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 has an IAM policy attached to a user as shown in the exhibit. The user is trying to stop an EC2 instance in the us-west-2 region. What will happen?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The user cannot stop the instance because the second statement denies all actions in regions other than us-east-1.
Option B is correct because IAM policy evaluation follows an explicit deny model: any explicit deny overrides any allow. The second statement uses a `Deny` effect with a `StringNotEquals` condition on `aws:RequestedRegion`, which denies all actions (including ec2:StopInstances) when the request region is NOT us-east-1. Since the user is attempting to stop an EC2 instance in us-west-2, the condition evaluates to true, and the deny applies, blocking the action regardless of the first statement's allow.
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.
✗
The user cannot stop the instance because the condition checks the request region.
Why it's wrong here
The condition denies all actions in non-us-east-1 regions.
✓
The user cannot stop the instance because the second statement denies all actions in regions other than us-east-1.
Why this is correct
The deny statement with condition StringNotEquals us-east-1 denies the action in us-west-2.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The user can stop the instance because the first statement allows it.
Why it's wrong here
Deny statements override allow statements.
✗
The user can stop the instance because the condition applies only to the Deny statement, but the Allow statement is unconditional.
Why it's wrong here
The Deny statement explicitly denies the action, overriding the Allow.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume an unconditional Allow always wins, but they forget that an explicit Deny with a condition that matches the request will override that Allow, leading them to incorrectly choose Option D.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
IAM policy evaluation logic uses a default implicit deny, but an explicit deny (as in the second statement) takes precedence over any allow. The `StringNotEquals` condition operator in the Deny statement creates a 'deny unless the region is us-east-1' effect, which is a common pattern for restricting actions to a specific region. Under the hood, AWS evaluates all applicable policies (identity-based, resource-based, etc.) and if any statement results in an explicit deny, the final decision is Deny, regardless of other allows.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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.
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: The user cannot stop the instance because the second statement denies all actions in regions other than us-east-1. — Option B is correct because IAM policy evaluation follows an explicit deny model: any explicit deny overrides any allow. The second statement uses a `Deny` effect with a `StringNotEquals` condition on `aws:RequestedRegion`, which denies all actions (including ec2:StopInstances) when the request region is NOT us-east-1. Since the user is attempting to stop an EC2 instance in us-west-2, the condition evaluates to true, and the deny applies, blocking the action regardless of the first statement's allow.
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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