- A
Use AWS Lake Formation to define data filters and grant permissions to departments at the partition level.
Lake Formation provides fine-grained access control, including partition-level filtering for Athena.
- B
Use S3 bucket policies to restrict access to prefixes corresponding to each department.
Why wrong: Bucket policies can restrict prefixes, but they are not integrated with Athena's partition metadata.
- C
Store each department's data in separate databases and use Amazon Redshift Spectrum to query.
Why wrong: Redshift Spectrum is not the query engine; Athena is used for ad-hoc queries.
- D
Create separate IAM roles for each department and attach policies that grant access to specific partitions in Athena.
Why wrong: Athena does not support partition-level IAM permissions natively; it queries all partitions unless filtered.
Quick Answer
The correct approach is to use AWS Lake Formation to define data filters and grant permissions to departments at the partition level. This works because Lake Formation provides fine-grained access control for Athena partitions by allowing you to create row-level and cell-level security policies that restrict which partitions a user or role can query, directly mapping to department-level segmentation in the data lake. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of how Lake Formation integrates with Athena to enforce partition-level permissions, a common scenario for multi-tenant data lakes. A frequent trap is confusing S3 bucket policies or IAM policies as sufficient, but these operate at the object or API level and cannot natively restrict Athena partitions without complex workarounds. Memory tip: think of Lake Formation as the "partition bouncer" — it checks your department ID at the partition door, while S3 and IAM only check your ID at the building entrance.
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 company is designing a new data lake on AWS. The data lake will store raw data in Amazon S3 and use Amazon Athena for ad-hoc queries. The company needs to ensure that only authorized users can query specific partitions based on their department. Which approach should the company use to implement fine-grained access control?
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 AWS Lake Formation to define data filters and grant permissions to departments at the partition level.
Using AWS Lake Formation with row-level and cell-level security allows fine-grained access control based on partitions. Option A is wrong because S3 bucket policies control access at the object level, not partition level. Option B is wrong because IAM policies alone cannot easily restrict partitions in Athena. Option D is wrong because Redshift Spectrum is for querying data in Redshift, not Athena.
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.
- ✓
Use AWS Lake Formation to define data filters and grant permissions to departments at the partition level.
Why this is correct
Lake Formation provides fine-grained access control, including partition-level filtering for Athena.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use S3 bucket policies to restrict access to prefixes corresponding to each department.
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies can restrict prefixes, but they are not integrated with Athena's partition metadata.
- ✗
Store each department's data in separate databases and use Amazon Redshift Spectrum to query.
Why it's wrong here
Redshift Spectrum is not the query engine; Athena is used for ad-hoc queries.
- ✗
Create separate IAM roles for each department and attach policies that grant access to specific partitions in Athena.
Why it's wrong here
Athena does not support partition-level IAM permissions natively; it queries all partitions unless filtered.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 question test?
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use AWS Lake Formation to define data filters and grant permissions to departments at the partition level. — Using AWS Lake Formation with row-level and cell-level security allows fine-grained access control based on partitions. Option A is wrong because S3 bucket policies control access at the object level, not partition level. Option B is wrong because IAM policies alone cannot easily restrict partitions in Athena. Option D is wrong because Redshift Spectrum is for querying data in Redshift, not Athena.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SAP-C02 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.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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