PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
A company is deploying a serverless application using AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon DynamoDB. The application must meet high availability and low latency requirements. The company expects traffic to spike unpredictably. Which THREE strategies should the company implement to ensure the application can handle the load? (Choose THREE.)
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse auto scaling (Option D) with on-demand capacity mode, not realizing that auto scaling has a lag time and requires manual capacity planning, whereas on-demand mode is designed for unpredictable traffic with instant scaling.
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
✓
Enable API Gateway caching with a suitable TTL
API Gateway caching stores responses from your endpoints, reducing the number of calls made to the backend Lambda function and DynamoDB. By setting a suitable TTL, you ensure that frequently accessed data is served from the cache, which lowers latency and offloads the backend during unpredictable traffic spikes. This directly supports high availability by preventing backend overload.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable API Gateway caching with a suitable TTL
Why this is correct
Caching reduces backend load and improves response times for repeated requests, helping handle spikes.
- ✗
Set the Lambda function timeout to the maximum value of 15 minutes
Why it's wrong here
Increasing timeout does not help with scaling; it only allows functions to run longer. It may even lead to higher costs.
- ✓
Configure provisioned concurrency for the Lambda functions
Why this is correct
Provisioned concurrency keeps a number of execution environments initialized and ready to respond, reducing cold starts and improving latency during traffic spikes.
- ✗
Configure DynamoDB auto scaling with a minimum capacity of 10 read and 10 write capacity units
Why it's wrong here
Auto scaling adjusts capacity based on utilization but can lag behind sudden spikes. On-demand is better for unpredictable traffic.
- ✓
Use DynamoDB on-demand capacity mode for the tables
Why this is correct
On-demand capacity automatically scales to handle any amount of traffic without capacity planning, ideal for unpredictable spikes.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 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 PAS-C01 exam.