- A
Manual scaling by operations team
Why wrong: Manual scaling is not automated.
- B
Simple scaling with a cooldown period
Why wrong: Simple scaling may not keep up with rapid changes.
- C
Scheduled scaling based on historical data
Why wrong: Scheduled scaling cannot handle sudden spikes.
- D
Target tracking scaling policy
Target tracking dynamically adjusts capacity to maintain a metric target.
Question 880 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 new application that will run on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application must handle sudden spikes in traffic without manual intervention. Which scaling strategy should be used?
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
✓
Target tracking scaling policy
Target tracking scaling policy is the correct choice because it automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances to maintain a specified target metric (e.g., average CPU utilization or request count per target) without manual intervention. This policy uses a built-in metric and dynamically calculates the required capacity to handle sudden traffic spikes, aligning with the requirement for automatic scaling under unpredictable load.
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.
- ✗
Manual scaling by operations team
Why it's wrong here
Manual scaling is not automated.
- ✗
Simple scaling with a cooldown period
Why it's wrong here
Simple scaling may not keep up with rapid changes.
- ✗
Scheduled scaling based on historical data
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled scaling cannot handle sudden spikes.
- ✓
Target tracking scaling policy
Why this is correct
Target tracking dynamically adjusts capacity to maintain a metric target.
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 often confuse 'scheduled scaling' (which works for predictable patterns) with 'dynamic scaling' (which handles unpredictable spikes), and may overlook that target tracking is the only fully automated policy that continuously adjusts capacity based on a real-time metric without manual cooldown tuning.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Target tracking scaling policies work by continuously monitoring a CloudWatch metric (e.g., ALBRequestCountPerTarget) and using a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm to calculate the desired capacity, adjusting the Auto Scaling group size every minute. This avoids the cooldown limitations of simple scaling by using a 'scale-in' and 'scale-out' cooldown that is dynamically managed based on the metric's deviation from the target. In practice, for a web application with variable traffic, target tracking can maintain a target of 50% CPU utilization, scaling out aggressively when a spike hits and scaling in gradually as load decreases.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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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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: Target tracking scaling policy — Target tracking scaling policy is the correct choice because it automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances to maintain a specified target metric (e.g., average CPU utilization or request count per target) without manual intervention. This policy uses a built-in metric and dynamically calculates the required capacity to handle sudden traffic spikes, aligning with the requirement for automatic scaling under unpredictable load.
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
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