Quick Answer
The correct choice is to switch to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volume types because a write-heavy workload with frequent small transactions demands consistent, low-latency I/O performance that burstable storage like gp2 or gp3 cannot guarantee during peak hours. Provisioned IOPS volumes allocate a fixed number of I/O operations per second, eliminating the bottleneck caused by insufficient write capacity and ensuring predictable latency for each transaction. On the AWS Certified Database Specialty DBS-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of storage performance characteristics under write-intensive loads—a common trap is assuming that increasing instance size or enabling Multi-AZ alone will fix I/O latency, but only Provisioned IOPS directly addresses the IOPS ceiling. Remember the memory tip: “Write-heavy and small? Provisioned IOPS is your call.”
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 financial services company runs a critical application on Amazon RDS for Oracle. The workload is write-heavy with frequent small transactions. The DBA notices high latency during peak hours. Which design change would best address this?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Implement ElastiCache for Redis
Why wrong: Does not directly improve write latency to the database.
Enable Multi-AZ deployment
Why wrong: Improves availability, not write latency.
Switch to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volume type
Provides predictable high IOPS for write-heavy workloads.
Add a read replica
Why wrong: Read replicas help read scaling, not write 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
Switch to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volume type
Option C is correct because the workload is write-heavy with frequent small transactions, and high latency during peak hours indicates that the current storage volume is not meeting the IOPS demands. Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volumes provide consistent, low-latency performance by guaranteeing a specific number of IOPS, which directly addresses the bottleneck caused by insufficient I/O capacity for write-intensive operations.
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.
Implement ElastiCache for Redis
Why it's wrong here
Does not directly improve write latency to the database.
Enable Multi-AZ deployment
Why it's wrong here
Improves availability, not write latency.
Switch to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volume type
Why this is correct
Provides predictable high IOPS for write-heavy workloads.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Add a read replica
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas help read scaling, not write performance.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse high latency with a read performance issue and incorrectly choose a read replica or caching, when the problem is actually a write I/O bottleneck that requires a storage-level solution like Provisioned IOPS.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, RDS for Oracle uses Amazon EBS volumes for storage; gp2/gp3 volumes have burst credits that can be exhausted under sustained high IOPS, causing throttling and increased latency. Provisioned IOPS volumes (io1/io2) bypass this by guaranteeing a specific IOPS level (up to 256,000 for io2), and io2 Block Express offers sub-millisecond latency, which is critical for write-heavy transactional workloads where each commit requires a synchronous write to disk. In a real-world scenario, a financial trading system processing thousands of small transactions per second would see latency spikes on gp3 if the baseline IOPS is exceeded, whereas io2 provides consistent performance under load.
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
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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: Switch to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volume type — Option C is correct because the workload is write-heavy with frequent small transactions, and high latency during peak hours indicates that the current storage volume is not meeting the IOPS demands. Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) volumes provide consistent, low-latency performance by guaranteeing a specific number of IOPS, which directly addresses the bottleneck caused by insufficient I/O capacity for write-intensive operations.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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