- A
Amazon EMR
Why wrong: EMR is not serverless; it requires cluster provisioning.
- B
Amazon SQS
Why wrong: SQS is a message queue, not designed for streaming data ingestion.
- C
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Delivers transformed data directly to Redshift.
- D
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Captures streaming data in real-time.
- E
AWS Lambda
Can process records from Kinesis and transform them.
Question 1,390 of 1,755
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.
Which THREE AWS services can be used together to build a serverless data pipeline that ingests streaming data, transforms it, and loads it into Amazon Redshift for analysis?
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 Kinesis Data Firehose
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose (C) is the correct service because it is designed to reliably capture, transform, and load streaming data into Amazon Redshift with near-real-time latency. It can invoke AWS Lambda for on-the-fly data transformation (e.g., converting JSON to Parquet) and directly stream the processed records into Redshift via the Redshift COPY command, making it the central orchestration component for a serverless pipeline.
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.
- ✗
Amazon EMR
Why it's wrong here
EMR is not serverless; it requires cluster provisioning.
- ✗
Amazon SQS
Why it's wrong here
SQS is a message queue, not designed for streaming data ingestion.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why this is correct
Delivers transformed data directly to Redshift.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why this is correct
Captures streaming data in real-time.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
AWS Lambda
Why this is correct
Can process records from Kinesis and transform them.
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 often confuse Amazon EMR as a serverless option, but EMR requires cluster management and is not serverless, whereas Kinesis Data Firehose and Lambda provide a fully managed, serverless ingestion and transformation layer.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Kinesis Data Firehose buffers incoming data to a configurable size (e.g., 1 MB) or interval (e.g., 60 seconds) before invoking a Lambda function for transformation, then uses the Redshift COPY command with a manifest file to load data into a staging table. A real-world scenario is ingesting clickstream data from a website: Kinesis Data Streams captures the raw events, Lambda transforms them (e.g., enriching with geolocation), and Firehose batches the results into Redshift for analytics—all without managing any servers.
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.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this MLS-C01 question test?
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: Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose — Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose (C) is the correct service because it is designed to reliably capture, transform, and load streaming data into Amazon Redshift with near-real-time latency. It can invoke AWS Lambda for on-the-fly data transformation (e.g., converting JSON to Parquet) and directly stream the processed records into Redshift via the Redshift COPY command, making it the central orchestration component for a serverless pipeline.
What should I do if I get this MLS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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