diff --git a/src/internal/Connection.php b/src/internal/Connection.php
index c1817f2..a2761dc 100644
--- a/src/internal/Connection.php
+++ b/src/internal/Connection.php
@@ -53,7 +53,10 @@ public function fetchRecord(string $query, array $params = []): array
     public function exec(string $query, array $params = []): void
     {
         if ($params === []) {
-            $this->connection->exec($query);
+            if ($this->connection->exec($query) === false) {
+                $this->prepareException($this->connection);
+            }
+
             return;
         }
 
@@ -62,6 +65,7 @@ public function exec(string $query, array $params = []): void
             $this->prepareException($this->connection);
         }
 
+        // $statement->execute() throws under PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION (PHP 8 default).
         $statement->execute($params);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/internal/Statement.php b/src/internal/Statement.php
index 570b260..7fedb7b 100644
--- a/src/internal/Statement.php
+++ b/src/internal/Statement.php
@@ -43,7 +43,10 @@ public function fetchRecord(string $query, array $params = []): array
     public function exec(string $query, array $params = []): void
     {
         if ($params === []) {
-            $this->connection->exec($query);
+            if ($this->connection->exec($query) === false) {
+                $this->prepareException($this->connection);
+            }
+
             return;
         }
 
@@ -52,6 +55,7 @@ public function exec(string $query, array $params = []): void
             $this->prepareException($this->connection);
         }
 
+        // $statement->execute() throws under PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION (PHP 8 default).
         $statement->execute($params);
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/workflow/ConnectionTest.php b/tests/workflow/ConnectionTest.php
index 8c04d58..41a9feb 100644
--- a/tests/workflow/ConnectionTest.php
+++ b/tests/workflow/ConnectionTest.php
@@ -4,16 +4,18 @@
 
 namespace dbschemix\pdo\tests\workflow;
 
-// Note: the branch `return []` in fetchRecord (when execute() returns false) and the
-// `$this->prepareException()` branch are not reachable through a real in-memory SQLite
-// PDO handle under normal conditions. These two edges are therefore intentionally left
-// without direct coverage here, consistent with the strategy used across this test suite.
+// Note: the `return []` branch in fetchRecord() (when execute() returns false) and its
+// `prepareException()` branch (when prepare() returns false) are not reachable through an
+// in-memory SQLite PDO handle under the default ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, and are intentionally
+// left without direct coverage here.
 
 use Throwable;
 use PDO;
 use Testo\Assert;
+use Testo\Expect;
 use Testo\Lifecycle\BeforeTest;
 use Testo\Test;
+use dbschemix\core\exception\PrepareException;
 use dbschemix\pdo\internal\Connection;
 use dbschemix\pdo\internal\Transaction;
 
@@ -147,6 +149,29 @@ public function fetchRecordReturnsEmptyArrayOnNoMatch(): void
         Assert::blank($data);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * exec() without params raises PrepareException when the underlying PDO::exec()
+     * returns false. Forces the failure by switching the handle to ERRMODE_SILENT and
+     * passing syntactically invalid SQL.
+     *
+     * @throws Throwable
+     */
+    public function execRaisesPrepareExceptionOnFailure(): void
+    {
+        // Pattern locks the ErrorInfo format: SQLSTATE (non-numeric token) and a non-empty
+        // multi-word driver message — keeps the assertion stable across libsqlite versions
+        // while still distinguishing $errorInfo[0]/[1]/[2] should those indices be swapped.
+        Expect::exception(PrepareException::class)
+            ->withMessagePattern('/^SQLSTATE\[[A-Z]\w+\]: error: .+ .+/');
+
+        $pdo = new PDO(dsn: 'sqlite::memory:', options: [
+            PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_SILENT,
+        ]);
+        $connection = new Connection($pdo, Transaction::class);
+
+        $connection->exec('THIS IS NOT VALID SQL');
+    }
+
     /**
      * Three consecutive exec()-with-params calls each use a fresh prepare()+execute() cycle.
      * fetchRecord() must return all three rows, proving no statement handle is reused
diff --git a/tests/workflow/StatementTest.php b/tests/workflow/StatementTest.php
index 99a3131..1b1539b 100644
--- a/tests/workflow/StatementTest.php
+++ b/tests/workflow/StatementTest.php
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@
 use Throwable;
 use PDO;
 use Testo\Assert;
+use Testo\Expect;
 use Testo\Lifecycle\AfterTest;
 use Testo\Lifecycle\BeforeTest;
 use Testo\Test;
 use dbschemix\core\connection\TransactionInterface;
+use dbschemix\core\exception\PrepareException;
 use dbschemix\pdo\internal\Transaction;
 
 #[Test]
@@ -132,6 +134,29 @@ public function execParamsAreNotInterpolated(): void
         Assert::array($data)->hasKeys($maliciousName);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * exec() without params raises PrepareException when the underlying PDO::exec()
+     * returns false. Forces the failure by switching the handle to ERRMODE_SILENT and
+     * passing syntactically invalid SQL.
+     *
+     * @throws Throwable
+     */
+    public function execRaisesPrepareExceptionOnFailure(): void
+    {
+        // Pattern locks the ErrorInfo format: SQLSTATE (non-numeric token) and a non-empty
+        // multi-word driver message — keeps the assertion stable across libsqlite versions
+        // while still distinguishing $errorInfo[0]/[1]/[2] should those indices be swapped.
+        Expect::exception(PrepareException::class)
+            ->withMessagePattern('/^SQLSTATE\[[A-Z]\w+\]: error: .+ .+/');
+
+        $pdo = new PDO(dsn: 'sqlite::memory:', options: [
+            PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_SILENT,
+        ]);
+        $transaction = Transaction::begin($pdo);
+
+        $transaction->exec('THIS IS NOT VALID SQL');
+    }
+
     /**
      * @throws Throwable
      */