Scenario practice questions

A data engineer is troubleshooting an AWS Glue job that reads from Amazon S3 and writes to Amazon Redshift. The job runs successfully but 5% of records are missing after the load. The engineer suspects data consistency issues. Which THREE actions could help diagnose and resolve the problem? (Choose THREE.)

Trap 1: Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job.

More DPUs improve performance but not data consistency.

Trap 2: Use a staging table in Redshift with a transaction to commit.

Adds complexity; not a direct diagnostic step.

A
Use the Redshift COPY command with a manifest file to load data.
Manifest file ensures all files are loaded.
B
Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job.
Why wrong: More DPUs improve performance but not data consistency.
C
Enable Glue job bookmarks to track processed files.
Bookmarks prevent reprocessing or missing files.
D
Use a staging table in Redshift with a transaction to commit.
Why wrong: Adds complexity; not a direct diagnostic step.
E
Review the job's CloudWatch Logs for any error messages.
Logs may show partial failures.

Question 2mediummultiple choice

A data engineer needs to store semi-structured JSON data that is accessed infrequently but must be retrievable within minutes. The data is generated by IoT devices and each object is about 500 KB. The engineer wants the most cost-effective storage solution. Which AWS service should be used?

Trap 1: Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive

Retrieval time is hours, not minutes.

Trap 2: Amazon S3 Standard

Standard tier is more expensive for infrequent access.

Trap 3: Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)

EBS is block storage, not for object storage of JSON files.

A
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why wrong: Retrieval time is hours, not minutes.
B
Amazon S3 Standard
Why wrong: Standard tier is more expensive for infrequent access.
C
Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
Cost-effective for infrequent access with rapid retrieval.
D
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Why wrong: EBS is block storage, not for object storage of JSON files.

Read the full NAT/PAT explanation →

Question 3hardmultiple choice

A financial services company stores sensitive transaction data in an Amazon S3 bucket. Compliance requires that all objects be encrypted using SSE-KMS and that the bucket be protected from accidental deletion. Which combination of actions meets these requirements? (Select TWO.)

Trap 1: Enable MFA Delete on the bucket

MFA Delete provides extra protection but is not required.

Trap 2: Enable S3 Block Public Access

This prevents public access but does not protect against deletion.

Trap 3: Set default encryption to SSE-S3

SSE-S3 does not meet the requirement for KMS encryption.

A
Enable MFA Delete on the bucket
Why wrong: MFA Delete provides extra protection but is not required.
B
Enable S3 Block Public Access
Why wrong: This prevents public access but does not protect against deletion.
C
Add a bucket policy that denies PutObject if the object is not encrypted with SSE-KMS
This ensures all uploads use SSE-KMS.
D
Enable S3 Versioning on the bucket
Versioning allows recovery of deleted objects.
E
Set default encryption to SSE-S3
Why wrong: SSE-S3 does not meet the requirement for KMS encryption.

Question 4easymulti select

Which THREE actions can help improve read performance in Amazon DynamoDB? (Choose THREE.)

Trap 1: Use DynamoDB global tables to replicate data.

Global tables improve write availability and disaster recovery, not read performance.

Trap 2: Use strongly consistent reads for all queries.

Strongly consistent reads are slower than eventually consistent reads.

A
Use DynamoDB global tables to replicate data.
Why wrong: Global tables improve write availability and disaster recovery, not read performance.
B
Use parallel scans to distribute read load across partitions.
Parallel scans can improve scan performance.
C
Use strongly consistent reads for all queries.
Why wrong: Strongly consistent reads are slower than eventually consistent reads.
D
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache reads.
DAX reduces read latency by caching.
E
Increase the read capacity units (RCU) for the table.
More RCUs allow more read throughput.

Question 5mediummultiple choice

Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy for an AWS Lambda function. The Lambda function is triggered by an S3 event (object created) and needs to read from a Kinesis stream. However, the function fails with access denied when trying to read from Kinesis. What is the most likely cause?

Exhibit

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:PutObject"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::data-lake-bucket/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kinesis:DescribeStream",
        "kinesis:GetShardIterator",
        "kinesis:GetRecords"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:kinesis:us-east-1:123456789012:stream/clickstream"
    }
  ]
}

Trap 1: The Lambda function is not in the same region as the Kinesis stream

Cross-region access is allowed if permissions are correct.

Trap 2: The Lambda function does not have permission to list S3 buckets

The error is about Kinesis, not S3.

Trap 3: The S3 bucket policy denies access to the Lambda function

The error is about Kinesis, not S3.

A
The Lambda function is not in the same region as the Kinesis stream
Why wrong: Cross-region access is allowed if permissions are correct.
B
The Lambda function does not have permission to list S3 buckets
Why wrong: The error is about Kinesis, not S3.
C
The Kinesis stream is encrypted with a customer managed KMS key, and the Lambda function lacks kms:Decrypt permission
If the stream uses SSE-KMS, Lambda needs kms:Decrypt on the key.
D
The S3 bucket policy denies access to the Lambda function
Why wrong: The error is about Kinesis, not S3.