This PCA practice question tests your understanding of analysing and optimising 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 has a Cloud Bigtable instance with 10 nodes. They notice read latency increases during peak hours. Monitoring shows CPU utilization at 70%. Which action will most effectively reduce read latency?
Switch from HDD to SSD
Why wrong: Cloud Bigtable uses SSDs by default; HDD is not an option.
Redesign row keys to avoid hotspots
Why wrong: Row key design affects distribution, but CPU at 70% suggests capacity issue, not hotspot.
Increase the number of nodes
Adding nodes reduces CPU load and read latency.
Split the tables into more tablets
Why wrong: Tablets are automatically split; manual split is not recommended.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Increase the number of nodes
High CPU utilization (70%) indicates the cluster is stressed. Adding nodes increases throughput and reduces latency. SSDs are default, so not a factor. Row key redesign would require application changes. Table splitting is automatic.
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.
Switch from HDD to SSD
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Bigtable uses SSDs by default; HDD is not an option.
Redesign row keys to avoid hotspots
Why it's wrong here
Row key design affects distribution, but CPU at 70% suggests capacity issue, not hotspot.
Increase the number of nodes
Why this is correct
Adding nodes reduces CPU load and read latency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Split the tables into more tablets
Why it's wrong here
Tablets are automatically split; manual split is not recommended.
Common exam traps
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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
Identify which PCA exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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FAQ
Analysing and Optimising Technical and Business Processes — This question tests Analysing and Optimising Technical and Business Processes — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Increase the number of nodes — High CPU utilization (70%) indicates the cluster is stressed. Adding nodes increases throughput and reduces latency. SSDs are default, so not a factor. Row key redesign would require application changes. Table splitting is automatic.
Identify which PCA exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 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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