Free A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 Exam Questions and Answers
SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 is exam A00-231, part of SAS Global Certification from SAS Institute. Every SAS exam code takes the form A00- plus three digits, where the hundreds digit marks the era: 2xx exams cover SAS 9.4 programming, analytics and administration, and 4xx exams cover SAS Viya. Credentials are tiered Associate, Specialist and Professional.
Candidates comparing A00-231 exam dumps, ExamTopics and other A00-231 practice tests use this page for the answers and explanations behind each question. Download the free A00-231 PDF, then sit the timed A00-231 exam simulation before booking with SAS Institute.
Last updated: October 30, 2026
- Exam code
- A00-231
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Question #1
The following SAS program is submitted: libname sales 'C:/data/sales'; proc contents data=sales._all_ ______; run; The program must list only the names of the SAS data sets in the library, without the detailed descriptor information for each data set. Enter the PROC CONTENTS option that completes the program.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: NODS
Explanation
With the _ALL_ keyword, PROC CONTENTS describes every data set in the library. The NODS option suppresses the detailed descriptor listing for each data set and prints only a list of the data set names. Without it, the output includes a full variable listing for every member.
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Question #2
The following SAS program is submitted: proc format; value agegrp low-<13 = 'Child' 13-<20 = 'Teen' 20-high = 'Adult'; run; data work.ages; input Age; datalines; 12.5 13 19.9 20 . ; run; proc print data=work.ages noobs; format Age agegrp.; run; Which one of the following shows the values of Age in the report, in order?
Correct answer: B
Explanation
12.5 falls in low-<13, 13 and 19.9 fall in 13-<20, and 20 falls in 20-high. The keyword LOW does not include a missing numeric value, so the missing value matches no range and prints as a period. The traps are assuming LOW covers missing values, or putting 13 in the first range even though that range excludes its upper endpoint.
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Question #3
The following SAS program is submitted: data work.central; set work.stores; if Region ne 'East' or Region ne 'West'; run; The program is intended to create work.central with only the stores that are NOT in the East or West regions. After the program runs, work.central contains stores from every region. Which one of the following changes corrects the program?
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Every value of Region is either not 'East' or not 'West', so an OR condition is true for every observation and nothing is excluded. To exclude both regions, both tests must be true at once, which requires AND. Switching to WHERE keeps the same faulty logic, and an extra OUTPUT does not change which observations are selected.
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Question #4
The following SAS program is submitted: data work.orders; input Region $ Rep $ Units; datalines; East Kim 12 East Lee 8 West Ann 15 West Bob 5 West Cy . ; run; proc print data=work.orders noobs; where Units > 6; by Region; sum Units; run; What is the grand total of Units displayed at the end of the report? Enter your numeric answer in the space below.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: 35
Explanation
The WHERE statement keeps only observations with Units greater than 6: Kim (12), Lee (8) and Ann (15). Bob is excluded because 5 is not greater than 6, and Cy is excluded because a missing numeric value is smaller than any number. PROC PRINT shows subtotals of 20 for East and 15 for West, and a grand total of 35.
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Question #5
The following SAS program is submitted: data work.bonuses; set work.staff(rename=(Salary=Pay)); Bonus = Salary * 0.1; run; The data set work.staff contains a numeric variable named Salary with no missing values. Which one of the following describes the result?
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The RENAME= data set option takes effect as the data is read, so Salary no longer exists in the program data vector under that name. The reference to Salary creates a new numeric variable that is never assigned a value, so the product is missing and the log shows an uninitialized-variable note. This is not an error, so the step completes and the data set is created.
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Question #6
The data set work.sales contains these observations, already sorted by Rep: Rep Amount A 10 A 20 B 5 B 15 B 25 The following SAS program is submitted: data work.reptotals; set work.sales; by Rep; if first.Rep then Total = 0; Total + Amount; if last.Rep; run; Which one of the following shows the observations in work.reptotals?
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The sum statement Total + Amount retains Total, and the assignment at FIRST.Rep resets it to 0 for each group. The subsetting IF LAST.Rep writes only the final observation of each group, with totals of 30 for A and 45 for B. Without the reset, the total for B would carry over from A and reach 75.
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Question #7
The following SAS program is submitted: data work.names; length Full $ 24; Full = 'Hartley, Julia Mae'; Last = scan(Full, 1, ','); Init = substr(Full, index(Full, ',') + 2, 1); Code = upcase(cats(substr(Last, 1, 3), Init)); run; What is the value of Code?
Correct answer: D
Explanation
INDEX returns 8 for the comma, so the SUBSTR starts at position 10, which is the J after the blank at position 9. SCAN returns Hartley, and SUBSTR keeps its first three characters, Har. CATS joins Har and J, and UPCASE gives HARJ. Starting at INDEX + 1 would pick up the blank, and CATS would strip it, which is the trap behind HAR.
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Question #8
The data set clinic.raw already exists. The following SAS program is submitted: libname clinic 'C:\trials'; data visits; set clinic.raw; run; data clinic.clean; set visits; run; The SAS session is then closed. In a new SAS session, the libref clinic is assigned to C:\trials again. Which data sets are available?
Correct answer: B
Explanation
A one-level name such as visits is stored in the temporary Work library, which is deleted when the session ends. Data sets in the clinic library are written to C:\trials, so both clinic.raw and clinic.clean persist. Work.visits is lost even though it was used to create clinic.clean.
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Question #9
The data set sashelp.class contains 19 observations: 9 where Sex is F and 10 where Sex is M. The following SAS program is submitted: proc sort data=sashelp.class out=work.sorted nodupkey; by Sex; run; How many observations are in work.sorted? Enter your numeric answer in the space below.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: 2
Explanation
The NODUPKEY option keeps only the first observation for each unique value of the BY variable. Sex has two distinct values, F and M, so two observations are written to the OUT= data set. The original sashelp.class is not changed.
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Question #10
The data set work.scores contains four observations with Score values 95, 85, 72 and 64, in that order. The following SAS program is submitted: data work.grade; set work.scores; if Score >= 90 then Level = 'A'; else if Score >= 80 then Level = 'B'; if Score >= 70 then Level = 'C'; else Level = 'D'; run; What are the values of Level for the four observations, in order?
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The ELSE on the last line belongs to the second, separate IF statement, so that IF runs for every observation. Scores 95, 85 and 72 are all at least 70 and are assigned C, overwriting any earlier value. Only 64 fails that test and receives D.
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Discussion
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FAQ
Learn More: https://www.sas.com/en_us/certification.html
- Q1: What is the A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 exam?
- A: A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 is a SAS Institute certification exam. Judging by the questions in our bank, it concentrates on proc, dataset, variable, numeric and character.
- Q2: What topics does the A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 exam cover?
- A: Questions in our A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 bank cluster around proc, dataset, variable, numeric, character, print, variables and specify. Working through the full set is the quickest way to find which of these you are weakest on.
- Q3: How should I prepare for A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4?
- A: Work through the A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 practice questions here, checking your answer on each one, then sit the practice test to rehearse the exam under timed conditions before the real thing.
- Q4: Are these real A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4 exam questions?
- A: They are drawn from officially released past questions and from community members who have sat A00-231 - SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4. Answers are verified and updated weekly.
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