Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A startup is evaluating a migration from its on-premises infrastructure to AWS. The CTO notes that AWS can offer significantly lower per-unit costs for compute and storage compared to the startup's own data center. The CTO explains that AWS achieves this by pooling the demand of millions of customers, which allows AWS to negotiate better hardware prices and spread the fixed costs of data centers, power, cooling, and operational staff across a massive customer base. This specific cost advantage of cloud computing is best described by which fundamental concept?
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
Distractor review
Elasticity
Elasticity is the ability to automatically scale resources up or down based on demand. While AWS offers elasticity, the question focuses on the cost advantage gained from shared infrastructure and aggregated purchasing power, not on dynamic scaling.
B
Best answer
Economies of scale
Economies of scale refer to the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation. AWS leverages its massive customer base to negotiate lower prices for hardware, reduce per-unit operational costs, and pass those savings to customers. This directly matches the scenario described.
C
Distractor review
High availability
High availability focuses on ensuring that systems and applications remain operational with minimal downtime, typically through redundancy across multiple Availability Zones. While AWS provides high availability, it is not the primary explanation for the cost reduction described in the question.
D
Distractor review
Fault tolerance
Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to continue operating without interruption in the event of a component failure. This is a resilience characteristic, not a cost advantage. The scenario explicitly discusses cost savings from shared infrastructure, not system resilience.
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: Economies of scale — The scenario describes how AWS benefits from aggregating usage across many customers to reduce per-unit costs. This is the concept of economies of scale, where the average cost per customer decreases as the total scale of operations increases. AWS passes these savings on to customers. The other options represent different cloud concepts: elasticity refers to dynamically provisioning resources to match demand; high availability ensures systems remain operational despite failures; fault tolerance allows a system to continue functioning even when components fail.
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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