MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A data scientist needs to query a dataset stored as Parquet files in Amazon S3 using standard SQL without managing any infrastructure. Which service should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse AWS Glue (which has a 'crawler' and 'catalog' feature) as a query service, but it is an ETL and cataloging tool, not an interactive SQL query engine; similarly, Redshift Spectrum might seem serverless but still requires a provisioned Redshift cluster.
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
✓
Amazon Athena
Amazon Athena is a serverless interactive query service that allows you to query data stored in Amazon S3 using standard SQL without any infrastructure to manage. It directly reads Parquet files from S3 and executes queries using Presto under the hood, making it the ideal choice for this use case.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon Athena
Why this is correct
Athena is serverless and supports SQL on S3.
- ✗
Amazon QuickSight
Why it's wrong here
QuickSight is a BI tool, not a query engine.
- ✗
AWS Glue
Why it's wrong here
Glue is for ETL jobs, not ad-hoc queries.
- ✗
Amazon Redshift
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is a data warehouse that requires provisioning and management.
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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