DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A company uses AWS Lake Formation to manage permissions on a data lake stored in S3. A data analyst reports that they can see a table in the AWS Glue Data Catalog but cannot query it using Amazon Athena. The analyst has been granted 'SELECT' permission on the table in Lake Formation. The table's underlying S3 location is encrypted with AWS KMS. The IAM role used by Athena has the necessary S3 and KMS permissions. What is the most likely reason for the failure?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The analyst does not have 'DESCRIBE' permission on the table.
Lake Formation requires explicit grant of 'DESCRIBE' permission on the table for Athena to read metadata; SELECT alone is insufficient. Option B is incorrect because Athena can be integrated with Lake Formation. Option C is incorrect because KMS permissions are already in place. Option D is incorrect because the analyst can see the table, meaning DESCRIBE is not required at the database level.
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 analyst does not have 'DESCRIBE' permission on the table.
Why this is correct
Athena needs DESCRIBE on the table to retrieve metadata; without it, queries fail.
- ✗
Athena is not integrated with Lake Formation.
Why it's wrong here
Athena integrates with Lake Formation natively.
- ✗
The KMS key policy does not allow the analyst's IAM role to decrypt.
Why it's wrong here
The IAM role has KMS permissions, so this is not the issue.
- ✗
The analyst does not have 'DESCRIBE' permission on the database.
Why it's wrong here
The analyst can see the table, so they have DESCRIBE on the database.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.