The answer is a missing S3 bucket policy granting the Athena IAM role access to the underlying S3 location. Lake Formation acts as a fine-grained permission layer, but it does not override S3 resource-based policies; the IAM role must still pass both the Lake Formation permission check and the S3 bucket policy evaluation. Even when a user has SELECT and DESCRIBE grants in Lake Formation, and the role has lakeformation:GetDataAccess, the request fails if the bucket policy denies or omits the role’s s3:GetObject and s3:ListBucket actions. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding that Lake Formation is not a replacement for S3 bucket policies—it’s an additional authorization layer. A common trap is assuming Lake Formation grants alone are sufficient, but the underlying S3 policy must explicitly allow the principal (the Athena IAM role). Memory tip: think “Lake Formation checks the table, S3 checks the bucket—both must say yes.”
DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data operations and support. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 runs a data lake on Amazon S3 with AWS Lake Formation for access control. The data lake contains sensitive customer information. A data scientist needs to query the data using Amazon Athena. The data scientist has been granted SELECT permission on the database and tables via Lake Formation. However, when the data scientist runs a query in Athena, they receive an error: 'Access denied. Please check your permissions.' The IAM role used by Athena has the following permissions: s3:GetObject, s3:ListBucket, and lakeformation:GetDataAccess. The Lake Formation admin has verified that the data scientist is a member of a Lake Formation data lake location and has been granted 'Describe' and 'Select' permissions on the table. What is the most likely reason for the access denied error?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The S3 bucket policy does not grant the Athena IAM role access to the S3 location.
Option A is correct because Lake Formation requires the IAM role to have lakeformation:GetDataAccess permission, but also the role needs permissions to the underlying S3 location. If the S3 bucket policy does not allow the Athena IAM role to access the bucket, the request will be denied. The data scientist is granted permissions in Lake Formation, but the S3 bucket policy must also grant access to the IAM role. Option B is wrong because the role already has lakeformation:GetDataAccess. Option C is wrong because the error is not about Lake Formation tag access. Option D is wrong because Athena uses the IAM role's permissions, not the user's IAM permissions directly.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
The data scientist is not assigned to the correct Lake Formation tag.
Why it's wrong here
The error is about table permissions, not tags; also the admin granted table permissions directly.
✓
The S3 bucket policy does not grant the Athena IAM role access to the S3 location.
Why this is correct
Lake Formation permissions are separate from S3 bucket policies; the bucket policy must allow the IAM role to read the data.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The Athena IAM role is missing lakeformation:GetEffectivePermissions permission.
Why it's wrong here
GetEffectivePermissions is for listing permissions, not for data access.
✗
The data scientist's IAM user lacks the necessary S3 permissions.
Why it's wrong here
Athena uses the IAM role, not the user's IAM permissions, for S3 access.
Common exam traps
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.
Detailed technical explanation
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Data Operations and Support — This question tests Data Operations and Support — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The S3 bucket policy does not grant the Athena IAM role access to the S3 location. — Option A is correct because Lake Formation requires the IAM role to have lakeformation:GetDataAccess permission, but also the role needs permissions to the underlying S3 location. If the S3 bucket policy does not allow the Athena IAM role to access the bucket, the request will be denied. The data scientist is granted permissions in Lake Formation, but the S3 bucket policy must also grant access to the IAM role. Option B is wrong because the role already has lakeformation:GetDataAccess. Option C is wrong because the error is not about Lake Formation tag access. Option D is wrong because Athena uses the IAM role's permissions, not the user's IAM permissions directly.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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