This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is using Amazon DynamoDB for a high-traffic web application. They notice increased read latency during peak hours. Which design change would best reduce read latency without increasing cost?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Increase read capacity units
Why wrong: Increasing capacity increases cost, not necessarily latency.
Use DynamoDB global tables
Why wrong: Global tables replicate data across regions, not optimizing latency for a single region.
Switch to strongly consistent reads
Why wrong: Strongly consistent reads can be slower and don't address high traffic.
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
DAX is a caching layer that reduces read latency.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is an in-memory cache that reduces read latency from single-digit milliseconds to microseconds for eventually consistent reads, without requiring any changes to provisioned capacity. Since the question specifies reducing latency without increasing cost, DAX is ideal because it offloads read traffic from the underlying table, allowing you to potentially lower read capacity units (RCUs) while maintaining performance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Increase read capacity units
Why it's wrong here
Increasing capacity increases cost, not necessarily latency.
Use DynamoDB global tables
Why it's wrong here
Global tables replicate data across regions, not optimizing latency for a single region.
Switch to strongly consistent reads
Why it's wrong here
Strongly consistent reads can be slower and don't address high traffic.
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
Why this is correct
DAX is a caching layer that reduces read latency.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse increasing provisioned capacity (Option A) with reducing latency, but DynamoDB's internal latency is dominated by storage I/O and network round trips, not capacity units—DAX addresses the actual bottleneck by caching hot data in memory.
Detailed technical explanation
DAX acts as a write-through cache that intercepts read requests at the VPC endpoint level, using an in-memory engine that supports both eventually consistent and strongly consistent reads (the latter with a slight latency penalty). Under the hood, DAX maintains a distributed cache across multiple nodes, automatically invalidating entries on write operations to ensure data freshness. In real-world scenarios, DAX is particularly effective for read-heavy workloads with a skewed access pattern (e.g., a 'top 10 products' query) where caching can absorb the majority of read traffic.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Data Store Management — This question tests Data Store Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) — DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is an in-memory cache that reduces read latency from single-digit milliseconds to microseconds for eventually consistent reads, without requiring any changes to provisioned capacity. Since the question specifies reducing latency without increasing cost, DAX is ideal because it offloads read traffic from the underlying table, allowing you to potentially lower read capacity units (RCUs) while maintaining performance.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
This DEA-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 DEA-C01 exam.
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