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Identity and Access Management →easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

SCS-C02 Identity and Access Management Practice Question

This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of identity and access management. 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 wants to allow an IAM user to list objects in an S3 bucket named 'my-bucket'. Which IAM policy statement grants the minimum required permissions?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.

A
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:PutObject","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"}
Why wrong: Grants PutObject, not ListBucket.
B
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:GetObject","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"}
Why wrong: Grants GetObject, not ListBucket.
C
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:ListBucket","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket"}
Grants only the required ListBucket action.
D
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:*","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket"}
Why wrong: Grants all S3 actions, which is too permissive.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:ListBucket","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket"}

Option C is correct because the s3:ListBucket action is the specific permission required to list objects in an S3 bucket, and the resource ARN must be the bucket itself (arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket) without a trailing /*. This grants the minimum necessary permission to perform the ListObjects (or ListObjectsV2) API call, which returns the object keys in the bucket.

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.

✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:PutObject","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"}
Why it's wrong here
Grants PutObject, not ListBucket.
✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:GetObject","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"}
Why it's wrong here
Grants GetObject, not ListBucket.
✓
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:ListBucket","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket"}
Why this is correct
Grants only the required ListBucket action.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:*","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket"}
Why it's wrong here
Grants all S3 actions, which is too permissive.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often confuse s3:ListBucket with s3:GetObject or incorrectly use an object-level ARN (with /*) for listing permissions, failing to recognize that listing requires the bucket-level ARN and the specific ListBucket action.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

The s3:ListBucket action corresponds to the S3 ListObjects and ListObjectsV2 API operations, which require the bucket ARN as the resource (not object ARN). A common subtlety is that listing a bucket's contents does not require access to the objects themselves, only the bucket's metadata; thus, the resource must be the bucket ARN without /*. In real-world scenarios, granting s3:ListBucket on a bucket allows users to see object keys but not read or write object data, which is critical for audit or inventory use cases.

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 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.

Quick reference

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

Storage Class	Min Duration	Retrieval	Use Case
S3 Standard	None	Immediate	Frequently accessed data
S3 Standard-IA	30 days	Immediate	Infrequent access, rapid retrieval
S3 One Zone-IA	30 days	Immediate	Non-critical infrequent data
S3 Intelligent-Tiering	None	Immediate–hours	Unknown or changing access patterns
S3 Glacier Instant	90 days	Milliseconds	Archive with instant retrieval
S3 Glacier Flexible	90 days	Minutes–hours	Archive, flexible retrieval
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	180 days	Hours	Long-term compliance archive

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 SCS-C02 question test?

Identity and Access Management — This question tests Identity and Access Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: {"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:ListBucket","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket"} — Option C is correct because the s3:ListBucket action is the specific permission required to list objects in an S3 bucket, and the resource ARN must be the bucket itself (arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket) without a trailing /*. This grants the minimum necessary permission to perform the ListObjects (or ListObjectsV2) API call, which returns the object keys in the bucket.

What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 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: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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This SCS-C02 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 SCS-C02 exam.