MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
Which THREE considerations are important when designing a data lake on Amazon S3?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse S3 with EBS features (like Provisioned IOPS) or overlook that S3 inherently provides multi-AZ durability, making single-AZ storage an anti-pattern for data lakes.
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
✓
Setting up S3 Lifecycle policies to transition data to colder storage
S3 Lifecycle policies allow you to automatically transition objects to colder storage classes (e.g., S3 Standard-IA, S3 Glacier) based on age or other rules, reducing storage costs for infrequently accessed data in a data lake. This is a key design consideration for managing data lifecycle and cost efficiency at scale.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Setting up S3 Lifecycle policies to transition data to colder storage
Why this is correct
Lifecycle policies manage cost.
- ✗
Using Provisioned IOPS for S3
Why it's wrong here
Provisioned IOPS is for EBS, not S3.
- ✓
Partitioning data by date to improve query performance
Why this is correct
Partitioning improves query efficiency.
- ✗
Using a single Availability Zone for data storage
Why it's wrong here
S3 is regional, not AZ-specific.
- ✓
Encrypting data at rest using AWS KMS
Why this is correct
Encryption is a security best practice.
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 |
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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.