20+ practice questions focused on Design for New Solutions — one of the most tested topics on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam. Each question includes a detailed explanation so you learn why the right answer is correct.
Start Design for New Solutions PracticeA company is designing a serverless application using AWS Lambda for business logic and Amazon API Gateway for REST APIs. The application needs to store and retrieve user session data. Which service should they use for session state?
Explanation: Amazon DynamoDB is the correct choice for storing user session state in a serverless application with Lambda and API Gateway. DynamoDB is serverless, fully managed, and scales automatically, aligning with the serverless design. It supports TTL (time-to-live) for automatic session expiration, and provides single-digit millisecond latency suitable for session management. While ElastiCache offers lower latency, it requires managing cache clusters and is not serverless, contradicting the requirement.
An IAM policy is attached to an IAM role that is assumed by an EC2 instance. The EC2 instance has an IP address of 10.0.1.15. The instance is unable to download objects from the S3 bucket 'example-bucket'. What is the MOST likely cause?
Explanation: The IAM policy attached to the role likely includes an 'aws:SourceIp' condition that restricts access to requests originating from specific IP addresses. The EC2 instance has a private IP address (10.0.1.15). When the instance attempts to download objects from S3, the source IP address seen by AWS is the instance's private IP (if using a VPC endpoint) or its public IP (if using an internet gateway). If the policy condition requires a public IP that does not include the private IP range, the request is denied. The other options are less likely because the IAM role is attached to the instance profile (B is unlikely), and the policy may include necessary permissions for s3:GetObject but still be denied by the condition (A and C are incorrect).
A company is designing a multi-region active-active application using Amazon Aurora Global Database. The application must have Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 1 second and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 1 minute in case of a regional failure. Which configuration meets these requirements?
Explanation: The correct configuration. Amazon Aurora Global Database uses a single primary cluster in one region with up to five read-only secondary clusters in other regions. Replication is asynchronous with typical RPO of less than 1 second, meeting the RPO requirement. For RTO, Aurora can failover to a read replica in the same region within 1 minute, but cross-region failover involves promoting a secondary cluster, which may take longer than 1 minute. However, this is the only Aurora configuration that can achieve sub-second RPO and, with careful planning, approach sub-minute RTO. Note that active-active write capability is not supported; this configuration is active-passive.
A company is building a new data lake on AWS. The data is stored in Amazon S3 and will be queried using Amazon Athena. The company wants to minimize query costs. Which S3 storage class should the company use for the data?
Explanation: S3 Standard is the most suitable storage class for Athena queries because it provides low-latency access with no retrieval charges. Athena query costs are based on the amount of data scanned, not on the storage class. However, other storage classes like S3 Intelligent-Tiering can incur monitoring fees and may transition data to colder tiers, resulting in retrieval costs that increase total cost of ownership. S3 Glacier Deep Archive and S3 One Zone-IA are not optimal due to retrieval delays and costs or reduced durability. Therefore, to minimize query costs, S3 Standard is the best choice among the options.
A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for a critical application that runs on Amazon EC2 instances in a single AWS Region. The application uses an Amazon RDS for MySQL database. The company wants to achieve a recovery point objective (RPO) of 5 seconds and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 15 minutes. Which solution should the company use?
Explanation: Cross-Region Read Replicas for Amazon RDS MySQL use asynchronous replication that typically achieves an RPO of a few seconds, meeting the 5-second requirement. Upon a disaster, the replica can be promoted to a standalone primary database, which can be completed within minutes, satisfying the 15-minute RTO. Option A is invalid because RDS Multi-AZ DB clusters do not support a standby instance in another Region for MySQL. Options B and C do not meet the RPO/RTO requirements.
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Practice all Design for New Solutions questions1. Baseline your knowledge
Start with 10 questions to gauge your current understanding of Design for New Solutions. This tells you whether you need a concept refresher or just practice.
2. Review every explanation
For each question — right or wrong — read the full explanation. Understanding why an answer is correct is more valuable than knowing the answer itself.
3. Focus on exam traps
Design for New Solutions questions on the SAP-C02 frequently use trap wording. Look for subtle differences in answers that test your precision, not just general knowledge.
4. Reach 80% consistently
Do repeated sessions until you score 80%+ three times in a row. Then move to mixed-mode practice to test cross-topic recall under realistic conditions.
The exact number varies per candidate. Design for New Solutions is tested as part of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 blueprint. Practicing with targeted Design for New Solutions questions ensures you can handle any format or difficulty that appears.
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Difficulty is subjective, but Design for New Solutions is a high-priority exam concept tested in multiple ways — direct recall, scenario analysis, and command-output interpretation. Consistent practice is the best way to build confidence.
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