Question 399 of 1,446
Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions →mediumMultiple SelectObjective-mapped
PCDE Practice Question: Design innovative, scalable, and highly available cloud database solutions
A Cloud Spanner instance has a single node and is experiencing high write contention. The workload is 3000 writes per second with 2 KB mutations. Which two changes would improve write throughput? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Commonly, candidates think scaling nodes alone solves write contention, but the trap is that while adding nodes increases throughput capacity, it does not fix hotspotting from a poorly designed primary key—so both changes are needed for optimal write throughput.
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
✓
Redesign the primary key to distribute writes evenly across splits.
High write contention in Cloud Spanner often stems from hotspotting, where all writes target the same split. By redesigning the primary key to distribute writes evenly across splits, you reduce contention and improve throughput. This is a fundamental design pattern for Spanner's distributed architecture.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Redesign the primary key to distribute writes evenly across splits.
Why this is correct
Even distribution reduces contention.
- ✗
Increase the mutation size to 10 KB to reduce number of writes.
Why it's wrong here
Larger mutations don't reduce contention; they increase load.
- ✓
Scale the instance to 2 nodes.
Why this is correct
More nodes increase write capacity.
- ✗
Use a monotonically increasing primary key to improve index performance.
Why it's wrong here
Monotonically increasing keys cause hotspots.
- ✗
Split the table into multiple smaller tables.
Why it's wrong here
Doesn't increase throughput.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
This PCDE 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 PCDE exam.
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