SCS-C02 Identity and Access Management Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are valid ways to grant an IAM user permissions to access an S3 bucket? (Choose 2.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse identity-based policies (attached to users/groups/roles) with resource-based policies (like bucket policies) or other access control mechanisms (like SCPs or VPC endpoint policies), leading them to select options that do not directly grant permissions to an IAM user.
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
✓
Attach an IAM policy to the user.
An IAM policy attached directly to a user explicitly grants that user permissions to perform specific actions on an S3 bucket. This is a fundamental method of identity-based access control in AWS, where the policy document defines allowed or denied actions (e.g., s3:GetObject) and resources (e.g., arn:aws:s3:::example-bucket/*).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Assign an instance profile to the user.
Why it's wrong here
Instance profiles are for EC2 instances, not for users.
- ✗
Create a VPC endpoint policy.
Why it's wrong here
VPC endpoint policies control access via VPC, not user permissions.
- ✓
Attach an IAM policy to the user.
Why this is correct
IAM policies attached to users grant permissions.
- ✓
Add the user to an IAM group with a policy.
Why this is correct
Group membership inherits permissions.
- ✗
Use an SCP to allow access.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs are used to deny, not to grant permissions.
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 |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.