PCD Building and testing applications Practice Question
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of building and testing applications. 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 development team uses Cloud Build for CI/CD with a monorepo containing multiple microservices. They want to implement a strategy where only the services affected by a commit are built and deployed. Which approach best achieves this?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use multiple Cloud Build triggers, one per service, each with a path filter for its directory
Option D is correct because Cloud Build triggers support path filters that allow you to specify which directories or files should initiate a build. By creating one trigger per microservice directory, only the service whose code has changed will be built and deployed, which is the most efficient and native approach for a monorepo with multiple services.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 a single Cloud Build trigger with a condition to check changed files
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Build triggers do not support conditions; you cannot filter on changed files in a single trigger.
✗
Use Cloud Functions to detect changes and trigger builds
Why it's wrong here
This adds unnecessary complexity and overhead compared to native trigger features.
✗
Use a single Cloud Build trigger with a bash script to detect changes
Why it's wrong here
This is possible but not as clean or scalable as separate triggers with path filters.
✓
Use multiple Cloud Build triggers, one per service, each with a path filter for its directory
Why this is correct
This is the recommended pattern: each trigger only activates when files under its path change.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often think a single trigger with conditional logic (Option A or C) is simpler, but they overlook that Cloud Build triggers natively support path-based filtering, which is the most efficient and correct way to achieve per-service selective builds in a monorepo.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Build triggers use a glob-based path filter (e.g., 'services/service-a/**') that is evaluated against the list of changed files in the commit. This filtering happens at the trigger level, meaning the trigger is not even invoked if no files match the pattern, which saves costs and avoids unnecessary build queueing. In a monorepo with many microservices, this approach scales cleanly because each trigger is independent and can have its own build configuration, timeout, and service account.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Building and testing applications — This question tests Building and testing applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use multiple Cloud Build triggers, one per service, each with a path filter for its directory — Option D is correct because Cloud Build triggers support path filters that allow you to specify which directories or files should initiate a build. By creating one trigger per microservice directory, only the service whose code has changed will be built and deployed, which is the most efficient and native approach for a monorepo with multiple services.
What should I do if I get this PCD question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This PCD 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 PCD exam.
Question Discussion
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