SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of continuous improvement for existing 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 using an AWS Lambda function to process records from an Amazon Kinesis stream. The function stores results in an Amazon DynamoDB table. The team notices that the Lambda function sometimes fails due to throttling from DynamoDB. Which TWO actions should the team take to improve the continuous processing of records? (Choose TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Switch the DynamoDB table to on-demand capacity mode.
Option D is correct because switching the DynamoDB table to on-demand capacity mode eliminates the need to provision read/write capacity, allowing the table to automatically scale to handle any throttling caused by sudden spikes in Lambda writes. This directly addresses the throttling issue without requiring manual capacity management.
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.
✗
Increase the number of shards in the Kinesis stream to reduce data per Lambda invocation.
Why it's wrong here
This does not address DynamoDB throttling.
✗
Configure reserved concurrency for the Lambda function to limit its maximum concurrency.
Why it's wrong here
Reserved concurrency limits Lambda, not DynamoDB throttling.
✗
Increase the concurrency limit for the Lambda function to allow more parallel executions.
Why it's wrong here
More concurrency may increase throttling.
✓
Switch the DynamoDB table to on-demand capacity mode.
Why this is correct
On-demand mode eliminates throttling by scaling automatically.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Enable DynamoDB auto scaling for the table to adjust read/write capacity automatically.
Why this is correct
Auto scaling adjusts capacity to handle load, reducing throttling.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose to increase Lambda concurrency or shards, thinking more parallelism will improve processing, but they fail to recognize that the bottleneck is DynamoDB capacity, and increasing Lambda concurrency only worsens the throttling.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
DynamoDB on-demand capacity mode uses a built-in adaptive capacity mechanism that automatically scales throughput based on traffic patterns, but it has a per-table throughput limit of 40,000 read and 40,000 write request units per second, with a burst buffer of up to 5 minutes. In contrast, auto scaling (Option E) adjusts provisioned capacity based on CloudWatch metrics but can lag behind sudden spikes, leading to transient throttling. A real-world scenario is a streaming application that processes unpredictable traffic, where on-demand capacity prevents write throttling without requiring pre-provisioning.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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 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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions — This question tests Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Switch the DynamoDB table to on-demand capacity mode. — Option D is correct because switching the DynamoDB table to on-demand capacity mode eliminates the need to provision read/write capacity, allowing the table to automatically scale to handle any throttling caused by sudden spikes in Lambda writes. This directly addresses the throttling issue without requiring manual capacity management.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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