PCD Building and testing applications Practice Question
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of building and testing applications. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
Your team is using Cloud Build to build and test a Java application. The build includes unit tests, integration tests, and static code analysis. The build is failing intermittently due to flaky tests. You want to automatically retry the failed steps without rebuilding everything. Which Cloud Build feature should you use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Set the 'allowFailure: false' and 'retry: 2' options on the test steps in the cloudbuild.yaml
Option B is correct because Cloud Build supports the `retry` option on individual build steps, which allows a step to be automatically retried a specified number of times upon failure without re-executing previous steps. This is ideal for handling flaky tests, as it only reruns the failed step, preserving build artifacts and avoiding a full rebuild.
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.
✗
Configure a Cloud Build trigger to rerun the build on failure
Why it's wrong here
Reruns the entire build, not just failed steps.
✓
Set the 'allowFailure: false' and 'retry: 2' options on the test steps in the cloudbuild.yaml
Why this is correct
Cloud Build supports step-level retry with 'retry' field.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use build substitutions to pass different test parameters on failure
Why it's wrong here
Substitutions do not trigger retries.
✗
Increase the timeout for the build to allow retries
Why it's wrong here
Timeout only increases the maximum time; it does not retry failed steps.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that retrying a build must involve the entire pipeline (trigger or timeout), when in fact Cloud Build provides a step-level retry option that preserves previous step outputs and avoids full rebuilds.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The `retry` option in Cloud Build is specified within a step's configuration in `cloudbuild.yaml` and works by re-executing the step's command if it exits with a non-zero status, up to the defined count. This is particularly useful for flaky tests that fail due to transient issues like network timeouts or resource contention, as it avoids the overhead of rebuilding dependencies. Note that `allowFailure: false` is the default behavior (step failure stops the build), so it is redundant when combined with `retry`; the key is that `retry` overrides the default failure behavior for that step only.
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: Set the 'allowFailure: false' and 'retry: 2' options on the test steps in the cloudbuild.yaml — Option B is correct because Cloud Build supports the `retry` option on individual build steps, which allows a step to be automatically retried a specified number of times upon failure without re-executing previous steps. This is ideal for handling flaky tests, as it only reruns the failed step, preserving build artifacts and avoiding a full rebuild.
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.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
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
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.