This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of technology. 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.
An SAP administrator notices that the SAP HANA database performance has degraded significantly during peak hours. The HANA instance is running on an r5.8xlarge EC2 instance with EBS gp2 volumes. Monitoring shows high I/O wait times on the data volume. Which change is MOST likely to improve performance?
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
✓
Use Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes with high IOPS.
Option D is correct because switching to io2 volumes with provisioned IOPS provides consistent low-latency I/O, solving high I/O wait. Option A (increasing instance size) may not address I/O bottleneck. Option B (gp3) is better than gp2 but still burstable. Option C (enable Multi-AZ) does not improve I/O performance.
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.
✗
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for SAP HANA.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is for high availability, not performance.
✗
Upgrade the EC2 instance to a larger size like r5.16xlarge.
Why it's wrong here
Instance size increase adds vCPU and memory but not I/O performance if the bottleneck is EBS.
✗
Change the EBS volume type from gp2 to gp3 with 3000 IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 provides baseline performance, but for HANA, io2 with provisioned IOPS is preferred for consistent performance.
✓
Use Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes with high IOPS.
Why this is correct
io2 volumes provide consistent low-latency performance suitable for HANA workloads.
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.
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 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 PAS-C01 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.
Technology — This question tests Technology — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes with high IOPS. — Option D is correct because switching to io2 volumes with provisioned IOPS provides consistent low-latency I/O, solving high I/O wait. Option A (increasing instance size) may not address I/O bottleneck. Option B (gp3) is better than gp2 but still burstable. Option C (enable Multi-AZ) does not improve I/O performance.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which PAS-C01 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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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.
Question Discussion
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