PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of design of sap workloads on aws. 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.
An SAP HANA database on AWS is using EBS gp3 volumes with 3000 IOPS. The database team observes that the write latency is high during peak hours. The EBS volume is not exceeding its bandwidth limit. What is the most likely cause?
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 EBS volume's IOPS limit is being reached, causing queuing.
The correct answer is B because the observed high write latency during peak hours, despite the EBS volume not exceeding its bandwidth limit, indicates that the volume's IOPS limit of 3000 is being reached. When the IOPS limit is hit, the EBS volume queues I/O requests, which increases latency. This is a classic symptom of IOPS saturation rather than bandwidth saturation.
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 EBS volume is not attached as a dedicated EBS bandwidth volume.
Why it's wrong here
Dedicated bandwidth is not a concept; EBS-optimized instances provide dedicated bandwidth.
✓
The EBS volume's IOPS limit is being reached, causing queuing.
Why this is correct
3000 IOPS may be insufficient, leading to high queue depth and latency.
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.
✗
The EC2 instance's EBS bandwidth is saturated.
Why it's wrong here
The question states bandwidth is not exceeded.
✗
The EC2 instance does not have EBS optimization enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Most modern instances have EBS optimization enabled by default.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse IOPS limits with bandwidth limits, assuming high latency must be due to bandwidth saturation, but the question explicitly rules out bandwidth as the cause, pointing directly to IOPS queuing.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
EBS gp3 volumes have a baseline IOPS of 3000 and can burst to higher IOPS if configured, but if the volume is set to exactly 3000 IOPS without provisioning additional IOPS, sustained writes beyond that limit cause queuing. The EBS volume queue depth increases, and the operating system's I/O scheduler experiences wait times, leading to higher write latency. In contrast, bandwidth limits (throughput in MB/s) are separate from IOPS limits, and the question confirms bandwidth is not the bottleneck.
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.
Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — This question tests Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The EBS volume's IOPS limit is being reached, causing queuing. — The correct answer is B because the observed high write latency during peak hours, despite the EBS volume not exceeding its bandwidth limit, indicates that the volume's IOPS limit of 3000 is being reached. When the IOPS limit is hit, the EBS volume queues I/O requests, which increases latency. This is a classic symptom of IOPS saturation rather than bandwidth saturation.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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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