Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering, as it automatically optimizes storage costs for data lake workloads that combine Amazon Athena SQL queries with Amazon SageMaker training data access. This tier monitors access patterns and moves infrequently used data to lower-cost tiers without any retrieval delays, ensuring immediate availability for both Athena’s ad-hoc queries and SageMaker’s training jobs while minimizing expenses for cold data. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of cost-optimization trade-offs between performance and retrieval time—a common trap is choosing S3 Glacier, which incurs restore latency that breaks Athena’s real-time query model, or S3 Standard, which wastes money on rarely accessed data. Remember the mnemonic “Intelligent for unpredictable access” to recall that this tier is ideal when you cannot predict which data will become cold, making it the perfect fit for a dynamic data lake.
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. 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 company is designing a new data lake on AWS. The data lake must support SQL queries using Amazon Athena and also allow Amazon SageMaker to access training data. The solution must minimize storage costs for infrequently accessed data while providing immediate access when needed. Which storage tier should be used for the data lake?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why wrong: Requires restore time, not immediately accessible.
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Automatically optimizes cost by moving data between tiers.
Amazon S3 Standard
Why wrong: More expensive for infrequently accessed data.
Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Why wrong: Less durable and not recommended for critical data.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Option B is correct because S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between access tiers based on usage, minimizing cost for infrequently accessed data while maintaining low latency. Option A (S3 Standard) is more expensive for rarely accessed data. Option C (S3 Glacier) requires restore time. Option D (S3 One Zone-IA) is less durable and not recommended for a data lake.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why it's wrong here
Requires restore time, not immediately accessible.
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why this is correct
Automatically optimizes cost by moving data between tiers.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
More expensive for infrequently accessed data.
Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Why it's wrong here
Less durable and not recommended for critical data.
Common exam traps
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
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering — Option B is correct because S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between access tiers based on usage, minimizing cost for infrequently accessed data while maintaining low latency. Option A (S3 Standard) is more expensive for rarely accessed data. Option C (S3 Glacier) requires restore time. Option D (S3 One Zone-IA) is less durable and not recommended for a data lake.
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.
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
This SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 exam.
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