Assess graduate-level understanding of Paxos and Raft consensus algorithms, testing knowledge of core mechanisms (leader election, log replication, quorums), formal guarantees (safety, liveness), failure models, and practical trade-offs (complexity, performance, implementability). Include short-answer explanations, brief comparisons, and a scenario-based question requiring selection of the appropriate algorithm with justification. Excludes Byzantine faults and protocols beyond Paxos/Raft.