SQL Practice Challenge: One Query a Day During the Holidays

December is busy, which makes long study sessions unrealistic. This holiday SQL challenge focuses on one simple habit: one SQL query a day, with different LearnSQL.com course options for beginners, intermediate learners, and advanced users.

December is rarely a quiet month. End-of-year deadlines, family plans, travel, and a long list of “I’ll do it in January” tasks tend to push learning aside.

That’s exactly why this is a good time to try a different approach. Instead of long study sessions, complex projects, or restarting a full course, this challenge focuses on something much simpler:

One SQL query a day.

No pressure. No catching up. Just steady, daily practice that fits naturally into the holiday season.

Why “One Query a Day” Actually Works

SQL is a skill that improves through repetition, not marathon sessions. Writing a single query every day:

• Keeps your syntax fresh
• Reinforces key concepts through practice
• Builds confidence without burnout
• Fits into even the busiest December schedule

Ten minutes a day is enough. Over the holidays, that adds up to real progress.

The Holiday SQL Practice Challenge

The rules are simple:

• One day = one SQL query
• No skipping ahead
• No perfection required
• Just show up and write the query

To make this work, you need short, focused exercises. That’s why LearnSQL.com practice courses are a good fit for this challenge.

Below, we’ll show different course options depending on your level – beginner, intermediate, or advanced – so you can choose what works best for you and follow the “one query a day” method without friction.

Beginner Level: Build the Habit, One Query at a Time

If you’re new to SQL or returning after a break, December is not the time for heavy theory. The goal is consistency. Practice-focused courses work best here because each exercise is built around a single SQL problem you can solve in a few minutes.

👉 December SQL Challenge
This is a monthly, practice-only SQL challenge released as a short course focused entirely on writing queries. The December edition is holiday-themed and built around a simple story: you’re helping Lucas, an entrepreneur creating a social hub for gamers. Your tasks involve analyzing game-related data to answer practical questions, such as average ratings, user spending, and game recommendations.

The course includes 14 standalone exercises, each designed to be solved with a single query. There’s no theory to read and no dependency between tasks. You open one challenge, write the query, submit it, and move on. This structure makes it a perfect fit for the one-query-a-day approach and an easy way to keep practicing SQL throughout December without committing to long study sessions.

👉 SQL JOINs – Part 1
This is a practice course, not a theory-heavy introduction. It’s designed to help you review and reinforce JOINs through hands-on SQL exercises. Each task focuses on a specific JOIN scenario and asks you to combine tables to answer a clear, practical question using realistic data.

For the holiday challenge, Part 1 is enough. The exercises are short, independent, and can be solved with a single query, which makes them ideal for daily practice. If you already know the basics of JOINs and want to keep them fresh in December, this course fits the one-query-a-day approach very well.

👉 SQL Practice Set – Part 1 (or Parts 1 and 2)
This is a general SQL practice course created to reinforce core SQL skills through hands-on exercises. It doesn’t introduce new concepts in depth. Instead, it helps you review and solidify what you already know by solving short, focused problems using realistic datasets.

The exercises cover everyday SQL tasks such as selecting data, filtering rows, using basic functions, and simple aggregations. Each task is independent and can be solved with a single query, which makes this course a strong fit for the one-query-a-day challenge. You can limit yourself to Part 1 for very light daily practice, or include Part 2 if you want more variety while still keeping the workload small.

Intermediate Level: Strengthen Core SQL Patterns

At the intermediate level, the goal is not to learn new syntax from scratch, but to refine the way you solve problems with SQL. For the holiday challenge, it’s best to limit yourself to one part of each course and focus on consistent, daily practice instead of trying to finish everything.

👉 SQL GROUP BY – Practice (Part 1)
This practice course helps you get comfortable summarizing data using GROUP BY and aggregate functions. The exercises focus on real reporting-style questions, such as counting records, calculating totals, and working with grouped results. By sticking to Part 1 only, you can solve one aggregation problem per day without overload.

👉 SQL Subqueries – Practice (Part 1)
This course is designed to strengthen your ability to write nested queries and express more complex logic in SQL. Each exercise focuses on a single subquery scenario, using realistic datasets. Limiting yourself to Part 1 keeps the challenge manageable while helping you practice one clear subquery pattern per day.

👉 Intermediate Monthly SQL Coding Challenge (one edition only)
For example: November SQL Challenge

Monthly SQL challenges are ideal at this level because each task is independent and problem-driven. Choose one edition and solve one task per day. You’ll practice combining joins, aggregations, and conditions in realistic scenarios without needing to follow a long course structure.

At the intermediate level, the one-query-a-day approach works best when you narrow the scope. One part, one exercise, one query – that’s enough to keep your SQL sharp throughout the holidays.

Advanced Level: Keep Your Window Functions Sharp

At an advanced level, SQL skills fade not because they’re hard, but because they’re not used every day. Window functions are a perfect example. They’re powerful, expressive, and easy to forget if you don’t practice them regularly.

👉 Window Functions Practice Set
This is a pure practice course focused entirely on window functions. The exercises cover ranking, running totals, moving averages, and analytical calculations that go beyond standard aggregations. Each task is built around a realistic data problem and can be solved with a single, well-structured query.

For the holiday challenge, this course works exceptionally well with the one-query-a-day method. You don’t need to complete the whole set. Pick one exercise per day, focus on clarity and correctness, and move on. Even a short daily refresh helps keep window functions intuitive and ready to use when you need them at work.

At this level, the challenge isn’t learning new concepts. It’s maintaining fluency. One window function query a day is enough to do exactly that.

Wrap-Up: Keep Practicing SQL Beyond December

The one-query-a-day challenge is a simple way to stay consistent during the holidays, but it doesn’t have to end there. If you want to keep practicing SQL throughout the year – at your own pace and at every level – having access to a wide range of practice courses makes a real difference.

The All Forever SQL package gives you unlimited access to all LearnSQL.com courses, including monthly SQL challenges, beginner and intermediate practice sets, and advanced topics like window functions. You can pick the right course for your current level, switch focus when needed, and always have short, practice-ready exercises available when you have just a few minutes to spare.

It’s a flexible way to keep improving your SQL skills, not just in December, but all year round.