MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A company uses an Amazon SageMaker notebook to train a model using data from an S3 bucket. The IAM role attached to the notebook has the following policy. What is the MOST specific change needed to allow the notebook to read from the bucket 'ml-data-123'?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often focus on adding Allow permissions or alternative access methods (like access points or bucket policies) without recognizing that an explicit Deny in the IAM policy is the absolute blocker that must be removed first.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Remove the Deny statement from the IAM policy.
The existing IAM policy includes an explicit Deny statement that blocks all s3:GetObject access to the bucket 'ml-data-123'. In IAM, an explicit Deny overrides any Allow, so even if other policies grant read access, the Deny prevents it. Removing the Deny statement is the most specific change because it eliminates the blocking condition without requiring additional permissions or resources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add an Allow statement for 's3:GetObject' on 'ml-data-123' to the IAM policy.
Why it's wrong here
Explicit denies take precedence over allows; adding an allow does not remove the deny.
- ✓
Remove the Deny statement from the IAM policy.
Why this is correct
An explicit deny overrides any allow; removing the deny allows the existing S3 actions to work.
- ✗
Create an S3 access point and update the IAM policy to use the access point ARN.
Why it's wrong here
Access points provide granular access but do not override explicit denies in IAM.
- ✗
Add a bucket policy on 'ml-data-123' that grants access to the notebook's IAM role.
Why it's wrong here
The IAM role already has a Deny; adding a bucket policy does not override the explicit deny.
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 |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.