The answer is that the SCP applies to the production account because it is attached to the root. This is correct because SCP inheritance flows downward from the root through every organizational unit to all member accounts, meaning any policy attached to the root affects every account in the organization except the management account. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this concept tests your understanding that SCPs set a global permission boundary for member accounts, overriding any IAM-based allow policies within those accounts. A common trap is assuming SCPs only affect accounts in specific OUs or that they can be bypassed by IAM permissions, but SCPs act as a deny-first filter that cannot be overridden by account-level administrators. Remember the mnemonic: SCPs are the "root of all denial"—attach to the root, and every member account feels the block.
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.
Refer to the exhibit. A company has the above AWS Organization with a management account (111111111111) and a production account (222222222222). The security administrator in the management account creates an SCP that denies s3:DeleteBucket. The SCP is attached to the root. The production account's administrator tries to delete an S3 bucket and fails. What is the MOST likely reason?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The SCP applies to the production account because it is attached to the root.
Option A is correct because SCPs affect all accounts in the organization. Option B is wrong because SCPs do not affect management account. Option C is wrong because the production account is not the management account. Option D is wrong because SCPs override IAM permissions.
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 production account's IAM policy denies s3:DeleteBucket.
Why it's wrong here
The SCP is the likely cause, not IAM policy.
✗
The SCP only applies to the management account.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs do not affect the management account.
✓
The SCP applies to the production account because it is attached to the root.
Why this is correct
SCPs at the root apply to all member accounts.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The production account is the management account.
Why it's wrong here
The management account is 111111111111.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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: The SCP applies to the production account because it is attached to the root. — Option A is correct because SCPs affect all accounts in the organization. Option B is wrong because SCPs do not affect management account. Option C is wrong because the production account is not the management account. Option D is wrong because SCPs override IAM permissions.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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 ran the command above. The management account (111111111111) has an SCP attached that denies all actions. The DevAccount (222222222222) has no SCP. What can the root user of the DevAccount do?
hard
✓ A.Full access to all AWS services because no SCP is applied to the DevAccount.
B.Nothing, because the management account's SCP applies to all accounts.
C.Only read-only actions because of default SCP.
D.Only actions allowed by the root user's implicit full access.
Why A: SCPs are inherited from the root OU. Since no SCP is attached to the DevAccount or its OU, there is no restriction. Option A is wrong because management account SCP does not apply. Option C is wrong because root user can be restricted by SCP. Option D is wrong because there is no SCP.
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 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.
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