Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Preemptible VM discount

  Why it's wrong here

  Preemptible VMs are short-lived and can be terminated by Compute Engine at any time within a 24-hour window, making them unsuitable for a workload that must run predictably for 12 hours every day. While they offer a lower hourly rate, that rate is a spot-pricing model rather than an automatic, persistent discount; if the VM is reclaimed mid-job, you lose the run, so they are not a valid basis for estimating steady monthly savings.

• ✓

  Sustained use discount

  Why this is correct

  Sustained use discounts are applied automatically when a VM runs for more than 25% of a billing month (approximately 186 hours), without requiring any upfront commitment or configuration. For a VM running 12 hours daily, monthly usage is roughly 360 hours, so the discount kicks in automatically after the threshold is crossed, reducing the bill by up to 20-30% based on the on-demand price — exactly the kind of predictable, usage-based discount this team can estimate.

• ✗

  Committed use discount

  Why it's wrong here

  Committed use discounts (CUDs) offer a larger discount but require a contractual commitment to pay for a fixed amount of vCPUs, memory, and other resources for either a 1-year or 3-year term. Unlike the automatic, month-to-month nature of sustained use discounts, CUDs involve an upfront agreement and penalty if resources are not used, so the team cannot estimate them simply from a daily 12-hour runtime pattern unless they are willing to sign a long-term commitment.

• ✗

  Free tier discount

  Why it's wrong here

  The Google Cloud Free Tier provides only a limited promotional allowance — for example, one e2-micro VM in a specific US region, 30GB of standard storage, and small monthly quotas — and is intended for new customers exploring the platform. A 12-hour daily production workload would quickly exceed these caps, and the free tier is not a discount mechanism at all; it is a one-time, resource-limited offer, not a recurring cost-reduction option for an existing project.

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