DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data operations and support. 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 pipeline uses AWS Lambda to process records from an Amazon Kinesis Data Stream. The Lambda function is idempotent and runs once per record. Recently, the function started failing with 'ProvisionedThroughputExceededException' when writing to a DynamoDB table. Which action should the data engineer take to resolve this?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement retry logic with exponential backoff in the Lambda function.
Option C is correct because implementing exponential backoff with jitter is a best practice to handle throttling. Option A is wrong because increasing Lambda concurrency would increase the write rate, worsening the issue. Option B is wrong because Kinesis shard count does not affect DynamoDB. Option D is wrong because reducing batch size would increase the number of concurrent Lambda invocations.
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.
✗
Decrease the Lambda function's batch size to process fewer records per invocation.
Why it's wrong here
Smaller batch size means more invocations, increasing DynamoDB write attempts.
✗
Increase the Lambda function's reserved concurrency.
Why it's wrong here
More concurrency means more writes to DynamoDB, making throttling worse.
✓
Implement retry logic with exponential backoff in the Lambda function.
Why this is correct
Exponential backoff reduces the write rate when throttled, eventually succeeding.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the number of shards in the Kinesis stream.
Why it's wrong here
More shards increase the rate of Lambda invocations, not DynamoDB throughput.
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 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
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: Implement retry logic with exponential backoff in the Lambda function. — Option C is correct because implementing exponential backoff with jitter is a best practice to handle throttling. Option A is wrong because increasing Lambda concurrency would increase the write rate, worsening the issue. Option B is wrong because Kinesis shard count does not affect DynamoDB. Option D is wrong because reducing batch size would increase the number of concurrent Lambda invocations.
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.
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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