IBM A1000-088 - Assessment: Foundations of Quantum Computing Intermediate Practice Exam: Medium Difficulty 2025

A quantum algorithm requires preparing a state where all computational basis states have equal amplitude. The system has 3 qubits initially in the |000⟩ state. What sequence of operations would achieve this uniform superposition most efficiently?

A developer is implementing Grover's algorithm to search an unstructured database of N=256 elements. Approximately how many iterations of the Grover operator should be applied to maximize the probability of finding the target state?

While running a quantum circuit on IBM Quantum hardware, you notice that your two-qubit gate fidelity is significantly degraded compared to single-qubit gates. Which IBM Quantum Platform feature would help you identify the best qubit pairs to use for your CNOT operations?

A quantum circuit exhibits decoherence that causes the state |+⟩ = (|0⟩+|1⟩)/√2 to evolve toward |0⟩ over time. This is primarily an example of which type of quantum error?

Your team is implementing a Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) to find the ground state energy of a molecular Hamiltonian. During execution, you observe that the optimization converges to different energy values on different runs. What is the most likely cause and solution?

When using Qiskit to execute a circuit on IBM Quantum hardware, you apply the transpile() function. Which of the following best describes what happens during transpilation?

A financial services company wants to use quantum computing for portfolio optimization with constraints on risk and return. The problem involves finding the optimal allocation among 50 assets. Which quantum approach would be most appropriate for this near-term application?

You're designing a quantum circuit that requires creating the Bell state |Φ+⟩ = (|00⟩+|11⟩)/√2, then applying a measurement on the first qubit only. If the measurement result is |0⟩, what is the state of the second qubit after measurement?

A research team is implementing the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) as part of a period-finding algorithm. Their 4-qubit QFT circuit uses approximately 10 two-qubit gates. When running on IBM Quantum hardware with average two-qubit gate error rate of 1%, what is the approximate expected circuit fidelity?

A pharmaceutical company wants to simulate molecular interactions for drug discovery using quantum computing. They need to simulate a molecule requiring 20 qubits with high accuracy. What approach should they consider given current quantum hardware limitations?