DVA-C02 Development with AWS Services Practice Question
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 table uses partition key customerId. One enterprise customer generates most traffic and is throttled while the table has unused capacity elsewhere. What design change best addresses the hot partition?
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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add write sharding or redesign the partition key to distribute that customer's workload
Option D is correct because the hot partition is caused by a single customerId receiving a disproportionate amount of traffic, exceeding the 3000 RCU or 1000 WCU per partition limit. By adding write sharding (e.g., appending a random suffix to the partition key) or redesigning the partition key to include a more granular attribute, you distribute that customer's writes across multiple partitions, eliminating the bottleneck and utilizing the table's unused capacity.
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.
✗
Enable point-in-time recovery
Why it's wrong here
This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
✗
Reduce item size by removing attributes
Why it's wrong here
This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
✗
Use strongly consistent reads only
Why it's wrong here
This does not meet the stated requirement as directly as the correct option.
✓
Add write sharding or redesign the partition key to distribute that customer's workload
Why this is correct
Correct for the stated requirement.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
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 mistakenly believe reducing item size or changing read consistency can resolve a hot partition, when only redistributing the partition key's workload addresses the underlying throughput imbalance.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, DynamoDB partitions data by the partition key's hash value; a single partition can handle up to 3000 RCU or 1000 WCU. Write sharding appends a random suffix (e.g., 1–10) to the customerId, creating multiple logical partitions for the same customer, each with its own throughput capacity. In practice, this is often combined with a secondary index or a composite key to allow querying all shards efficiently.
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 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
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.
Development with AWS Services — This question tests Development with AWS Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add write sharding or redesign the partition key to distribute that customer's workload — Option D is correct because the hot partition is caused by a single customerId receiving a disproportionate amount of traffic, exceeding the 3000 RCU or 1000 WCU per partition limit. By adding write sharding (e.g., appending a random suffix to the partition key) or redesigning the partition key to include a more granular attribute, you distribute that customer's writes across multiple partitions, eliminating the bottleneck and utilizing the table's unused capacity.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
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.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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.
Question Discussion
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