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 data engineer is troubleshooting an AWS Glue ETL job that reads from an S3 bucket and writes to a DynamoDB table. The job fails with an AccessDeniedException. The IAM role attached to the Glue job has the policy shown in the exhibit. Which TWO additional permissions are required to resolve the issue?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
iam:PassRole
Option C is correct because the AWS Glue job must pass the IAM role to itself when it runs, which requires the `iam:PassRole` permission. Without this, the job cannot assume the role and will fail with an AccessDeniedException, even if the role has the necessary S3 and DynamoDB permissions.
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.
✗
kms:Decrypt
Why it's wrong here
No encryption mentioned.
✗
dynamodb:DescribeTable
Why it's wrong here
Not needed for PutItem.
✓
iam:PassRole
Why this is correct
Glue needs to pass the role to itself.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
s3:ListBucket
Why it's wrong here
ListBucket is not required for GetObject.
✓
glue:GetJobRun
Why this is correct
Glue needs to read job run details.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often focus on the S3 or DynamoDB permissions listed in the exhibit and overlook the fundamental requirement for Glue to pass the role to itself, which is a prerequisite for any Glue job execution.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS Glue uses the IAM role to assume the service principal `glue.amazonaws.com` via `sts:AssumeRole`, and the `iam:PassRole` permission is required to allow the Glue service to pass the role to the job's execution environment. Without it, the job fails at the initial role assumption step, not during data access. In real-world scenarios, this is a common oversight when attaching policies directly to the Glue job role without granting `iam:PassRole` to the Glue service.
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 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 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: iam:PassRole — Option C is correct because the AWS Glue job must pass the IAM role to itself when it runs, which requires the `iam:PassRole` permission. Without this, the job cannot assume the role and will fail with an AccessDeniedException, even if the role has the necessary S3 and DynamoDB permissions.
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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