- A
S3 Standard
Why wrong: Standard is costly for large volumes of data that may not be accessed frequently.
- B
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why wrong: Glacier has retrieval times not suitable for querying.
- C
S3 One Zone-IA
Why wrong: One Zone-IA lacks multi-AZ resilience.
- D
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Intelligent-Tiering optimizes cost automatically.
Question 786 of 1,746
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. The data lake will store petabytes of data from various sources. The company needs to query the data using Amazon Athena and Amazon Redshift Spectrum. The data is highly compressed and stored in Parquet format. Which storage class should be used to minimize costs while maintaining immediate query performance?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
✓
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
S3 Intelligent-Tiering is the correct choice because it automatically moves data between access tiers (frequent, infrequent, and archive instant retrieval) based on changing access patterns, ensuring that frequently queried data remains in low-latency tiers for immediate query performance with Athena and Redshift Spectrum, while reducing storage costs for data that becomes less active. This is ideal for a petabyte-scale data lake where access patterns are unpredictable or vary over time, as it avoids manual tier management and the retrieval delays of archive classes.
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.
- ✗
S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
Standard is costly for large volumes of data that may not be accessed frequently.
- ✗
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why it's wrong here
Glacier has retrieval times not suitable for querying.
- ✗
S3 One Zone-IA
Why it's wrong here
One Zone-IA lacks multi-AZ resilience.
- ✓
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why this is correct
Intelligent-Tiering optimizes cost automatically.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The SAP-C02 exam often tests the misconception that S3 Intelligent-Tiering is only for unpredictable access patterns, but the trap here is that candidates overlook its ability to maintain immediate query performance for Athena and Redshift Spectrum by keeping frequently accessed data in low-latency tiers, while still minimizing costs for cold data, making it superior to static storage classes for a large data lake with evolving access patterns.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
S3 Intelligent-Tiering monitors access patterns at the object level and moves objects between four access tiers: Frequent Access (same latency as Standard), Infrequent Access (similar to S3 Standard-IA), Archive Instant Access (similar to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval), and Deep Archive Access (similar to S3 Glacier Deep Archive). The service charges a small monthly monitoring and automation fee per object, but for large datasets with variable access, this fee is typically outweighed by the savings from automatically archiving cold data. Note that objects smaller than 128 KB are not eligible for tiering and remain in the Frequent Access tier.
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.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-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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Design for New Solutions — study guide chapter
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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: S3 Intelligent-Tiering — S3 Intelligent-Tiering is the correct choice because it automatically moves data between access tiers (frequent, infrequent, and archive instant retrieval) based on changing access patterns, ensuring that frequently queried data remains in low-latency tiers for immediate query performance with Athena and Redshift Spectrum, while reducing storage costs for data that becomes less active. This is ideal for a petabyte-scale data lake where access patterns are unpredictable or vary over time, as it avoids manual tier management and the retrieval delays of archive classes.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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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