This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of workload-specific database design. 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 gaming company uses Amazon DynamoDB to store player profiles with partition key player_id. The access pattern is to retrieve profiles for multiple players in a single request. The application currently makes separate GetItem calls, causing high latency. Which design pattern reduces latency and cost?
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
Why wrong: DAX reduces latency but still requires multiple calls.
Redesign to a single-table design
Why wrong: Does not directly address batch retrieval.
Create a global secondary index on player_id
Why wrong: GSI does not reduce multiple get requests.
Use BatchGetItem to retrieve multiple items in one request
BatchGetItem reduces I/O and latency.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use BatchGetItem to retrieve multiple items in one request
BatchGetItem allows you to retrieve up to 100 items or 16 MB of data from multiple tables in a single API call, reducing the number of network round trips compared to individual GetItem calls. This directly addresses the high latency caused by multiple sequential requests and also reduces cost because you pay for read capacity units (RCUs) based on the total item size, not per request overhead.
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.
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
Why it's wrong here
DAX reduces latency but still requires multiple calls.
Redesign to a single-table design
Why it's wrong here
Does not directly address batch retrieval.
Create a global secondary index on player_id
Why it's wrong here
GSI does not reduce multiple get requests.
Use BatchGetItem to retrieve multiple items in one request
Why this is correct
BatchGetItem reduces I/O and latency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
AWS often tests the misconception that caching (DAX) or indexing (GSI) can solve multi-item retrieval latency, when the actual solution is to reduce the number of API calls using BatchGetItem, which directly targets the root cause of high latency from sequential requests.
Detailed technical explanation
BatchGetItem internally parallelizes the retrieval of items across partitions using the DynamoDB backend, but it still consumes RCUs for each item read; however, it eliminates the per-request overhead of HTTP connections and request processing, which can reduce latency by 50-80% for small items. A subtle behavior is that BatchGetItem is not atomic—if some items fail, the response includes unprocessed keys that you must retry, but you can use exponential backoff to handle this efficiently.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Workload-Specific Database Design — This question tests Workload-Specific Database Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use BatchGetItem to retrieve multiple items in one request — BatchGetItem allows you to retrieve up to 100 items or 16 MB of data from multiple tables in a single API call, reducing the number of network round trips compared to individual GetItem calls. This directly addresses the high latency caused by multiple sequential requests and also reduces cost because you pay for read capacity units (RCUs) based on the total item size, not per request overhead.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This DBS-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 DBS-C01 exam.
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