The answer is to change the storage type to General Purpose SSD (gp3). This is correct because gp3 storage offers a higher baseline performance than gp2 for the same storage size, providing up to 4,000 IOPS at no extra cost compared to gp2’s 3,000 IOPS baseline, and crucially allows you to independently provision IOPS and throughput without increasing storage volume. For write-intensive workloads causing high latency and storage bottlenecks, this directly improves RDS PostgreSQL write performance by eliminating the gp2 limitation where IOPS scale only with storage size. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of storage optimization for RDS, often appearing as a trap where candidates mistakenly choose to increase instance class or storage size. Remember the key distinction: gp3 decouples IOPS from storage, while gp2 ties them together. A useful memory tip is “gp3 gives you three freedoms: independent IOPS, throughput, and no storage growth required.”
DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 runs an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database for its e-commerce platform. The application team reports that write-intensive workloads are causing high latency and the database is experiencing storage bottlenecks. The database currently uses General Purpose SSD (gp2) storage. Which action would be MOST effective in improving write performance without changing the database instance class?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Change the storage type to General Purpose SSD (gp3).
D is correct because gp3 storage provides a baseline performance that is higher than gp2 for the same storage size, and it allows you to independently provision IOPS and throughput without needing to increase storage. This directly addresses the write-intensive workload's high latency and storage bottleneck by offering up to 4,000 IOPS at no additional cost (compared to gp2's 3,000 IOPS baseline for larger volumes), and you can scale IOPS up to 16,000 without changing the instance class.
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.
✗
Create a read replica and offload writes to it.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas are for read traffic; writes cannot be offloaded to a read replica.
✗
Switch the storage type to Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1).
Why it's wrong here
Provisioned IOPS improves performance but is more expensive; gp3 often provides sufficient improvement without provisioning IOPS.
✗
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for high availability.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides failover support but does not improve write performance.
✓
Change the storage type to General Purpose SSD (gp3).
Why this is correct
gp3 offers higher baseline IOPS and throughput than gp2, improving write performance.
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 assume Provisioned IOPS (io1) is always the best choice for write performance, but the question specifically tests knowledge of gp3's superior baseline performance and cost efficiency for write-intensive workloads without requiring an instance class change.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
gp3 storage uses a non-bursting model with a baseline of 3,000 IOPS and 125 MiB/s throughput for any volume size, and you can independently provision up to 16,000 IOPS and 1,000 MiB/s throughput. In contrast, gp2 relies on a credit-based burst model where performance degrades after credits are exhausted, which is a common cause of write latency in write-intensive workloads. For an e-commerce platform with sustained write loads, gp3 eliminates the burst credit exhaustion issue and provides predictable performance.
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 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 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: Change the storage type to General Purpose SSD (gp3). — D is correct because gp3 storage provides a baseline performance that is higher than gp2 for the same storage size, and it allows you to independently provision IOPS and throughput without needing to increase storage. This directly addresses the write-intensive workload's high latency and storage bottleneck by offering up to 4,000 IOPS at no additional cost (compared to gp2's 3,000 IOPS baseline for larger volumes), and you can scale IOPS up to 16,000 without changing the instance class.
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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Question Discussion
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