A team serves static content (JavaScript, CSS, images) from S3 through CloudFront. After a recent release, CloudFront reports a low cache hit ratio and the S3 origin receives a much higher request rate. The site still works, but billing shows higher origin and data transfer costs. Which change is most likely to improve cache hit ratio and reduce origin load?

Disable CloudFront access logging so fewer requests are recorded and billing decreases automatically.

Disabling logging may reduce logging cost, but it does not affect cache hit ratio or origin request volume. The billing issue is primarily tied to data transfer and origin requests, not the logging configuration.

Set the distribution’s origin to use S3 Transfer Acceleration to reduce the number of requests hitting S3.

Transfer Acceleration affects how data is delivered to S3 when accessed, but it doesn’t change whether CloudFront caches objects. If cache hit ratio is low due to TTL or cacheability headers, origin request volume remains high.

Force CloudFront to forward query strings to the origin for all static content so the latest versions are always fetched.

Forwarding query strings typically increases cache fragmentation because each query string value can create a separate cache key. This often reduces cache hit ratio and increases origin load, worsening cost.

What does this SAA-C03 question test?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Configure a CloudFront cache policy (or update HTTP cache-control headers) to increase TTLs for versioned static assets and enable compression for text assets. — Low cache hit ratio usually means CloudFront is not keeping objects in cache long enough or requests are producing cache keys that fragment caching. Increasing TTLs (often via correct cache-control headers or a CloudFront cache policy) for versioned static assets allows many repeated requests to be served from edge locations rather than repeatedly contacting the S3 origin. Enabling compression for text assets reduces payload size, lowering data transfer and improving perceived performance, both contributing to cost reduction. Access logging affects record-keeping and not caching behavior, so it won’t resolve origin request surges. Transfer Acceleration changes S3 delivery mechanics but cannot fix cacheability or TTL-related re-fetching. Forcing query string forwarding commonly decreases cache efficiency due to more unique cache keys. Only adjusting cache policy/headers and compression directly targets cache hit ratio and origin load.

What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.