The answer is to increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job. Allocating more Data Processing Units directly boosts parallelism, allowing AWS Glue to distribute the 500 GB transformation workload across more executors, which reduces execution time by processing data partitions simultaneously. On the AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty MLS-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of Glue’s resource scaling as a primary performance lever, often contrasting it with common traps like upgrading the source database or tweaking file sizes, which rarely address compute bottlenecks. A key memory tip is to think of DPUs as the engine’s horsepower—more DPUs mean faster data crunching, but only if your job is CPU- or I/O-bound rather than constrained by shuffle or skewed data.
MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
This MLS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data engineering. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 company is building a data pipeline using AWS Glue to transform data from Amazon RDS to Amazon S3. The pipeline runs daily and processes about 500 GB of data. The team notices that the job is taking longer than expected. Which change would MOST improve the job performance?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job
Increasing the number of DPUs (Data Processing Units) allocated to the Glue job can improve parallelism and reduce execution time. Option A is wrong because upgrading RDS may not be the bottleneck. Option B is wrong because using a smaller file size could increase overhead. Option D is wrong because disabling job bookmarking is not a performance improvement.
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.
✗
Disable job bookmarking
Why it's wrong here
Job bookmarking helps incremental processing, disabling it may reprocess all data.
✓
Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job
Why this is correct
More DPUs provide more parallelism and can speed up the job.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Upgrade the RDS instance to a larger class
Why it's wrong here
The bottleneck is likely the Glue job, not the source database.
✗
Use smaller file sizes in S3 output
Why it's wrong here
Smaller files can increase metadata overhead and slow down processing.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which MLS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Data Engineering — This question tests Data Engineering — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the number of DPUs for the Glue job — Increasing the number of DPUs (Data Processing Units) allocated to the Glue job can improve parallelism and reduce execution time. Option A is wrong because upgrading RDS may not be the bottleneck. Option B is wrong because using a smaller file size could increase overhead. Option D is wrong because disabling job bookmarking is not a performance improvement.
What should I do if I get this MLS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which MLS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This MLS-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 MLS-C01 exam.
Question Discussion
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