The correct answer is that the SCP overrides admin permissions because service control policies apply to all principals in an account, including full administrators. This occurs because SCPs set a maximum permission boundary at the organization level, and even when a user has an IAM policy granting full access, the SCP’s explicit deny on s3:PutBucketPolicy takes precedence, blocking the CloudFormation bucket policy creation. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how SCPs interact with IAM and CloudFormation—a common trap is assuming admin privileges bypass organizational controls. The development team must request an SCP exception from the security team to proceed. Memory tip: “SCPs are the ultimate bouncer—they can kick out even the admin.”
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 has a production AWS account and a development AWS account under AWS Organizations. The development team wants to deploy a CloudFormation stack that creates an S3 bucket with a bucket policy that grants access to the production account's IAM roles. The development account has an SCP that denies all s3:PutBucketPolicy actions. The development team has full administrator access in their account. When they try to create the stack, it fails. What is the most likely reason and how should they proceed?
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 denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and overrides the administrator permissions. They need to request an exception to the SCP from the security team.
Option C is correct because SCPs apply to all principals in the account, including administrators. Option A is wrong because the development team has admin access. Option B is wrong because CloudFormation does not have a separate policy. Option D is wrong because IAM roles do not override SCPs.
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 development team does not have IAM permissions to create buckets. They need to attach an IAM policy that allows s3:PutBucketPolicy.
Why it's wrong here
They have admin access.
✓
The SCP denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and overrides the administrator permissions. They need to request an exception to the SCP from the security team.
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions even to administrators.
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.
✗
CloudFormation service role is missing. They need to create a service role with appropriate permissions.
Why it's wrong here
Service role would also be subject to SCP.
✗
The production account's IAM roles are not trusted. They need to update the trust policy.
Why it's wrong here
The failure is due to SCP denial.
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 denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and overrides the administrator permissions. They need to request an exception to the SCP from the security team. — Option C is correct because SCPs apply to all principals in the account, including administrators. Option A is wrong because the development team has admin access. Option B is wrong because CloudFormation does not have a separate policy. Option D is wrong because IAM roles do not override SCPs.
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.
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Question Discussion
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