This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 uses Amazon DynamoDB for a gaming application. The application experiences throttling during peak hours. The table's read and write capacity is provisioned. Which TWO actions can reduce throttling?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable DynamoDB auto scaling for the table
DynamoDB auto scaling (Option B) automatically adjusts the provisioned read and write capacity based on actual traffic patterns, preventing throttling during peak hours without manual intervention. This is the correct action because it dynamically increases capacity when demand spikes and reduces it during low traffic, directly addressing the throttling issue.
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.
✗
Enable TTL (time to live) on the table to automatically delete old items
Why it's wrong here
TTL helps with storage management, not throttling.
✓
Enable DynamoDB auto scaling for the table
Why this is correct
Auto scaling adjusts provisioned capacity based on traffic.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the provisioned read capacity units (RCUs)
Why it's wrong here
Increases read capacity only; writes may still throttle.
✓
Implement DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache read requests
Why this is correct
DAX reduces read load on the table by caching frequently accessed items.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Add a DynamoDB Global Table for the table
Why it's wrong here
Global Tables provide multi-region replication, not performance improvement.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse increasing provisioned capacity (Option C) as the only solution, but the exam tests whether you understand that auto scaling (Option B) is the correct managed approach, and that DAX (Option D) can reduce read throttling by caching, making both B and D valid together.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
DynamoDB auto scaling uses the AWS Application Auto Scaling service to adjust provisioned capacity based on target utilization (e.g., 70% of consumed capacity), using CloudWatch alarms on ConsumedReadCapacityUnits and ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits metrics. Under the hood, it scales in a step-wise manner with cooldown periods to avoid thrashing, but during sudden traffic spikes, it may still throttle briefly until the scale-up completes, which is why combining it with DAX (Option D) for read-heavy workloads can further reduce throttling by offloading reads from the table.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Data Store Management — This question tests Data Store Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable DynamoDB auto scaling for the table — DynamoDB auto scaling (Option B) automatically adjusts the provisioned read and write capacity based on actual traffic patterns, preventing throttling during peak hours without manual intervention. This is the correct action because it dynamically increases capacity when demand spikes and reduces it during low traffic, directly addressing the throttling issue.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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.
Question Discussion
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