Architectural and Component Design MCQs: 12 Solved Questions

Architecture questions switch quickly among system structure, a component’s responsibility, an architecture style, and the diagram representing the result. If you memorise diagram names without asking, "structure, behaviour, data flow, or control?", you lose easy distinctions. Architecture styles determine system organisation; component roles assign responsibility; MVC separates state, presentation, and coordination; structure charts, DFDs, and UML diagrams answer different design questions. Choose an option first and justify it in one sentence before reading the explanation. Semester & College Exam Courses is the broader catalog route. Questions 7 and 11 open their dedicated question pages. For the other ten questions, use the Architectural & Component Design practice hub in the short version.

Architectural and component design in one worked system

Consider placeOrder(itemCode="KB-42", quantity=3). CheckoutController coordinates InventoryService, PaymentService, and OrderRepository. Inventory changes from 12 to 9 because 12 - 3 = 9. Payment returns AUTH-17. The repository stores ORD-204, and the view renders Order ORD-204 confirmed.

Architectural design chooses those major elements and relationships. Component design gives InventoryService the stock rule and OrderRepository the persistence role. Interface design fixes a call such as reserve("KB-42", 3). Data design fixes fields such as orderId, itemCode, quantity, and authorisationToken.

Keep this checkout system in mind. It turns abstract definitions into a consistent test case. The wider Software Engineering for CS Teaching Exams guide places these ideas within the full subject.

Architecture fundamentals MCQs 1-3: structure, roles and design outputs

Question 1: UGC NET June 2014

_______ of a system is the structure or structures of the system which comprise software elements, the externally visible properties of these elements and the relationship amongst them.

• A. Software construction

• B. Software evolution

• C. Software architecture

• D. Software reuse

Correct answer: C. Software architecture.

Software architecture is the externally meaningful structure of elements, their visible properties, and their relationships. In the checkout system, CheckoutController, the three collaborating services, and their calls form that architectural view. Coding the stock subtraction is software construction within one component. It does not define the structure of the complete system. That is why C fits.

Question 2: BEL Probationary Engineer 2023

Match the component of software architecture with its roles.

• A. I - 3; II - 2; III - 1

• B. I - 1; II - 3; III - 2

• C. I - 3; II - 1; III - 2

• D. I - 1; II - 2; III - 3

Correct answer: C. I - 3; II - 1; III - 2.

Match by responsibility. CheckoutController invokes the others, so control is 3. InventoryService performs the required reservation and changes stock from 12 to 9, so problem domain is 1. OrderRepository provides persistence, so infrastructure is 2. The result is I-3, II-1, III-2.

Question 3: match the design outputs

Match each design activity in GROUP I with its description in GROUP II.

• A. Q-2, R-1, S-3

• B. Q-3, R-2, S-1

• C. Q-1, R-3, S-2

• D. Q-3, R-1, S-2

Correct answer: A. Q-2, R-1, S-3.

Architecture defines the relationship CheckoutController -> InventoryService. Interface design specifies reserve("KB-42", 3). Data design turns analysed information into fields such as itemCode and quantity. Therefore Q-2, R-1, S-3.

Software architecture styles MCQs 4-6: pipe-filter, repository and data-centred systems

Question 4: GATE Information Technology 2007

Which of the following systems is a most likely candidate example of a pipe and filter architecture ?

• A. Expert system

• B. DB repository

• C. Aircraft flight controller

• D. Signal processing

Correct answer: D. Signal processing.

Consider 1,024 raw samples -> noise filter -> FFT -> spectrum bins. Each stage transforms a stream and passes its output forward, defining pipe-filter architecture. A database repository is data-centred, while an aircraft controller is control-oriented. Signal processing is the most likely candidate, although not every implementation must use this style.

Question 5: MPPSC 2025

A model which is suited to applications where data is generated by one sub-system and used by another

• A. Control models

• B. Machine-model

• C. Client-server model

• D. Repository model

Correct answer: D. Repository model.

WeatherStation-A writes 31 C at 10:15. Both ForecastService and Dashboard read that record. The subsystems communicate through a common repository instead of sending data directly to each other. That shared-data requirement is what the repository model serves.

Question 6: TPSC System Analyst 2026

New client components can be easily added in

• A. Data Flow Architecture

• B. Call and Return Architecture

• C. Data Centered Architecture

• D. Layered Architecture

Correct answer: C. Data Centered Architecture.

CatalogClient and StockClient use a central ProductRepository. Add AnalyticsClient as client 3 through the same contract without rewiring the other two. This loose attachment around a central store explains C. In a fixed call tree, a new participant may change callers and invocation paths.

MVC and component responsibility MCQs 7-8

Question 7: HTET Computer Science 2023

Full form of MVC is :

• A. Memory Virtual Controller

• B. Model View Container

• C. Maximum View Container

• D. Model View Controller

Correct answer: D. Model View Controller.

The Model holds order ORD-204 and the stock rule. The View renders Order ORD-204 confirmed. The Controller receives placeOrder("KB-42", 3) and coordinates the request. MVC expands to Model View Controller, with each word tied to a responsibility.

Question 8: UGC NET June 2019

The M components in MVC are responsible for

• A. user interface

• B. security of the system

• C. business logic and domain objects

• D. translating between user interface actions/events and operations on the domain objects

Correct answer: C. business logic and domain objects.

The Model owns domain state and rules, including stock 12 - reserved 3 = 9. The View owns presentation. The Controller translates the user's action into a model operation, so D describes the Controller. Security concerns can cross elements and need not belong to one MVC part.

For an adjacent use of this subject in exam preparation, read the IBPS SO IT Officer: Software Engineering PK Guide.

Structured design and DFD MCQs 9-11: module hierarchy, bubbles and context diagrams

Question 9: UPLT 2026

The primary tool used in structured design is a:

• A. Structure chart

• B. Program flow chart

• C. Module

• D. Data flow diagram

Correct answer: A. Structure chart.

A structure chart shows module decomposition and calls: Checkout -> ValidateCart, ReserveStock, CreateOrder, then CreateOrder -> SaveOrder. A DFD follows data movement, while a flowchart follows control inside a procedure. A module is an element in the design, not the tool.

Question 10: DSSSB TGT Shift 2 2021

What is the other name of Data Flow Diagram (DFD)?

• A. Flow chart

• B. Pictorial graph

• C. Bubble chart

• D. Di-graph

Correct answer: C. Bubble chart.

The older name comes from drawing DFD processes as bubbles joined by labelled data-flow arrows. Here, Reserve stock receives itemCode=KB-42, quantity=3 and emits reservation confirmed. A program flowchart instead traces control steps and decisions.

Question 11: DSSSB TGT Shift 4 2021

What is another name for Level 0–DFD?

• A. E-R Diagram

• B. Context diagram

• C. Flow diagram

• D. Structure chart

Correct answer: B. Context diagram.

A Level 0 DFD treats the system as one process, showing external entities and boundary flows. Customer sends itemCode KB-42, quantity 3 to Order System, which returns confirmation ORD-204. Internal services appear only after decomposition. This boundary view differs from Question 9's module hierarchy.

UML behavioural design MCQ 12: classify the diagram before choosing

Structural diagrams answer what exists and how it is arranged. They include class, object, component, package, and deployment diagrams. Behavioural diagrams answer what happens. They include use case, activity, and state machine diagrams, with interaction diagrams as a behavioural subset. A sequence diagram is specifically an interaction diagram. In the checkout example, a class diagram shows Order(orderId, quantity), while a sequence diagram shows Customer -> CheckoutController -> InventoryService for quantity=3 over time.

Question 12: ISRO May 2017

Which of the following UML 2.0 diagrams capture behavioural aspects of a system?

• A. Use Case Diagram, Object Diagram, Activity Diagram, and State Machine Diagram

• B. Use Case Diagram, Activity Diagram, and State Machine Diagram

• C. Object Diagram, Communication Diagram, Timing Diagram, and Interaction diagram

• D. Object Diagram, Composite Structure Diagram, Package Diagram, and Deployment Diagram

Correct answer: B. Use Case Diagram, Activity Diagram, and State Machine Diagram.

All three diagrams in B describe behaviour. A fails because Object Diagram is structural. C mixes Object Diagram with behavioural interaction diagrams. D is entirely structural. In the checkout system, an object snapshot shows state at one moment, while an activity diagram shows the flow from validation through reservation to confirmation.

Architectural and component design MCQs: the short version

The five distinctions are architecture versus component role (Q1-Q3), transformation pipelines versus shared repositories (Q4-Q6), Model versus Controller (Q7-Q8), structure chart versus DFD (Q9-Q11), and static versus behavioural UML (Q12).

Redraw the checkout example from memory as a four-box architecture, a structure chart, and a Level 0 DFD. Label where KB-42, quantity 3, stock change 12 -> 9, token AUTH-17, and order ORD-204 belong. For the wider CS syllabus, follow GATE Guidance by Sanchit Sir. If this topic is your only gap, return to the Architectural & Component Design practice hub and reattempt only missed questions after one week.