Section 4 — Run quantum circuits
15% of the exam · ≈ 10 of 68 questions · 41 verified practice questions
What the exam expects
- Demonstrate an understanding of execution modes such as: session with dedicated, priority, and batch mode (
s4o1) - Demonstrate understanding of how to run quantum circuits with real hardware using Qiskit Runtime primitives and applying broadcasting rules (
s4o2)
Scope notes — what to actually master
- Execution modes: single job, session (dedicated access), batch (parallel independent jobs) — when to use which
- Broadcasting rules for primitive inputs (official task 4.2 subtopics: primitives, broadcasting rules, input/output, jobs)
- QiskitRuntimeService, backend selection (least_busy), Session/Batch context managers
- Primitives take ISA circuits (transpile first)
- Open Plan vs paid plans, queuing implications
Quick study: the cram sheet for this section condenses the key facts once you've drilled.
Learn — official resources
The exam is based on these official IBM materials. Study them first; the drills below tell you when you're done.
| Resource | Type |
|---|---|
| Execution modes | guide |
| Choose execution mode | guide |
| Get started with the Sampler primitive | guide |
| Run jobs in a session | guide |
| Run jobs in a batch | guide |
| IBM Quantum Patterns (execute on hardware) | guide |
Drill — verified practice
Every code-bearing question below was executed against a pinned Qiskit 2.x stack at build time; explanations show the actual execution evidence.
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