Objective 4.020% of exam

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

SAA-C03 Practice Questions

Use this page to practise Design Cost-Optimized Architectures questions for this certification. Focus on how the exam tests design cost-optimized architectures in scenario format — understanding the why behind each answer builds more durable knowledge than memorising options.

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What this objective tests

SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Key Topics

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage design cost-optimized architectures concepts in scenario-based situations.

Core Design Cost-Optimized Architectures concepts and how they apply in real-world cloud scenarios.
How to deploy design cost-optimized architectures correctly and verify the outcome.
Troubleshooting design cost-optimized architectures issues by interpreting error output and system state.
Cloud best practices and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures design trade-offs tested by this certification.

Common exam traps

Where candidates lose marks on Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

⚠Selecting the most expensive service when a simpler managed option meets the requirement.
⚠Forgetting that cloud resources must be explicitly secured — defaults are rarely secure.
⚠Choosing a global service fix when the issue is region-specific.
⚠Overlooking cost implications of cross-region data transfer in architecture questions.

SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Practice Questions

30 questions from this objective · 20% of your SAA-C03 exam

Question 2easymultiple choice

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Key Topics

Where candidates lose marks on Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Practice Questions

You store application logs in an S3 bucket. After 30 days, the logs are rarely accessed, but you must retain them for 1 year for compliance. Which S3 feature is the best way to reduce storage cost while meeting the retention requirement?

CloudWatch metrics show your EC2 instances have average CPU utilization around 10% with stable performance over several weeks. The application does not require additional headroom right now. What is the most effective cost-optimization action?

An application serves static images through Amazon CloudFront. The team observes higher-than-expected origin fetches, which increases origin bandwidth costs. Which change most directly improves CloudFront cache reuse to reduce origin requests for the static content?

Your team runs a batch processing workload on EC2 that can tolerate interruptions. If an instance is terminated, the job can restart from checkpoints. To reduce compute costs, what is the most cost-optimized approach?

Match each data-retention scenario to the most cost-effective Amazon S3 storage class. Assume the retrieval pattern and access-latency requirement are the most important constraints.

A web service runs continuously on AWS 24/7. The team expects steady compute usage for the next 12–24 months, but may change instance families/sizes as performance tuning continues. Which purchase option best reduces cost while keeping flexibility to change instance types?

Match each workload to the AWS pricing option that most directly minimizes cost while still meeting the stated flexibility requirements. Use each option once.

A team stores application logs in Amazon S3. They need access to the logs only occasionally for troubleshooting (infrequent access), and they want to reduce storage cost automatically over time without manually moving objects. What should they implement?

Your global users access static images stored in S3. Origin bandwidth costs are higher than expected because CloudFront is not caching effectively. What change most directly reduces origin fetches (and typically lowers data transfer costs) without changing application logic?

Match each workload to the most cost-effective compute model or service choice. Focus on how often the workload runs, whether it is interruption-tolerant, and how much administration the team wants to avoid.

A service in private subnets downloads product images from Amazon S3 and stores job state in DynamoDB. A NAT Gateway is currently the only route to AWS services, and the monthly bill is dominated by NAT data processing charges. Which two changes will most directly reduce that cost? Select two.

Match each private-networking or content-delivery scenario to the AWS feature that most directly reduces cost while meeting the connectivity requirement.

You need to run batch jobs on EC2. The jobs can tolerate interruptions: if an instance is terminated, the job can restart from checkpoints. To reduce compute cost as much as possible, what is the best choice?

A line-of-business application runs on EC2 instances 24/7 with predictable usage for the next year. The application will stay in the same Region, and the team does not want to manage capacity interruptions. Which two purchase options can reduce cost compared with pure On-Demand pricing? Select two.

A compliance archive writes one log file per day to Amazon S3. The logs are almost never accessed after day 30, but if they are needed they must still be retrievable in milliseconds. They must be deleted automatically after one year. Which two lifecycle settings should you apply? Select two.

A workload runs in private subnets. It must access AWS services such as Amazon S3, but the company wants to avoid using a NAT Gateway to reduce outbound networking costs. What is the best solution?

An application stores user-uploaded binaries in S3. Access is unpredictable for the first month, then most objects become cold. The team wants the cheapest approach that avoids manually guessing access patterns. Which two actions are best? Select two.

A company processes product-image uploads in bursts. Each transform takes up to ten minutes, and every job can be retried safely from the beginning. The current EC2 worker fleet is idle most of the day. Which two changes most reduce cost and idle capacity? Select two.

A product catalog system uses a relational database for orders and a simple key-value profile store for shopping carts. Traffic is unpredictable, and the company wants to avoid paying for large idle database instances. Which two choices are best? Select two.

A startup has three sandbox accounts and one production account. The CTO wants lower cost and operational overhead while keeping central purchasing and spend visibility. Which two actions are best? Select two.

A retailer runs a reporting-heavy relational app on Amazon RDS MySQL. Peak dashboard traffic lasts only three hours each day, but the database is sized for the peak all day. The business wants lower cost without rewriting the application. Which three actions are best? Select three.

Multiple teams share one AWS Organization. Finance wants chargeback by project, alerts before overspend, and monthly views by account without manually opening each account. Which three actions best fit? Select three.

A fleet of test servers is rebuilt every week from AMIs. EBS volumes are often left behind after termination, and the team creates daily snapshots of every volume even when nothing changes. Which three actions most reduce storage cost while preserving recovery options? Select three.

All SAA-C03 Objectives

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Key Topics

Where candidates lose marks on Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Practice Questions

You store application logs in an S3 bucket. After 30 days, the logs are rarely accessed, but you must retain them for 1 year for compliance. Which S3 feature is the best way to reduce storage cost while meeting the retention requirement?

CloudWatch metrics show your EC2 instances have average CPU utilization around 10% with stable performance over several weeks. The application does not require additional headroom right now. What is the most effective cost-optimization action?

An application serves static images through Amazon CloudFront. The team observes higher-than-expected origin fetches, which increases origin bandwidth costs. Which change most directly improves CloudFront cache reuse to reduce origin requests for the static content?

Your team runs a batch processing workload on EC2 that can tolerate interruptions. If an instance is terminated, the job can restart from checkpoints. To reduce compute costs, what is the most cost-optimized approach?

Match each data-retention scenario to the most cost-effective Amazon S3 storage class. Assume the retrieval pattern and access-latency requirement are the most important constraints.

A web service runs continuously on AWS 24/7. The team expects steady compute usage for the next 12–24 months, but may change instance families/sizes as performance tuning continues. Which purchase option best reduces cost while keeping flexibility to change instance types?

Match each workload to the AWS pricing option that most directly minimizes cost while still meeting the stated flexibility requirements. Use each option once.

A team stores application logs in Amazon S3. They need access to the logs only occasionally for troubleshooting (infrequent access), and they want to reduce storage cost automatically over time without manually moving objects. What should they implement?

Your global users access static images stored in S3. Origin bandwidth costs are higher than expected because CloudFront is not caching effectively. What change most directly reduces origin fetches (and typically lowers data transfer costs) without changing application logic?

Match each workload to the most cost-effective compute model or service choice. Focus on how often the workload runs, whether it is interruption-tolerant, and how much administration the team wants to avoid.

A service in private subnets downloads product images from Amazon S3 and stores job state in DynamoDB. A NAT Gateway is currently the only route to AWS services, and the monthly bill is dominated by NAT data processing charges. Which two changes will most directly reduce that cost? Select two.

Match each private-networking or content-delivery scenario to the AWS feature that most directly reduces cost while meeting the connectivity requirement.

You need to run batch jobs on EC2. The jobs can tolerate interruptions: if an instance is terminated, the job can restart from checkpoints. To reduce compute cost as much as possible, what is the best choice?

A line-of-business application runs on EC2 instances 24/7 with predictable usage for the next year. The application will stay in the same Region, and the team does not want to manage capacity interruptions. Which two purchase options can reduce cost compared with pure On-Demand pricing? Select two.

A compliance archive writes one log file per day to Amazon S3. The logs are almost never accessed after day 30, but if they are needed they must still be retrievable in milliseconds. They must be deleted automatically after one year. Which two lifecycle settings should you apply? Select two.

A workload runs in private subnets. It must access AWS services such as Amazon S3, but the company wants to avoid using a NAT Gateway to reduce outbound networking costs. What is the best solution?

An application stores user-uploaded binaries in S3. Access is unpredictable for the first month, then most objects become cold. The team wants the cheapest approach that avoids manually guessing access patterns. Which two actions are best? Select two.

A company processes product-image uploads in bursts. Each transform takes up to ten minutes, and every job can be retried safely from the beginning. The current EC2 worker fleet is idle most of the day. Which two changes most reduce cost and idle capacity? Select two.

A product catalog system uses a relational database for orders and a simple key-value profile store for shopping carts. Traffic is unpredictable, and the company wants to avoid paying for large idle database instances. Which two choices are best? Select two.

A startup has three sandbox accounts and one production account. The CTO wants lower cost and operational overhead while keeping central purchasing and spend visibility. Which two actions are best? Select two.

A retailer runs a reporting-heavy relational app on Amazon RDS MySQL. Peak dashboard traffic lasts only three hours each day, but the database is sized for the peak all day. The business wants lower cost without rewriting the application. Which three actions are best? Select three.

Multiple teams share one AWS Organization. Finance wants chargeback by project, alerts before overspend, and monthly views by account without manually opening each account. Which three actions best fit? Select three.

A fleet of test servers is rebuilt every week from AMIs. EBS volumes are often left behind after termination, and the team creates daily snapshots of every volume even when nothing changes. Which three actions most reduce storage cost while preserving recovery options? Select three.

All SAA-C03 Objectives