Last Updated on May 16th, 2025

Spring Boot Annotations MCQs

Understanding annotations in Spring Boot is essential for any Java developer working on enterprise-grade applications. These annotations simplify configuration, reduce boilerplate code, and help in building robust applications faster. Whether you’re preparing for technical interviews, certification exams, or just aiming to solidify your Spring Boot foundation, mastering Spring Boot annotations is non-negotiable. Need to revise annotations first? Read “Spring Boot Annotations Guide.”

In this article, we will explore a set of Spring Boot Annotations MCQs that cover:

• Concept-based questions to test your theoretical knowledge

• Code-based questions to check your practical understanding

• Scenario-based questions to simulate real-world use cases

Each question is carefully created with detailed explanations and covers both correct and incorrect options to help you learn and revise effectively.

So, let’s explore the world of Spring Boot Annotations MCQs and test how well you know the framework that powers modern Java applications!

Why Spring Boot Annotations Matter?

90% of Java job interviews test your understanding of Spring Boot annotations. These MCQs cover concept-based, code-based, and scenario-based questions, just like real technical screenings. Bookmark this page. We update questions regularly!

Spring Boot Annotations MCQs (With Explanations)

Q#1. In order to bind app.datasource.url from application.yml to a field, you would use:

A) @Value("${app.datasource.url}")
B) @ConfigurationProperties(prefix="app.datasource")
C) @PropertySource("classpath:application.yml")
D) @Autowired DataSource dataSource

Answer: B

Explanation: B is correct for hierarchical binding. A works for single properties, C loads files, D injects a datasource bean.

Q#2. Consider the below code snippet. What does this code perform?

@Configuration  
public class AppConfig {  
    
    @Bean(name = "dataSource")  
    public DataSource ds1() { return new HikariDataSource(); }  

    @Primary  
    @Bean  
    public DataSource ds2() { return new TomcatDataSource(); }  
}  

@Service  
public class MyService {  
    @Autowired  
    private DataSource dataSource;  
} 

A) Injects HikariDataSource 
B) Injects TomcatDataSource 
C) Throws NoUniqueBeanDefinitionException
D) None of the above

Answer: B

Explanation: B is correct. @Primary beats name in @Autowired resolution.

Q#3. Which annotation cannot be used at the class level?

A) @Transactional
B) @RequestMapping
C) @Autowired
D) @Profile

Answer: C

Explanation: C is correct. @Autowired is field/method/constructor-only. Others work at class level.

Q#4. Consider the following code snippet:

@Component
public class Engine {}

@Component
public class Car {
   
   @Autowired
   private Engine engine;
}

Spring is not injecting the Engine bean into Car. What could be a valid reason?

(A) The Engine class is abstract
(B) The Car class was created using new instead of letting Spring manage it
(C) The Engine class is not marked with @Service
(D) Spring Boot doesn’t support field injection

Answer: B

Explanation: Option B is correct. If you instantiate a bean using new, Spring doesn’t manage it and won’t inject dependencies. Option A is incorrect unless it’s actually abstract. Option C is irrelevant because @Component is sufficient. Option D is incorrect: field injection is supported, though not always recommended.

Q#5. Which annotation restricts method access to users with “ADMIN” role?

A) @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
B) @Secured("ROLE_ADMIN")
C) @RolesAllowed("ADMIN")
D) All of the above

Answer: D
Explanation: D is correct. All three annotations work (note ROLE_ prefix in @Secured). Please go through a separate article on Spring Boot 3 compatible all Spring Boot Security annotations with examples.

Q#6. Which one is true about @Component, @Repository, and @Service?

(A) All are functionally identical and only differ semantically
(B) Only @Repository supports exception translation
(C) Only @Component is used for component scanning
(D) @Service and @Component are interchangeable, but @Repository isn’t

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. All three annotations mark classes as Spring-managed beans. Their main difference is semantic clarity and role-based distinction. Option B is partially true, but all are picked up during scanning. Option C is incorrect as others are also picked. Option D is misleading.

@GetMapping("/users")
public String getUsers() { ... }

(A) @RequestMapping(value = "/users")
(B) @RequestMapping(value = "/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
(C) @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST)
(D) @RequestMapping(value = "/users", consumes = "application/json")

(A) The method runs once every 5 seconds after the previous one ends
(B) The method runs at exactly every 5-second interval, regardless of execution time
(C) The method runs only once
(D) The method runs after 5 seconds and never again

Q#9. Sara wants to inject a value from application.properties into a field. Which annotation should he use?

(A) @Inject
(B) @Autowired
(C) @Value
(D) @PropertySource

Answer: C

Explanation: Option C is correct. @Value(“${property.name}”) is used to inject property values. Option A and B are for bean injection. Option D defines a properties file source but does not inject values.

Q#10. You annotate a controller method with @PostMapping but do not specify the consumes attribute. What does Spring assume?

(A) It defaults to application/json
(B) It defaults to application/xml
(C) It accepts any content type
(D) It rejects all incoming requests

Answer: C

Explanation: Option C is correct. If consumes is not specified, Spring will match all content types by default. Option A and B are incorrect unless explicitly configured. Option D is incorrect because Spring doesn’t reject requests by default.

Q#11. A Spring Boot application has the following methods:

@Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRED)
public void methodA() {
    methodB(); // Calls methodB internally
}

@Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW)
public void methodB() {
    // Database operation
}

When methodA() is called, what happens if an exception occurs in methodB()?

A) Both methodA and methodB transactions roll back due to the default REQUIRED propagation.
B) Only methodB's transaction rolls back, while methodA's transaction commits successfully.
C) Both transactions commit because REQUIRES_NEW creates an independent context.
D) A TransactionSuspensionNotSupportedException is thrown since Spring cannot pause methodA's transaction.

Answer: B

Explanation: B is correct. REQUIRES_NEW suspends methodA’s transaction and starts a new independent transaction for methodB. If methodB fails, only its transaction rolls back. The original transaction (methodA) continues and can commit. A: Incorrectly assumes REQUIRED forces a shared rollback (it doesn’t apply to REQUIRES_NEW). C: Misrepresents atomicity, REQUIRES_NEW doesn’t suppress rollbacks. D: False. Spring can suspend transactions for REQUIRES_NEW (uses thread-bound connection holders).

♥ You may go through a separate article on all about @Transactional annotation with examples.

Q#12. Andrew has two beans of the same type in his Spring context. He wants to inject a specific one into a component. Which annotation should he use along with @Autowired?

(A) @Primary
(B) @Qualifier
(C) @Value
(D) @Bean

Answer: B

Explanation: Option B is correct. @Qualifier is used to resolve the ambiguity when multiple beans of the same type exist. Option A can be used to mark a default bean, but it doesn’t allow specifying a bean at the injection point. Option C is used for injecting literal values. Option D defines a bean, not injects one.

Q#13. Kevin used @Autowired for injecting a bean, but Spring throws NoSuchBeanDefinitionException. What could be a valid reason?

(A) Bean was not annotated with @Component, @Service, or similar
(B) Bean class is abstract
(C) Bean is in an unscanned package
(D) All of the above

Answer: D

Explanation: Option D is correct. All options are valid causes. If a class is not annotated or not in a scanned package, it won’t be registered. Spring also cannot instantiate abstract classes, which leads to the error.

Q#14. You annotated a class with both @Component and @Configuration. What will be the behavior in Spring Boot?

(A) The class will only act as a configuration class
(B) The class will act as a bean and configuration provider
(C) Spring will throw a conflict error
(D) Only the last annotation will take effect

Answer: B

Explanation: Option B is correct. @Configuration is itself a @Component, meaning the class is scanned as a bean and also used for defining additional beans via @Bean methods. There is no conflict, so Option C and D are incorrect. Option A is partially true but incomplete compared to B.

Q#15. In a Spring Boot application, which annotation is used to enable component scanning and auto-configuration?

(A) @EnableAutoConfiguration
(B) @ComponentScan
(C) @SpringBootApplication
(D) @Configuration

Answer: C

Explanation: Option C is correct. The @SpringBootApplication annotation is a convenience annotation that combines @Configuration, @EnableAutoConfiguration, and @ComponentScan. Option A enables auto-configuration but doesn’t include component scanning. Option B enables component scanning but doesn’t include auto-configuration. Option D indicates a configuration class but doesn’t enable component scanning or auto-configuration.

Q#16. Sachin is defining a REST endpoint using @RequestMapping(value = “/user”, method = RequestMethod.GET). Which annotation provides the same behavior more concisely?

(A) @GetMapping("/user")
(B) @RequestMapping("/user")
(C) @RequestParam("/user")
(D) @PathVariable("/user")

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @GetMapping(“/user”) is a concise replacement for @RequestMapping(value = “/user”, method = RequestMethod.GET). Option B is valid but defaults to any HTTP method. Options C and D are used to extract request parameters and path variables, respectively, and are incorrect here.

Q#17. You have created a Spring controller with @Controller and returned a plain string from a method. However, the string is interpreted as a view name instead of returning as a response body. Which annotation should you add to fix this?

(A) @RestController
(B) @ResponseBody
(C) @RequestBody
(D) Either A or B

Answer: D

Explanation: Option D is correct. @RestController is a shortcut for @Controller + @ResponseBody, and @ResponseBody alone can be used on the method to fix the issue. Option A is valid but applies at the class level. Option B is correct for the method. Option C, @RequestBody, is for reading the request body and is incorrect here.

Q#18. James is loading external configuration from a YAML file in his Spring Boot application. Which annotation helps register external property resources?

(A) @PropertySource
(B) @ConfigurationProperties
(C) @ImportResource
(D) @EnableConfiguration

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @PropertySource allows loading properties from external files. Option B binds external configuration to a bean but does not load the source. Option C imports XML-based configuration, and Option D is not a valid Spring annotation.

Q#19. Mary wants to restrict access to a method so that it is only executed after successful authentication. Which annotation should she use?

(A) @Secured
(B) @PreAuthorize
(C) @RolesAllowed
(D) @SecurityFilter

Answer: B

Explanation: Option B is correct. @PreAuthorize provides expression-based access control before method execution. Option A, @Secured, is a simpler alternative and less flexible. Option C is part of JSR-250 and supported if enabled. Option D is not a valid Spring annotation.

Q#20. Tom is working on a Spring Boot web application and wants to apply a global exception handler. Which annotation should be used on the class?

(A) @ControllerAdvice
(B) @RestControllerAdvice
(C) @ExceptionHandler
(D) @ErrorHandler

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @ControllerAdvice is used for global exception handling across controllers. @ControllerAdvice or @RestControllerAdvice offers us to apply exception handlers to more than one or all controllers in our application. Option B is similar but specialized for REST APIs. Option C is used at the method level within exception handling classes. Option D is not a valid Spring annotation. In order to learn about Spring Boot Exception Handling in detail, kindly visit our article How To Handle Exceptions & Errors In Spring Boot?.

Q#21. If you want to enable JPA repositories in your Spring Boot application. Which annotation should you use on a configuration class?

(A) @EnableJpaRepositories
(B) @EnableRepositories
(C) @EnableJPA
(D) @EnableEntityManager

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. The @EnableJpaRepositories annotation activates Spring Data JPA repositories. Option B is not a valid Spring annotation. Option C and D do not exist in Spring and will result in configuration errors.

Q#22. Which annotation is used to define a method that returns a bean to be managed by the Spring container?

(A) @Component
(B) @Bean
(C) @Service
(D) @Repository

Answer: B

Explanation: Option B is correct. The @Bean annotation tells Spring that a method annotated with @Bean will return an object that should be registered as a bean in the Spring application context. Option A, @Component, is used to annotate classes, not methods. Option C, @Service, and Option D, @Repository, are also class-level annotations and not used for methods.

Q#23. Robert is working on a controller and wants to map both /home and /dashboard URLs to the same method. Which option should he use?

(A) @GetMapping({"/home", "/dashboard"})
(B) @GetMapping("/home", "/dashboard")
(C) @RequestMapping("/home", "/dashboard")
(D) @RequestMapping(paths = {"/home", "/dashboard"})

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @GetMapping accepts an array of paths. Option B is incorrect syntax. Option C does not specify the method and has incorrect syntax. Option D uses a non-existent paths attribute, that makes it invalid.

Q#24. You want to provide a default value if the property ‘app.port’ is missing. Which of the following is correct?

(A) @Value("app.port:8080")
(B) @Value("${app.port|8080}")
(C) @Value("${app.port:8080}")
(D) @Value("#{app.port ?: 8080}")

Answer: C

Explanation: Option C is correct. This syntax provides a fallback value using Spring Expression Language. Options A and B are syntactically invalid. Option D uses SpEL, but is not the common way for default values.

Q#25. Which statements about @Bean are correct? (Multi-select)

(A) Methods annotated with @Bean are invoked once per context load
(B) @Bean methods can have parameters which Spring auto-wires
(C) A bean defined this way must have a @Component annotation
(D) @Bean can be used outside of @Configuration classes

Answer: A, B, D

Explanation: Options A, B, and D are correct. @Bean methods are called once and parameters are auto-injected. Option C is incorrect. @Bean doesn’t require @Component because the method itself defines the bean.

Q#26. Consider the following code:

@Value("${nonexistent.property}")
private String config;

What happens if the property is missing?

(A) Spring throws an error during startup
(B) Field gets empty string
(C) The application runs without error
(D) The property is ignored silently

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. Without a default fallback, missing properties injected using @Value will cause a startup failure. Option B and D are incorrect unless a fallback is specified.

Q#27. How is dependency injection resolved with @Autowired?

(A) By type
(B) By name
(C) By constructor only
(D) By bean ID

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @Autowired primarily resolves dependencies by type. If multiple candidates exist, qualifiers may be needed. Options B, C, and D are less typical or incorrect for @Autowired.

Q#28. Which of the following best describes the difference between @Autowired and @Value?

(A) @Autowired injects beans, @Value injects values
(B) @Autowired is faster
(C) @Value only works on classes
(D) @Autowired can inject primitives

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @Autowired is used to inject Spring-managed beans. @Value is for injecting external values (strings, numbers, etc.). Options B, C, and D are incorrect or misleading.

Q#29. In which of the following scenarios is @Bean preferred over @Component?

(A) When you have third-party classes without annotations
(B) When using constructor injection
(C) When defining services
(D) When defining configuration classes

Answer: A

Explanation: Option A is correct. @Bean is useful for manually registering third-party or legacy classes that can’t be annotated. Options B and C are unrelated or better suited to @Component/@Service.

Q#30. Which statements about @Configuration are correct? 

(A) It allows defining Spring beans using Java
(B) It supports method-level @Bean declarations
(C) It replaces the need for XML-based configuration
(D) It is required for component scanning

Answer: A, B, C

Explanation: Options A, B, and C are correct. @Configuration is a Java-based alternative to XML config and supports bean definitions. Option D is false. Component scanning is handled by @ComponentScan.

Q#31. A developer is using both @Configuration and @Bean in a class. Which of the following behaviors are enabled by this setup? (Multi-select)

A) Registering custom beans in the Spring container
B) Automatically mapping REST endpoints
C) Creating reusable service objects manually
D) Replacing auto-configuration defaults

Answer: A, C, D

Explanation: This pattern allows defining manual beans, useful when auto-configuration is insufficient or needs overrides. REST mapping (B) is unrelated.

Q#31. Which of the following statements are true about the @Autowired annotation? (Multi-select)

A) It can be used on constructors, fields, and setters.
B) It allows manual bean registration in the Spring context.
C) It tells Spring to resolve and inject a collaborating bean automatically.
D) It can only be used on fields.

Answer: A, C

Explanation: @Autowired can be applied to constructors, fields, and setter methods to auto-wire beans. It directs Spring to resolve the dependency automatically. Option B is incorrect (manual registration is done via @Bean). Option D is incorrect because it’s not limited to fields.

A) @Autowired
B) @Value
C) @Bean
D) @Inject

A) @Bean methods
B) @RestController methods
C) Configuration logic using Java
D) Auto-wired properties

A) @Qualifier
B) @Primary
C) @Autowired(required=false)
D) @Configuration

A) @Bean with @Conditional
B) @Autowired with @Qualifier
C) @RestController with @RequestMapping
D) @Configuration with @Value

A) When multiple beans are candidates, and none is marked with @Primary
B) When you need different beans injected in different places
C) When you only have one candidate bean
D) When defining configuration classes

A) @Autowired
B) @Qualifier
C) @Primary
D) @RestControllerAdvice

A) No, it must be used with @Autowired
B) Yes, it can be used with @Inject or constructor injection
C) No, Spring doesn't allow that
D) Only inside configuration files

A) @Autowired + @Primary
B) @Autowired + @Qualifier
C) @Qualifier + @Bean
D) @Component + @Primary

A) @SpringBootTest
B) @DataJpaTest
C) @WebMvcTest
D) @Test