Our notes on W3Schools
We wrote these notes when we read the W3Schools site for our SQL comparisons. For each note, you see the day of our check and a link to the page that we read.
W3Schools price and plans
- The tutorial is free. W3Schools charges $95 for the SQL certificate exam. Checked October 12, 2026 (source)
W3Schools free use
- The tutorial and the exercises are free. You pay for the certificate exam. Checked October 24, 2026 (source)
W3Schools account
- You need no account to start. You sign in only to track your progress. Checked October 12, 2026 (source)
W3Schools query check and help
- In each exercise, you fill blanks in a query or pick an answer, and W3Schools marks it right or wrong. Checked October 12, 2026 (source)
W3Schools SQL topics
- W3Schools has tutorial pages on joins, GROUP BY, HAVING, EXISTS and CASE. We found no window functions in its menu. Checked October 12, 2026 (source)
W3Schools content and size
- On its SQL Exercises page, W3Schools lists exercise sets on joins and on GROUP BY: Joins (6 exercises), Inner Join (5), Left Join (3), Right Join (3), Full Join (3), Self Join (3) and Group By (5). Checked October 24, 2026 (source)
- W3Schools lists 60 SQL exercise sets, from 3 to 9 questions each, 300 questions in all. Checked October 15, 2026 (source)
- Most W3Schools SQL exercises are multiple-choice questions. In the 60 sets, we counted 205 multiple-choice questions and 52 fill-in-the-blank questions. We also counted 42 drag-and-drop questions, in which you put given words into the blanks. You do not write a full query. Checked October 24, 2026 (source)
- On W3Schools Campus, W3Schools lists three exams on SQL databases: the SQL exam, the PostgreSQL exam and the MySQL exam. Checked October 20, 2026 (source)
W3Schools certificate
- W3Schools charges $95 for the SQL certificate exam, with 3 attempts. Checked October 12, 2026 (source)
- W3Schools sells the SQL certificate exam on W3Schools Campus. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- You take an online exam with multiple-choice questions, with no proctor. You pass with a minimum of 40%. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- You get 3 attempts, and you have a time limit on each attempt. W3Schools gives the Intermediate level at 40%, Advanced at 75% and Professional at 90%. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- W3Schools says: "Certificates never expire". Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- W3Schools says that employers can verify the certificate with a unique link or QR code. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- Employers can check your certificate with its link or QR code, and W3Schools says that the certificate never expires. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- You answer multiple-choice questions, not SQL that runs, and you pass at 40%. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
- W3Schools lists what the exam tests: what SQL is, databases and tables, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE, SELECT with WHERE and ORDER BY, and JOIN. W3Schools also lists functions such as SUM, AVG, COUNT, MIN and MAX to group data, and foreign keys, subqueries and indexes. W3Schools also lists user permissions and data security. W3Schools gives no weight for each topic. Checked October 17, 2026 (source)
W3Schools updates
- We found no dated change on the SQL exercise pages. W3Schools shows only "Copyright 1999-2026". Checked October 17, 2026 (source)