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Design for New SolutionshardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question

This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 data lake on AWS using Amazon S3 as the storage layer. The data lake will ingest data from multiple sources, including streaming data from Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and batch data from on-premises systems via AWS Snowball. The company needs to catalog the data and make it available for querying with Amazon Athena and Amazon Redshift Spectrum. Which combination of services should the company use to meet these requirements?

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 Glue to create a data catalog and run ETL jobs for both streaming and batch data.

AWS Glue provides a fully managed data catalog that integrates with Amazon Athena and Amazon Redshift Spectrum, making it the central metadata repository for the data lake. It can run ETL jobs for both streaming data (via Glue Streaming ETL) and batch data (via Glue Crawlers and Jobs), satisfying the requirement to catalog and prepare data from Kinesis Data Streams and Snowball. This combination directly meets the need for a unified catalog and query readiness.

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 Glue to create a data catalog and run ETL jobs for both streaming and batch data.

    Why this is correct

    Glue provides a data catalog and ETL capabilities.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

  • Use AWS Lake Formation to set up the data lake and use its built-in catalog.

    Why it's wrong here

    Lake Formation uses Glue catalog, but the question asks for a combination.

  • Use Amazon Athena to create tables and partitions directly from S3.

    Why it's wrong here

    Athena can query data but does not provide a managed catalog.

  • Use Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to deliver streaming data to S3 and catalog with Athena.

    Why it's wrong here

    Firehose does not catalog data.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often assume Lake Formation (Option B) is the primary catalog service, but it actually uses the Glue Data Catalog as its foundation, and the question requires ETL capabilities that Lake Formation does not natively provide.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

AWS Glue Streaming ETL uses Apache Spark Structured Streaming under the hood, allowing continuous processing of data from Kinesis Data Streams with exactly-once semantics. Glue Crawlers automatically infer schema and populate the Data Catalog, which is Apache Hive Metastore-compatible, enabling seamless integration with Athena and Redshift Spectrum without manual table creation. For batch data from Snowball, Glue Jobs can read data from S3 and perform transformations, with the catalog automatically updated to reflect new partitions.

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 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.

Quick reference

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

Storage ClassMin DurationRetrievalUse Case
S3 StandardNoneImmediateFrequently accessed data
S3 Standard-IA30 daysImmediateInfrequent access, rapid retrieval
S3 One Zone-IA30 daysImmediateNon-critical infrequent data
S3 Intelligent-TieringNoneImmediate–hoursUnknown or changing access patterns
S3 Glacier Instant90 daysMillisecondsArchive with instant retrieval
S3 Glacier Flexible90 daysMinutes–hoursArchive, flexible retrieval
S3 Glacier Deep Archive180 daysHoursLong-term compliance archive

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.

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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 Glue to create a data catalog and run ETL jobs for both streaming and batch data. — AWS Glue provides a fully managed data catalog that integrates with Amazon Athena and Amazon Redshift Spectrum, making it the central metadata repository for the data lake. It can run ETL jobs for both streaming data (via Glue Streaming ETL) and batch data (via Glue Crawlers and Jobs), satisfying the requirement to catalog and prepare data from Kinesis Data Streams and Snowball. This combination directly meets the need for a unified catalog and query readiness.

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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026

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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.