SAA-C03 Design High-Performing Architectures Practice Question
A media company experiences unpredictable traffic spikes on its web application. The architect needs to ensure the application remains responsive while optimizing for performance. Which TWO strategies should be implemented? (Select TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
SAA-C03 often tests the misconception that vertical scaling or simple scaling with long cooldowns can handle unpredictable spikes effectively, when in fact automatic, responsive scaling is needed.
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
✓
Configure a Target Tracking Scaling Policy for the Auto Scaling group.
Option A is correct because a Target Tracking Scaling Policy for the Auto Scaling group automatically adjusts capacity to maintain a specified metric (such as average CPU utilization or ALB request count per target) at a target value, which directly handles unpredictable traffic spikes while keeping the application responsive. Option C is correct because deploying Amazon CloudFront in front of the Application Load Balancer caches static and cacheable content at edge locations, reduces latency for global users, and offloads traffic from the origin, improving performance during spikes. Option B is not appropriate because a Simple Scaling Policy with a large cooldown period reacts slowly and can leave the application under-provisioned during sudden spikes. Option D is irrelevant because provisioning io2 IOPS on EC2 root volumes addresses storage throughput, not web traffic responsiveness. Option E is not suitable because manual vertical scaling is slow, requires downtime or restarts, and cannot respond to unpredictable spikes in real time.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Configure a Target Tracking Scaling Policy for the Auto Scaling group.
Why this is correct
Target tracking scaling policies allow the Auto Scaling group to maintain a specific metric value, such as average CPU utilization. This approach ensures the application scales out proactively to handle incoming traffic spikes while scaling in during low activity to maintain optimal performance and cost-efficiency.
- ✗
Use a Simple Scaling Policy with a large cooldown period.
Why it's wrong here
Simple scaling policies are less responsive than target tracking because they wait for a specific alarm and cooldown period before taking further action. Large cooldown periods can lead to performance degradation during rapid traffic spikes because the system cannot add new instances quickly enough to meet demand.
- ✓
Deploy Amazon CloudFront in front of the Application Load Balancer.
Why this is correct
Amazon CloudFront caches content at edge locations, which significantly reduces the latency for end-users and decreases the request load on the backend web servers. This allows the application to handle much higher traffic volumes without requiring a proportional increase in expensive EC2 compute resources.
- ✗
Provision IOPS (io2) for all EC2 root volumes.
Why it's wrong here
While provisioned IOPS improve disk performance, they do not address the scaling requirements of a web application facing traffic spikes. Root volumes for web servers typically do not require high IOPS for request handling; instead, the bottleneck is usually CPU, memory, or network bandwidth.
- ✗
Implement vertical scaling by increasing instance sizes manually.
Why it's wrong here
Vertical scaling requires stopping and starting instances to change their size, which causes downtime and is not a viable strategy for handling unpredictable traffic spikes. Horizontal scaling through Auto Scaling is the preferred AWS architecture for ensuring high performance and availability for web applications.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SAA-C03 question from scratch — 149 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This SAA-C03 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 SAA-C03 exam.