SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The instance launch is denied because the SCP denies all instance types except t2.micro and t2.small.
Option D is correct because the SCP explicitly denies all EC2 instance types except t2.micro and t2.small. Since t2.medium is not in the allowed list, the deny effect applies, and the instance launch is blocked. SCPs act as a guardrail that overrides any Allow in IAM policies within the affected accounts.
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 instance launches only if the developer's IAM policy explicitly allows t2.medium.
Why it's wrong here
Even if IAM allows, SCP denies.
✗
The instance launch is allowed because there is no explicit Allow statement in the SCP.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs are deny by default; the Deny statement applies.
✗
The instance launches successfully because the SCP does not affect IAM users.
Why it's wrong here
SCP applies to all principals in the account.
✓
The instance launch is denied because the SCP denies all instance types except t2.micro and t2.small.
Why this is correct
Correct interpretation of the Deny with condition.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates mistakenly think SCPs only apply to the root user or that an explicit Allow in an IAM policy can override an SCP Deny, but in reality SCPs set a maximum permission boundary that cannot be exceeded by any IAM policy within the account.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs use an implicit deny model where any action not explicitly allowed is denied, but here the policy explicitly denies all EC2:RunInstances actions for instance types other than t2.micro and t2.small. The evaluation logic follows AWS's policy evaluation engine: explicit Deny always wins, regardless of any Allow from IAM or resource-based policies. In practice, this means developers cannot bypass the restriction even with a full-admin IAM policy.
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 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 instance launch is denied because the SCP denies all instance types except t2.micro and t2.small. — Option D is correct because the SCP explicitly denies all EC2 instance types except t2.micro and t2.small. Since t2.medium is not in the allowed list, the deny effect applies, and the instance launch is blocked. SCPs act as a guardrail that overrides any Allow in IAM policies within the affected accounts.
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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