This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of development with aws services. 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 DynamoDB query must support lookup by email address as well as by user ID. Which two changes may be required?
Create a secondary index with email as a key
Correct for the stated requirement.
Scan the full table for every login
Why wrong: This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
Choose projection attributes needed by the query
Correct for the stated requirement.
Disable partition keys
Why wrong: This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Create a secondary index with email as a key
Option A is correct because a Global Secondary Index (GSI) or Local Secondary Index (LSI) on the email attribute allows DynamoDB to efficiently query by email address without scanning the entire table. Since the primary key is user ID, querying by email requires an index that uses email as the partition key or sort key. Option C is correct because specifying projection attributes limits the data returned from the index or table, reducing read capacity consumption and improving 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.
Create a secondary index with email as a key
Why this is correct
Correct for the stated requirement.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Scan the full table for every login
Why it's wrong here
This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
Choose projection attributes needed by the query
Why this is correct
Correct for the stated requirement.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Disable partition keys
Why it's wrong here
This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may think a Scan is acceptable for low-volume logins, but the exam emphasizes that any production authentication system must use an index to avoid full table scans and meet latency requirements.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, DynamoDB indexes replicate a subset of table data using a different key schema. A GSI on email allows point-in-time queries with the Query API (using KeyConditionExpression), which is O(1) latency per partition, versus a Scan which reads every item. In real-world scenarios, you might also use a composite key (e.g., email as partition key and timestamp as sort key) in the GSI to support additional query patterns like login history.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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FAQ
Development with AWS Services — This question tests Development with AWS Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Create a secondary index with email as a key — Option A is correct because a Global Secondary Index (GSI) or Local Secondary Index (LSI) on the email attribute allows DynamoDB to efficiently query by email address without scanning the entire table. Since the primary key is user ID, querying by email requires an index that uses email as the partition key or sort key. Option C is correct because specifying projection attributes limits the data returned from the index or table, reducing read capacity consumption and improving performance.
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 11, 2026
This DVA-C02 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 DVA-C02 exam.
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