SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company runs a stateless web application on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application occasionally receives traffic spikes that cause the Auto Scaling group to launch new instances. However, the new instances take several minutes to become healthy, causing a temporary performance degradation. Which TWO actions would improve the scaling responsiveness? (Select TWO.)
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 a launch template with a pre-provisioned AMI that includes the application and dependencies.
Using a launch template with a pre-provisioned AMI reduces instance startup time, allowing new instances to become healthy faster during traffic spikes. Option E is correct because a scheduled scaling policy can add instances before expected traffic spikes, proactively handling the load. Option A is incorrect because increasing the cooldown period would delay additional scaling actions, worsening responsiveness. Option B is incorrect because reducing the health check interval does not speed up instance initialization; it only checks health more frequently. Option C is incorrect because decreasing the health check grace period may cause instances to be terminated prematurely before they have a chance to become healthy.
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 Auto Scaling group cooldown period.
Why it's wrong here
Longer cooldown delays scaling activities.
- ✗
Reduce the target group health check interval to 5 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
Frequent health checks do not speed up instance startup.
- ✗
Decrease the health check grace period to 30 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
Shorter grace period may cause healthy instances to be terminated.
- ✓
Use a launch template with a pre-provisioned AMI that includes the application and dependencies.
Why this is correct
Pre-warmed AMI reduces launch time.
- ✓
Configure a scheduled scaling policy to add instances before expected traffic spikes.
Why this is correct
Scheduled scaling proactively adds capacity.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,660 original SAP-C02 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SAP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company runs a stateless web application on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application is deployed across multiple Availability Zones. The team notices that during a recent traffic spike, some instances were terminated and replaced, causing a temporary drop in performance. How can the team improve the resilience of the application?
medium- A.Purchase Reserved Instances to ensure capacity.
- B.Use lifecycle hooks to wait for instance termination.
- C.Increase the instance size to handle more traffic.
- ✓ D.Configure a warm pool for the Auto Scaling group.
Why D: A warm pool pre-initializes instances, reducing the time needed for new instances to become ready during scale-out events. Option A is wrong because Reserved Instances guarantee capacity but do not reduce the initialization delay. Option B is wrong because lifecycle hooks can delay termination but do not accelerate instance readiness. Option C is wrong because larger instance size does not prevent the temporary drop in performance caused by instance replacement delays.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.