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AIF-C01 Practice Question: A data science team needs to grant a SageMaker…
A data science team needs to grant a SageMaker notebook instance access to an S3 bucket containing training data. Which IAM policy should be attached to the notebook instance's execution role?
⚠ Common exam trap
The AIF-C01 exam often tests the distinction between the permissions needed for data access (S3 actions) versus inference (SageMaker actions) or encryption (KMS actions), leading candidates to overcomplicate by adding unnecessary permissions like kms:Decrypt when the question does not mention encryption.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
An IAM policy that allows s3:GetObject and s3:ListBucket on the specific bucket
A SageMaker notebook instance needs read access to the S3 bucket containing training data. The execution role must have an IAM policy that explicitly allows s3:GetObject (to read objects) and s3:ListBucket (to list the bucket contents) on the specific bucket. Without these permissions, the notebook cannot retrieve the training data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
An IAM policy that allows the sagemaker:InvokeEndpoint action
Why it's wrong here
InvokeEndpoint is for inference, not for accessing S3.
- ✗
An IAM policy that allows kms:Decrypt on the S3 bucket's KMS key
Why it's wrong here
While decryption may be needed, the primary permission is S3 access; this is insufficient alone.
- ✗
An IAM policy that allows ec2:DescribeVpcs
Why it's wrong here
DescribeVpcs is for VPC information, not directly needed for S3 access.
- ✓
An IAM policy that allows s3:GetObject and s3:ListBucket on the specific bucket
Why this is correct
The notebook instance's execution role needs these permissions to read training data.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AIF-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AIF-C01 exam.