SOA-C02 Reliability and Business Continuity Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of reliability and business continuity. 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.
A company runs a production RDS for PostgreSQL instance with Multi-AZ enabled. The database experiences a failover due to an AZ outage. After the failover, the application experiences high latency on write operations. 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
✓
Synchronous replication to the standby instance in the other AZ is causing additional latency.
Option A is correct because synchronous replication in Multi-AZ requires acknowledgment from the standby before the transaction is committed, increasing write latency. Option B is incorrect because the standby is in a different AZ and is not used for reads automatically. Option C is incorrect because synchronous replication does not use asynchronous replication. Option D is incorrect because the Multi-AZ feature does not use a read replica; it uses a standby in a different AZ.
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 application is now reading from the standby instance, which has higher read latency.
Why it's wrong here
The standby is not used for reads; the application continues to read from the primary endpoint.
✓
Synchronous replication to the standby instance in the other AZ is causing additional latency.
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ uses synchronous replication, so every write must be committed on both the primary and standby, which adds 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 failover switched to a read replica in a different AZ.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ uses a standby instance, not a read replica.
✗
The failover switched to asynchronous replication mode.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ always uses synchronous replication.
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 SOA-C02 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.
Reliability and Business Continuity — This question tests Reliability and Business Continuity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Synchronous replication to the standby instance in the other AZ is causing additional latency. — Option A is correct because synchronous replication in Multi-AZ requires acknowledgment from the standby before the transaction is committed, increasing write latency. Option B is incorrect because the standby is in a different AZ and is not used for reads automatically. Option C is incorrect because synchronous replication does not use asynchronous replication. Option D is incorrect because the Multi-AZ feature does not use a read replica; it uses a standby in a different AZ.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SOA-C02 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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Question Discussion
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