Applied AI — Advanced Level — Session 5

Validation quiz: MCP in depth

Instructor: Yann Isola Format: 10 MCQs (multiple choice questions) — only one correct answer per question. Recommended passing threshold: 8/10 (certification level). Duration : 15 mins.

Question 1 — In MCP architecture, what is the relationship between clients and servers?

HAS A client can connect to multiple servers simultaneously B A server requires a dedicated client: the relationship is strictly 1:1, and it is the host that instantiates one client per server C Servers communicate directly with each other to share context D Client and server are the same process, logically separated

Question 2 — What message format is used by MCP on all its transports?

HAS Protocol Buffers (protobuf) B XML-RPC C JSON-RPC 2.0 D GraphQL

Question 3 — A developer adds `print("étape 2 OK")` in its MCP server in stdio transport, to debug. Consequence?

HAS None: the message appears in the host logs B JSON-RPC stream on stdout is corrupted, client fails to parse messages; logs should go to stderr C The message is automatically converted to an MCP notification D The server restarts properly

Question 4 — What transport do you recommend for a multi-tenant enterprise MCP server, serving hundreds of users authenticated via OAuth 2.1?

HAS stdio, for minimum latency B SSE (Server-Sent Events), the current standard for remote C Streamable HTTP, which replaces SSE for remote servers D Raw WebSocket, only bidirectional transport

Question 5 — Central certification question: what fundamentally distinguishes the three MCP primitives?

HAS Data format: text for Prompts, JSON for Tools, binary for Resources B The invocation controller: the model for Tools, the application for Resources, the user for Prompts C Transport: Tools in stdio, Resources in HTTP, Prompts in both D The meaning of data: Tools in writing, Resources in reading, Prompts in reading/writing

Question 6 — The agent must be able to search for a customer by name in the CRM when the conversation requires it, on their own initiative. What primitive?

HAS Resource, because it is a read-only operation B Prompt, because the search starts from a user request C Tool, because it is the model which dynamically decides to trigger the search D Notification, because the CRM pushes the data

Question 7 — What is the purpose of negotiating capabilities during the handshake? `initialize` ?

HAS To encrypt the connection between client and server B To allow a client and a server of different versions to cooperate on the intersection of what they support, without breaking compatibility C To measure transport latency before opening the session D To authenticate the user to the server

Question 8 — An MCP server exposes `rembourser_commande` . The business requirement: block any reimbursement greater than $500. Where to place this control so that it resists a prompt injection?

HAS In the agent's prompt: "never refund more than $500" B In the description of the Tool, so that the model limits itself C In server code, which denies and returns an escalation status regardless of what the model requests D In the user interface, hiding the amount field

Question 9 — A dashboard should automatically refresh when a configuration file changes on the server side. What MCP mechanism?

HAS Ask resources/read looping every second (polling) B Subscribe via resources/subscribe ; the server issues notifications/resources/updated and the host rereads the resource C Expose the file as a Tool that the model calls regularly D To use notifications/tools/list_changed

Question 10 — Your client aggregates two MCP servers: one returns dates in the format `15/03/2026`, the other `27 Mar 2026`. What is good architectural practice?

Scale and remediation

Score	Reading
9–10	Certification level achieved on this module
7–8	Review missed questions; reread Block 3 (primitives) if Q5/Q6 failed
≤ 6	Resume the complete guide + repeat Exercise 3 before continuing

The most discriminating questions for the exam: Q5, Q6 (primitive controller) and Q4 (transport). Any errors on these three should trigger a focused review.

HAS Let the model interpret the formats: LLMs understand dates B Standardize at the integration boundary to a canonical format (ISO 8601) in the server or client, never rely on the model to guess C Reject the third-party server until it adopts your format D Convert all dates to Unix timestamps in prompts