easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
MLA-C01 Practice Question: A data scientist is training a linear regression…
A data scientist is training a linear regression model on a dataset with 10 features. After training, the model shows high training accuracy but poor test accuracy. Which of the following is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
AWS often tests the distinction between overfitting and data leakage by presenting a scenario with high training accuracy and low test accuracy, where candidates mistakenly attribute the gap to data leakage instead of recognizing the classic overfitting pattern.
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
✓
Overfitting
High training accuracy with poor test accuracy is the classic symptom of overfitting, where the model learns noise and specific patterns in the training data rather than generalizable relationships. With 10 features, the model has sufficient capacity to memorize the training set, leading to excellent in-sample performance but failure on unseen data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Data leakage
Why it's wrong here
Data leakage can cause overly optimistic performance but typically affects both training and test sets if done incorrectly.
- ✗
Feature scaling
Why it's wrong here
Feature scaling is a preprocessing step that helps optimization but is not a direct cause of overfitting.
- ✓
Overfitting
Why this is correct
Overfitting occurs when the model learns noise in the training data, leading to high training accuracy but poor generalization.
- ✗
Underfitting
Why it's wrong here
Underfitting would result in poor training and test accuracy, not high training accuracy.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MLA-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 MLA-C01 exam.