The answer is a CloudWatch alarm configured with a period of 60 seconds, the Average statistic, 5 evaluation periods, and 5 datapoints to alarm. This configuration is correct because when configuring a CloudWatch alarm for error rate percentage, the period defines how often the metric is evaluated—here, every 60 seconds—while the combination of evaluation periods and datapoints to alarm both set to 5 ensures the alarm only triggers if the error rate exceeds 5% for five consecutive minutes, confirming a sustained breach rather than a transient spike. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how period, evaluation periods, and datapoints interact to define alarm sensitivity, with a common trap being to confuse evaluation periods with the total time window or to mistakenly use a Sum statistic for a percentage metric. Remember the memory tip: “Five for five, every minute” — five datapoints over five evaluation periods, each one minute long, gives you a true five-minute sustained error rate check.
SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 application running on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB) sends custom metrics to CloudWatch. The team wants to set an alarm that triggers when the error rate exceeds 5% over a 5-minute period. The alarm must evaluate the metric every minute. Which configuration is required?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Period = 60 seconds, Statistic = Average, Evaluation Periods = 5, Datapoints to Alarm = 5
Option C is correct because the alarm must evaluate the error rate every minute (period = 60 seconds) over a 5-minute window. With evaluation periods = 5 and datapoints to alarm = 5, the alarm requires all five 1-minute datapoints to exceed the 5% threshold, ensuring the error rate is sustained for the full 5-minute period. The Average statistic is appropriate because the error rate is a percentage metric that should be averaged over each period.
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.
✗
Period = 300 seconds, Statistic = Average, Evaluation Periods = 1, Datapoints to Alarm = 1
Why it's wrong here
Alarm would only trigger after 5 minutes, not evaluating every minute.
✗
Period = 300 seconds, Statistic = Sum, Evaluation Periods = 1, Datapoints to Alarm = 1
Why it's wrong here
Sum is not appropriate for error rate; period of 300 seconds would only alarm once per 5 minutes.
✓
Period = 60 seconds, Statistic = Average, Evaluation Periods = 5, Datapoints to Alarm = 5
Why this is correct
This checks that all 5 datapoints exceed 5% over 5 minutes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Period = 60 seconds, Statistic = Sum, Evaluation Periods = 5, Datapoints to Alarm = 5
Why it's wrong here
Sum is not suitable for error rate; it would sum errors and total requests incorrectly.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'period' with the total evaluation window, selecting period = 300 seconds (option A or B) thinking it covers the 5-minute window, but this fails the requirement to evaluate every minute, and they may also incorrectly choose Sum instead of Average for a percentage metric.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudWatch alarms use the 'period' to define the granularity of metric aggregation, and 'evaluation periods' to specify how many consecutive periods must breach the threshold. For a 5-minute window with 1-minute granularity, you need 5 evaluation periods, each with a period of 60 seconds. The 'datapoints to alarm' parameter allows for 'm out of n' alarm logic; setting it equal to evaluation periods (5 out of 5) ensures the alarm only fires when every single minute in the window exceeds the threshold, preventing false positives from transient spikes. The Average statistic is the correct choice for rate-based metrics like error percentages because it normalizes the data over each period.
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.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — This question tests Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Period = 60 seconds, Statistic = Average, Evaluation Periods = 5, Datapoints to Alarm = 5 — Option C is correct because the alarm must evaluate the error rate every minute (period = 60 seconds) over a 5-minute window. With evaluation periods = 5 and datapoints to alarm = 5, the alarm requires all five 1-minute datapoints to exceed the 5% threshold, ensuring the error rate is sustained for the full 5-minute period. The Average statistic is appropriate because the error rate is a percentage metric that should be averaged over each period.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company runs a critical web application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The SysOps administrator needs to be notified if the ALB's error rate exceeds 5% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which solution meets this requirement with the least operational overhead?
hard
A.Enable VPC Flow Logs and analyze them with Amazon Athena to detect error rates.
✓ B.Use a CloudWatch alarm on the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric with a math expression to calculate error rate.
C.Enable CloudTrail for the ALB and create a metric filter for 5xx errors.
D.Use AWS Config rules to monitor the ALB configuration and trigger a notification on changes.
Why B: Option B is correct because CloudWatch can directly monitor the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric and combine it with the 'RequestCount' metric using a math expression to calculate the error rate as a percentage. This approach requires no additional logging or external services, and a CloudWatch alarm can be configured to trigger an SNS notification when the error rate exceeds 5% for 5 consecutive minutes, minimizing operational overhead.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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This SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.
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