- A
Increase the number of epochs to 20 and enable early stopping with patience 5.
Why wrong: More epochs do not solve the I/O bottleneck and may lead to overfitting.
- B
Convert images to RecordIO format and store them on Amazon EFS for faster access.
Why wrong: RecordIO conversion is time-consuming and EFS may introduce additional latency.
- C
Deploy the model on a SageMaker endpoint and use batch transform for offline predictions.
Why wrong: Deployment does not speed up training.
- D
Use SageMaker Pipe mode for data ingestion and upgrade to a ml.p3.8xlarge instance.
Pipe mode reduces I/O wait by streaming data; more GPUs parallelize training.
Question 35 of 1,000
mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
MLA-C01 Practice Question: A retail company uses SageMaker to train a…
This MLA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of mla-c01 exam topics. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 retail company uses SageMaker to train a multi-class image classification model with a custom ResNet-50 implemented in TensorFlow. The training data is 500 GB of images stored in S3. The data scientist uses a ml.p3.2xlarge instance with a single GPU. The training takes 10 hours per epoch, and the model does not converge after 5 epochs. The scientist needs to accelerate training and improve model accuracy. The current implementation loads images individually from S3 using TensorFlow's tf.data API. The scientist also notices high I/O wait time. Which combination of actions should the scientist take? (Assume the scientist is aware of best practices.) The answer is a single choice from A-D.
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"best"Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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
✓
Use SageMaker Pipe mode for data ingestion and upgrade to a ml.p3.8xlarge instance.
Option D is correct because SageMaker Pipe mode streams training data directly from S3 to the training container, eliminating I/O wait time caused by reading individual images. Additionally, upgrading to a ml.p3.8xlarge instance provides four GPUs, which reduces training time through data parallelism. Option A is wrong because increasing epochs does not address I/O bottlenecks or accelerate training. Option B is wrong because converting images to RecordIO and using EFS does not integrate seamlessly with TensorFlow's tf.data and introduces extra latency. Option C is wrong because deploying to a SageMaker endpoint and using batch transform is for inference, not for speeding up training.
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.
- ✗
Increase the number of epochs to 20 and enable early stopping with patience 5.
Why it's wrong here
More epochs do not solve the I/O bottleneck and may lead to overfitting.
- ✗
Convert images to RecordIO format and store them on Amazon EFS for faster access.
Why it's wrong here
RecordIO conversion is time-consuming and EFS may introduce additional latency.
- ✗
Deploy the model on a SageMaker endpoint and use batch transform for offline predictions.
Why it's wrong here
Deployment does not speed up training.
- ✓
Use SageMaker Pipe mode for data ingestion and upgrade to a ml.p3.8xlarge instance.
Why this is correct
Pipe mode reduces I/O wait by streaming data; more GPUs parallelize training.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
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
How to think about this question
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.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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 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.
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 |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which MLA-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.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this MLA-C01 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use SageMaker Pipe mode for data ingestion and upgrade to a ml.p3.8xlarge instance. — Option D is correct because SageMaker Pipe mode streams training data directly from S3 to the training container, eliminating I/O wait time caused by reading individual images. Additionally, upgrading to a ml.p3.8xlarge instance provides four GPUs, which reduces training time through data parallelism. Option A is wrong because increasing epochs does not address I/O bottlenecks or accelerate training. Option B is wrong because converting images to RecordIO and using EFS does not integrate seamlessly with TensorFlow's tf.data and introduces extra latency. Option C is wrong because deploying to a SageMaker endpoint and using batch transform is for inference, not for speeding up training.
What should I do if I get this MLA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which MLA-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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 23, 2026
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