Google PCA Practice Question: Analysing and Optimising Technical and Business Processes
A company runs a latency-sensitive web application on Compute Engine in us-east1. They want to improve response times for users in Europe and Asia without changing the application architecture. Which TWO actions should they take? (Choose 2.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates pick cost or security options (preemptible VMs, Cloud Armor) because they sound operationally relevant, missing that the question is strictly about reducing geographic latency for global users.
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
✓
Enable Cloud CDN on the load balancer
Option B is correct because enabling Cloud CDN on the load balancer caches static and cacheable content at Google's globally distributed edge points of presence, so users in Europe and Asia are served from nearby edge locations instead of being backhauled to us-east1, reducing latency without any application changes. Option D is correct because a multi-region (global external) load balancer with backends in europe-west1 and asia-east1 places compute capacity close to those user populations, and the global anycast VIP routes each user to the nearest healthy backend, directly cutting round-trip time while preserving the existing architecture. Option A is not appropriate because preemptible VMs only reduce cost and can be terminated at any time, which harms latency-sensitive availability rather than improving response times. Option C does not help because us-west1 is on the US West Coast, which is not closer to European or Asian users than us-east1. Option E is wrong because Cloud Armor is a WAF/DDoS protection service that filters malicious traffic and cannot reduce network latency for legitimate users.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use preemptible VMs to reduce cost
Why it's wrong here
Preemptible VMs are cheaper but can be reclaimed at any time, which harms availability and does nothing for network latency. They suit fault-tolerant batch workloads, not latency-sensitive serving; the stem asks for response-time improvement, which cost optimisation cannot deliver.
- ✓
Enable Cloud CDN on the load balancer
Why this is correct
Cloud CDN caches static and cacheable responses at edge points of presence near European and Asian users, cutting round-trip latency to the us-east1 origin. This satisfies the stem's latency goal without altering application architecture, since caching happens transparently at the load balancer layer.
- ✗
Deploy additional instances in us-west1
Why it's wrong here
us-west1 sits on the same North American west coast, adding distance from European and Asian users rather than shortening their paths. It tempts because adding regional capacity is a normal scaling move, but the correct regions must be near the users, not merely additional.
- ✓
Create a multi-region load balancer and deploy backends in europe-west1 and asia-east1
Why this is correct
A multi-region load balancer with backends in europe-west1 and asia-east1 serves requests from the nearest region, eliminating transatlantic and transpacific round trips for those users. This satisfies the stem's latency requirement without application changes, since Compute Engine instances run unchanged in additional regions.
- ✗
Use Cloud Armor to block high-latency requests
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Armor filters and blocks HTTP traffic at the edge based on rules; it cannot reduce network round-trip latency, and dropping requests does not speed up served responses. It is genuinely useful for DDoS mitigation and WAF policy enforcement, which is a security scenario rather than a latency one.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Compute Options Overview
Key term
Load balancer
A load balancer is a device or software that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers so no single server gets overwhelmed.
Key term
WAF
A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a security tool that filters, monitors, and blocks HTTP traffic to and from a web application to protect it from common attacks.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
This PCA practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 PCA exam.