This operating system quiz focuses on medium to advanced level concepts with carefully curated objective questions, correct answers, and clear explanations. Ideal for interviews and in-depth OS learning.
Practice Operating System MCQs with Detailed Explanations
Answer at least
12
questions to submit.
16.
Medium
Which synchronization problem demonstrates resource allocation deadlock?
Correct answer:Dining Philosophers
Dining Philosophers illustrates deadlock and starvation scenarios.
17.
Medium
Which mechanism ensures mutual exclusion in critical sections?
Correct answer:Semaphore
Semaphores control access to shared resources.
18.
Medium
What is the main advantage of multithreading over multiprocessing?
Correct answer:Lower context switching overhead
Threads share memory and require less overhead to switch.
19.
Medium
Which system call is used by a parent process to wait for a child process to terminate?
Correct answer:wait()
wait() suspends the parent until the child process finishes.
20.
Medium
A zombie process is created when:
Correct answer:Child terminates before parent calls wait()
The child terminates but its exit status is not collected by the parent.
21.
High
Which scheduling algorithm is commonly used in real-time operating systems?
Correct answer:Rate Monotonic
Rate Monotonic scheduling assigns priorities based on task frequency.
22.
High
Which memory allocation strategy suffers the most from external fragmentation?
Correct answer:Worst Fit
Worst Fit leaves large unused gaps, increasing fragmentation.
23.
Medium
Which OS concept allows multiple programs to reside in memory at the same time?
Correct answer:Multiprogramming
Multiprogramming improves CPU utilization by keeping multiple jobs in memory.
24.
Medium
Which file system feature improves reliability by maintaining a log of changes?
Correct answer:Journaling
Journaling records changes before committing them to disk.
25.
Medium
Which OS component handles interrupts?
Correct answer:Kernel
Interrupt handling is a core responsibility of the kernel.
26.
High
Which condition differentiates a livelock from a deadlock?
Correct answer:Processes keep changing state
In livelock, processes actively change state but make no progress.
27.
Medium
Which addressing mode is used in virtual memory systems?
Correct answer:Logical addressing
Processes use logical addresses that are translated to physical addresses.
28.
High
Which condition leads to priority inversion?
Correct answer:Low-priority process holding a resource needed by high-priority process
Priority inversion occurs when a lower-priority process blocks a higher-priority one.
29.
High
Which technique is used to handle priority inversion?
Correct answer:Priority inheritance
Priority inheritance temporarily boosts the priority of the resource-holding process.
30.
Medium
Which concept ensures that a process eventually enters its critical section?
Correct answer:Bounded waiting
Bounded waiting guarantees a limit on how long a process waits.
