Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon Athena, the correct choice because it enables serverless SQL queries directly on data stored in Amazon S3 without requiring any infrastructure to provision or manage. This service uses standard SQL to analyze data in place, making it ideal for quick exploratory analysis of a numeric feature’s distribution—simply point Athena at the S3 bucket, write a SELECT query with aggregation functions like MIN, MAX, or PERCENTILE_CONT, and get results in seconds. On the AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty MLS-C01 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between services for ad-hoc data exploration versus those for heavy processing or warehousing; a common trap is confusing Athena with Amazon EMR (which needs cluster setup) or AWS Glue (which is for ETL, not querying). Remember that Athena is serverless and schema-on-read, so you can query raw CSV, Parquet, or JSON files without loading them into a database. Memory tip: think “Athena for ad-hoc, no server to bother with.”
This MLS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of exploratory data analysis. 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 data scientist needs to understand the distribution of a numeric feature in a dataset stored in Amazon S3. Which AWS service can be used to run a quick exploratory query without setting up a server?
Amazon Redshift
Why wrong: Redshift is a provisioned data warehouse.
Amazon EMR
Why wrong: EMR requires provisioning a cluster, not serverless.
Amazon Athena
Athena is serverless and allows SQL queries directly on S3 data.
AWS Glue
Why wrong: Glue is primarily for ETL, not interactive querying.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon Athena
Option C is correct because Amazon Athena allows serverless SQL queries on data in S3. Option A (Amazon EMR) requires cluster setup; Option B (AWS Glue) is for ETL; Option D (Amazon Redshift) is a data warehouse.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon Redshift
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is a provisioned data warehouse.
Amazon EMR
Why it's wrong here
EMR requires provisioning a cluster, not serverless.
Amazon Athena
Why this is correct
Athena is serverless and allows SQL queries directly on S3 data.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Glue
Why it's wrong here
Glue is primarily for ETL, not interactive querying.
Common exam traps
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
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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.
Exploratory Data Analysis — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Exploratory Data Analysis — This question tests Exploratory Data Analysis — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon Athena — Option C is correct because Amazon Athena allows serverless SQL queries on data in S3. Option A (Amazon EMR) requires cluster setup; Option B (AWS Glue) is for ETL; Option D (Amazon Redshift) is a data warehouse.
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.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 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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