MLA-C01 Data Preparation for Machine Learning Practice Question
An ML engineer needs to convert a raw dataset from CSV to Parquet format in a serverless manner for cost efficiency. Which AWS service can be used to perform this conversion without managing servers?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse AWS Glue's serverless ETL capability with Amazon EMR's managed clusters, assuming EMR is also serverless, but EMR requires explicit cluster management and is not truly serverless like Glue.
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
✓
AWS Glue
AWS Glue is correct because it provides a serverless ETL service that can automatically convert CSV to Parquet using its built-in transform capabilities, such as the `ChangeSchema` or `ConvertToParquet` transforms in a Glue ETL job. This eliminates the need to provision or manage any servers, aligning with the cost-efficiency requirement.
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 S3 Select
Why it's wrong here
S3 Select retrieves subsets of data, does not convert format.
- ✗
Amazon EMR
Why it's wrong here
EMR requires provisioning and managing clusters.
- ✗
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
Lambda is not designed for large-scale ETL; time and memory limits apply.
- ✓
AWS Glue
Why this is correct
Glue provides serverless Spark jobs for format conversion.
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 |
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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.