Quick Answer
The correct answer is to partition the source data in S3 and increase the number of DPUs for the AWS Glue job. Partitioning the source data in S3 reduces the amount of data scanned by Glue, allowing it to process only relevant subsets in parallel, while increasing DPUs allocates more distributed processing units to the ETL job, directly improving parallelism and throughput when loading to Redshift. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of how Glue’s serverless architecture scales—common traps include confusing S3 Transfer Acceleration (which only speeds uploads) or Redshift Spectrum (which is for querying, not Glue ETL). Remember that Glue job performance is about Glue-side resources and data organization, not Redshift instance size. A useful memory tip: “Partition and DPU—two levers for Glue throughput.”
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data ingestion and transformation. 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 is using AWS Glue ETL to transform and load data from Amazon S3 to Amazon Redshift. The data engineer notices that the job is taking longer than expected. Which TWO actions can improve the job performance?
Use Amazon Redshift Spectrum to query data directly.
Why wrong: Spectrum is not used within Glue ETL.
Partition the source data in S3.
Partitioning reduces data scanned.
Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job.
More DPUs increase parallelism.
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration.
Why wrong: TA is for faster uploads to S3, not for Glue jobs.
Use a larger Redshift node type.
Why wrong: Does not affect Glue job performance.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Partition the source data in S3.
Options B and D are correct because increasing the number of DPUs and using partitioning in S3 improve parallelism and reduce data scanned. Option A is incorrect because S3 Transfer Acceleration is for uploads, not ETL. Option C is incorrect because Redshift Spectrum is for querying, not Glue ETL. Option E is incorrect because a larger instance type for Redshift does not affect Glue job performance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Use Amazon Redshift Spectrum to query data directly.
Why it's wrong here
Spectrum is not used within Glue ETL.
Partition the source data in S3.
Why this is correct
Partitioning reduces data scanned.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job.
Why this is correct
More DPUs increase parallelism.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration.
Why it's wrong here
TA is for faster uploads to S3, not for Glue jobs.
Use a larger Redshift node type.
Why it's wrong here
Does not affect Glue job performance.
Common exam traps
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
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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.
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FAQ
Data Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Partition the source data in S3. — Options B and D are correct because increasing the number of DPUs and using partitioning in S3 improve parallelism and reduce data scanned. Option A is incorrect because S3 Transfer Acceleration is for uploads, not ETL. Option C is incorrect because Redshift Spectrum is for querying, not Glue ETL. Option E is incorrect because a larger instance type for Redshift does not affect Glue job performance.
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.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is using AWS Glue ETL to process data from Amazon RDS for MySQL to Amazon S3. The job runs daily and takes 2 hours to complete. The engineer wants to improve performance without increasing cost significantly. Which TWO actions should the engineer take? (Choose TWO.)
mediumWhy D: Increasing the number of DPUs improves performance but increases cost; however, it's a common approach. Partitioning the source table helps parallel reads. Option A is correct. Option B is correct. Option C is wrong because reducing worker type would slow performance. Option D is wrong because DynamicFrame is recommended for Glue. Option E is wrong because AWS Glue does not support auto-scaling by default without additional configuration.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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.
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