This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of development with aws services. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
The exhibit shows an IAM policy attached to a user. The user reports being unable to upload files to S3 bucket 'my-bucket'. What is the MOST likely cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The bucket policy denies the upload
The user has an IAM policy that grants s3:PutObject on 'my-bucket', but the bucket policy explicitly denies s3:PutObject for that user. Since an explicit deny in a resource-based policy overrides any allow in an identity-based policy, the upload fails. AWS IAM evaluates all policies, and a single explicit deny results in a final decision of deny.
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.
✗
The user needs s3:PutObjectAcl permission
Why it's wrong here
ACL permissions are not required unless specifying canned ACLs.
✓
The bucket policy denies the upload
Why this is correct
A bucket policy can override IAM permissions.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The policy does not allow s3:ListBucket
Why it's wrong here
ListBucket is not required for upload.
✗
The user does not have s3:GetObject permission
Why it's wrong here
GetObject is allowed, but that is not needed for upload.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume an IAM allow is sufficient, forgetting that resource-based policies (like S3 bucket policies) can override with an explicit deny, making the user unable to upload despite having the correct IAM permissions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
IAM policy evaluation logic follows an explicit deny override: if any policy (identity-based or resource-based) explicitly denies an action, the result is deny regardless of allows. Bucket policies are resource-based policies attached directly to the S3 bucket, and they can include conditions like NotPrincipal or Deny statements that block specific users even if their IAM user policy allows the action. This is a common pattern for enforcing organization-wide security controls at the resource level.
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 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.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
Storage Class
Min Duration
Retrieval
Use Case
S3 Standard
None
Immediate
Frequently accessed data
S3 Standard-IA
30 days
Immediate
Infrequent access, rapid retrieval
S3 One Zone-IA
30 days
Immediate
Non-critical infrequent data
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
None
Immediate–hours
Unknown or changing access patterns
S3 Glacier Instant
90 days
Milliseconds
Archive with instant retrieval
S3 Glacier Flexible
90 days
Minutes–hours
Archive, flexible retrieval
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
180 days
Hours
Long-term compliance archive
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: The bucket policy denies the upload — The user has an IAM policy that grants s3:PutObject on 'my-bucket', but the bucket policy explicitly denies s3:PutObject for that user. Since an explicit deny in a resource-based policy overrides any allow in an identity-based policy, the upload fails. AWS IAM evaluates all policies, and a single explicit deny results in a final decision of deny.
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: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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