- A
Apply an SCP to the development account that denies iam:CreateUser.
SCPs are effective even for users with full administrative permissions.
- B
Create an IAM group for developers with a policy that denies iam:CreateUser.
Why wrong: Same issue as A; developers might be able to leave the group.
- C
Enable AWS CloudTrail to monitor iam:CreateUser calls.
Why wrong: Monitoring does not prevent the action.
- D
Attach an IAM policy to each developer user that denies iam:CreateUser.
Why wrong: If developers have permissions to change their own policies, they could remove this deny.
Question 948 of 1,746
SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. 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 AWS Organizations with consolidated billing. The company has a production account and a development account. The security team needs to ensure that developers cannot create IAM users in the development account. Which option is the MOST effective?
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
✓
Apply an SCP to the development account that denies iam:CreateUser.
Option A is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) are the most effective way to enforce permissions boundaries across entire accounts in AWS Organizations. An SCP applied to the development account will deny the `iam:CreateUser` action for all principals (including the root user) in that account, regardless of any IAM policies attached to users or roles. This ensures developers cannot create IAM users, even if they have full administrative access within the account.
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.
- ✓
Apply an SCP to the development account that denies iam:CreateUser.
Why this is correct
SCPs are effective even for users with full administrative permissions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Create an IAM group for developers with a policy that denies iam:CreateUser.
Why it's wrong here
Same issue as A; developers might be able to leave the group.
- ✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail to monitor iam:CreateUser calls.
Why it's wrong here
Monitoring does not prevent the action.
- ✗
Attach an IAM policy to each developer user that denies iam:CreateUser.
Why it's wrong here
If developers have permissions to change their own policies, they could remove this deny.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse IAM policies (which are account-specific and can be overridden) with SCPs (which are organization-wide and cannot be bypassed by account administrators), leading them to choose an IAM-based solution that is less effective for cross-account control.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs operate at the organization level and act as a centralized guardrail, affecting all IAM users, roles, and even the root user within the target account. Unlike IAM policies, SCPs do not grant permissions; they only set a maximum permission boundary that cannot be exceeded. This is particularly useful in consolidated billing setups where you want to enforce compliance across multiple accounts without granting cross-account access.
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.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Apply an SCP to the development account that denies iam:CreateUser. — Option A is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) are the most effective way to enforce permissions boundaries across entire accounts in AWS Organizations. An SCP applied to the development account will deny the `iam:CreateUser` action for all principals (including the root user) in that account, regardless of any IAM policies attached to users or roles. This ensures developers cannot create IAM users, even if they have full administrative access within the account.
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
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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