This PCA practice question tests your understanding of analyze and optimize technical and business processes. 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 commits to using Compute Engine for 3 years and wants the maximum discount. Which purchasing option should they use?
3-year committed use discount.
Highest discount for long-term commitment.
Pay-as-you-go pricing.
Why wrong: No discount.
Sustained use discounts.
Why wrong: Automatic but lower discount.
1-year committed use discount.
Why wrong: Discount is less than 3-year.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
3-year committed use discount.
A 3-year committed use discount (CUD) offers the highest discount rate (up to 57% for most machine types) compared to 1-year CUDs (up to 37%) or pay-as-you-go pricing. By committing to a consistent resource usage for the full 3-year term, the company maximizes the discount on Compute Engine costs.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
3-year committed use discount.
Why this is correct
Highest discount for long-term commitment.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Pay-as-you-go pricing.
Why it's wrong here
No discount.
Sustained use discounts.
Why it's wrong here
Automatic but lower discount.
1-year committed use discount.
Why it's wrong here
Discount is less than 3-year.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that sustained use discounts provide the best long-term savings, but they are automatic and capped at 30%, whereas committed use discounts require a contractual commitment but offer significantly higher discounts for longer terms.
Detailed technical explanation
Committed use discounts in Google Cloud are applied at the project level based on resource usage (vCPUs, memory, GPUs) in a specific region. The discount is calculated against the on-demand price and is not tied to specific instances, allowing flexibility to change machine types or zones as long as the committed resource amount is met. For example, committing to 100 vCPUs for 3 years in us-central1 yields a ~57% discount, but if usage drops below the commitment, you still pay for the committed amount.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Analyze and optimize technical and business processes — This question tests Analyze and optimize technical and business processes — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: 3-year committed use discount. — A 3-year committed use discount (CUD) offers the highest discount rate (up to 57% for most machine types) compared to 1-year CUDs (up to 37%) or pay-as-you-go pricing. By committing to a consistent resource usage for the full 3-year term, the company maximizes the discount on Compute Engine costs.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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.
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