Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company uses AWS for multiple workloads across several linked accounts under AWS Organizations. The finance team needs to analyze historical cost and usage data to identify monthly spending trends by service (e.g., Amazon EC2, Amazon S3) and by linked account. They also need to filter the data by date range and view the top cost drivers. The team prefers a built-in AWS tool that provides an interactive interface with graphs and tables, without requiring them to download or process raw data. Which AWS service or tool should the finance team use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Best answer
AWS Cost Explorer
Correct. AWS Cost Explorer is a built-in AWS tool that provides interactive graphs and tables to explore historical cost and usage data, with filtering by service, linked account, region, and date range. It is designed for visual trend analysis and identifying cost drivers without needing to process raw data.
B
Distractor review
AWS Budgets
Incorrect. AWS Budgets allows you to set custom budgets and receive alerts when your cost or usage exceeds (or is forecasted to exceed) your budget. While it provides some spending insights, it does not offer the interactive historical trend analysis and filtering that the finance team needs.
C
Distractor review
AWS Trusted Advisor
Incorrect. AWS Trusted Advisor provides best-practice recommendations in five categories, including cost optimization. It can identify idle resources and underutilized instances, but it does not provide the granular historical cost and usage analysis by service or linked account that the team requires.
D
Distractor review
AWS Cost and Usage Reports
Incorrect. AWS Cost and Usage Reports (CUR) provides the most detailed cost and usage data in a machine-readable format (CSV) for use with analytical tools like Amazon Athena or third-party solutions. However, it is not an interactive graphical tool; it requires additional steps to query and visualize, which does not meet the team's preference for a built-in interactive interface.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer needs to launch a test server for a new application prototype. The developer logs into the AWS Management Console, selects an Amazon EC2 instance type, configures the security group, and starts the instance. The instance is running within two minutes, and the developer did not need to submit a formal request to the company's IT procurement team or wait for approval from a cloud administrator. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best demonstrate?
Question 2
A solutions architect is planning a new web application on AWS. The workload will include 3 Amazon EC2 instances (t3.medium) running 24/7, an Application Load Balancer, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL db.t3.small database. The architect needs to estimate the monthly cost for the first year, considering different purchasing options (On-Demand, 1-year All Upfront Reserved Instance, and Compute Savings Plan). Which AWS tool should the architect use to create this estimate?
Question 3
A company's development team frequently needs temporary test environments. A developer can log into the AWS Management Console, select an Amazon EC2 instance type, configure storage, and launch the instance within minutes without any interaction with the IT infrastructure team. This capability is an example of which essential characteristic of cloud computing?
Question 4
A company's finance team needs to analyze AWS spending in detail. They require a report that includes hourly cost data for each AWS service, each individual resource (e.g., a specific EC2 instance), and any cost allocation tags applied. The team plans to export this data to an Amazon S3 bucket and then import it into a custom business intelligence (BI) analytics dashboard. Which AWS tool should the finance team use to generate this level of detailed cost data?
Question 5
A company uses AWS for its development environment. The finance team wants to set a monthly budget of $10,000. They want to receive an email notification when the actual costs reach 80% of the budget ($8,000) and again when costs exceed the budget. The team needs a managed AWS service that can automatically send these alerts without requiring custom code or third-party tools. Which AWS service should the team use?
Question 6
A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team needs to enforce a policy that restricts SSH access (port 22) from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) in all VPCs across all accounts. The team wants to centrally define the allowed rules and automatically apply them to newly created VPCs and security groups, while also automatically remediating any existing non-compliant security groups. Which AWS service should the team use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Cost Explorer — AWS Cost Explorer is the correct tool for visualizing, understanding, and managing AWS costs and usage over time. It provides an intuitive interface with pre-built reports and filtering capabilities by service, linked account, region, and more. AWS Budgets allows you to set alerts for cost or usage thresholds, but it is not designed for interactive historical analysis. AWS Trusted Advisor provides optimization recommendations, including cost optimization checks, but does not offer the detailed historical trend analysis that Cost Explorer provides. AWS Cost and Usage Reports (CUR) deliver the most granular data in a CSV format, which is suitable for external analysis tools (e.g., Amazon Athena, QuickSight) but requires additional steps to query and visualize; it is not an interactive graphical tool out of the box.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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