Which Python instrumentation pattern starts the New Relic agent at process start?

A.newrelic-admin run-program <command> with newrelic.ini

B.Manually patch sys.modules

C.Edit __init__.py only

D.No initialization needed

Explanation: The newrelic-admin wrapper bootstraps the agent before importing the application. Alternatively, you can call newrelic.agent.initialize() explicitly very early.

5Which is the recommended way to add the New Relic Go agent to a service?

A.Import the agent package and wrap handlers/transactions explicitly

B.Place a JS snippet on the server

C.Use SMTP forwarding

D.No instrumentation possible

Explanation: Go is statically compiled, so the agent ships as a library. You import github.com/newrelic/go-agent and wrap HTTP handlers (or use middleware) to start transactions.

6Which event type captures non-web background work in APM?

A.TransactionError

B.Transaction (with isWebTransaction=false) — non-web transactions

C.Span

D.BrowserInteraction

Explanation: Non-web transactions (e.g., background jobs, message consumers) appear in FROM Transaction with isWebTransaction = false. Many agents auto-instrument frameworks like Sidekiq and Celery.

7What is a transaction trace in New Relic APM?

A.A detailed call-tree snapshot of a slow transaction including segment timing and SQL

B.A network packet dump

C.A JSON config

D.A user role

Explanation: Transaction traces capture detailed, segment-level timing for transactions exceeding a threshold (often 4x Apdex T) — invaluable for diagnosing slow endpoints.

8How do you add a custom attribute to the current transaction in most APM agents?

A.Call newrelic.agent.add_custom_attribute() (or equivalent) within the transaction

B.Edit a XML file post-deploy

C.Use SMTP

D.Restart the host

Explanation: Each APM agent exposes an add_custom_attribute (or addCustomParameter) API. Custom attributes power facet-based investigations and richer alerting.

9Which API creates a custom segment to time arbitrary code in APM?

A.TraceSegment / @Trace / agent.startSegment depending on language

B.SQL EXPLAIN

C.HTTP HEAD request

D.DNS lookup

Explanation: Most agents expose annotations or APIs (e.g., @Trace in Java, newrelic.startSegment in Node.js, newrelic.agent.function_trace in Python) to add custom segments.

10Which open standard does New Relic distributed tracing adopt for header propagation?

A.W3C Trace Context (traceparent / tracestate)

B.FTP

C.SOAP

D.RDP

Explanation: New Relic adopts W3C Trace Context — interoperable with OpenTelemetry and most modern tracing systems. Earlier proprietary headers are still supported for backward compatibility.

About the New Relic APM Practitioner Exam

The New Relic Certified APM Practitioner - Associate (APA) validates proficiency with Application Performance Monitoring in New Relic. It covers APM agent installation per language, transactions and traces, distributed tracing with W3C Trace Context, Apdex tuning, error analytics with Errors Inbox, database monitoring, external service tracking, browser/mobile integration, SLOs, Workloads, entity tagging, and alert policies and Workflows.

Questions

60 scored questions

Time Limit

90 minutes

Passing Score

70%

Exam Fee

$250 (New Relic / Credly Verified)

New Relic APM Practitioner Exam Content Outline

15-20%

APM Agents & Installation

Java, .NET, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP agents — installation, configuration files, environment variables, New Relic CLI guided install, sampling configuration

20-25%

Transactions & Traces

Web vs non-web transactions, transaction traces, custom segments, custom attributes, transaction naming, ignored transactions, distributed tracing with W3C Trace Context, sampling (head vs tail), trace explorer

10-15%

Apdex & Errors

Apdex T threshold, satisfied/tolerating/frustrated, Apdex score formula; Errors Inbox triage, error groups, expected vs ignored errors, error fingerprints

10-15%

Database & External Services

Slow queries, EXPLAIN plans, N+1 detection, connection pool tuning; HTTP/gRPC/Kafka/RabbitMQ external services tab

10-15%

Browser, Mobile & Logs

APM auto-injection of Browser snippet, Core Web Vitals (LCP/INP/CLS), SPA monitoring; Mobile crashes/ANRs/breadcrumbs; Logs in Context; agent log forwarding

15-20%

SLOs, Workloads & Alerting

Service Level Indicators and Objectives, error budgets, burn-rate alerts (multi-window multi-burn); Workloads and tagging; alert policies, Workflows, mute rules, anomaly detection, deployment markers, Change Tracking

How to Pass the New Relic APM Practitioner Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: 70%
Exam length: 60 questions
Time limit: 90 minutes
Exam fee: $250

Keys to Passing

Complete 500+ practice questions
Score 80%+ consistently before scheduling
Focus on highest-weighted sections
Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

New Relic APM Practitioner Study Tips from Top Performers

1Install the APM agent for at least one language end-to-end and explore Transactions, Errors, Databases, External Services tabs

2Practice NRQL: percentile(duration, 95), percentage with WHERE error IS true, FACET name, COMPARE WITH 1 week ago

3Understand W3C Trace Context propagation and head- vs tail-based sampling

4Memorize the Apdex formula: (satisfied + tolerating/2) / total samples; tune T per app

5Know the SLO burn-rate math: 14.4x over 1h consumes 2% of 30-day budget

6Practice setting up alert policies with baseline conditions, mute rules, and Workflows routing

7Use deployment markers + Change Tracking to correlate regressions with releases

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the New Relic APM Practitioner Associate exam?

The APA is New Relic's Associate-level APM certification. It validates proficiency in installing and configuring APM agents, analyzing transactions and traces, working with distributed tracing, tuning Apdex, triaging errors, and integrating APM with Browser, Mobile, Logs, SLOs, and Workflows. Recommended for engineers with hands-on New Relic APM experience.

How many questions are on the APA exam?

The APA exam typically has 60 multiple-choice questions to be completed in 90 minutes. The passing score is approximately 70%. The exam is delivered online with proctoring via Webassessor.

Are there prerequisites for the APA exam?

There are no formal prerequisites, but the New Relic Verified Foundation (NVF) is strongly recommended. Hands-on experience with New Relic APM (3-6 months) is the typical baseline. Completing the official APA Exam Prep Course is highly recommended (and can grant a free exam voucher in some programs).

What is the cost of the APA exam?

The APA exam fee is approximately $250 USD when paid directly. New Relic regularly offers free vouchers after completing the official Exam Prep Course or for participants in the New Relic for Students program. Check learn.newrelic.com for current promotions.

How should I prepare for the APA exam?

Plan for 25-40 hours of study over 3-6 weeks. Use the FREE New Relic APA Exam Prep Course as your primary material. Build hands-on familiarity by instrumenting a sample app with the APM agent of your favorite language. Practice NRQL queries, set up SLOs, build dashboards, and configure alert policies. Aim for 80%+ on practice questions before scheduling.

Does the APA certification expire?

Yes — New Relic certifications are valid for 2 years. To renew, retake the APA exam or pass a higher-tier Professional exam (PEP or REP) covering related content.