- A
Ignore the budget and continue deploying as usual
Why wrong: Ignoring error budget undermines SRE practices.
- B
Extend the SLO window to 60 days to dilute the budget
Why wrong: Manipulating the window is not a valid SRE approach.
- C
Declare a change freeze and focus on improving reliability
Slowing or freezing changes preserves error budget for remaining period.
- D
Increase the SLO to 99.99% to tighten reliability
Why wrong: Increasing SLO reduces error budget, making the situation worse.
Question 665 of 1,000
PCDE Practice Question: Applying Site Reliability Engineering Practices to a Service
This PCDE practice question tests your understanding of applying site reliability engineering practices to a service. 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 service has an SLO of 99.9% availability over 30 days. In the first 10 days, the service has already consumed 60% of the error budget. Which action best aligns with SRE principles?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"first"Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
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
✓
Declare a change freeze and focus on improving reliability
With high error budget consumption early, the team should throttle new releases to avoid exhausting the budget. This is a typical SRE practice: if error budget is nearly depleted, slow down changes.
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.
- ✗
Ignore the budget and continue deploying as usual
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring error budget undermines SRE practices.
- ✗
Extend the SLO window to 60 days to dilute the budget
Why it's wrong here
Manipulating the window is not a valid SRE approach.
- ✓
Declare a change freeze and focus on improving reliability
Why this is correct
Slowing or freezing changes preserves error budget for remaining period.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Increase the SLO to 99.99% to tighten reliability
Why it's wrong here
Increasing SLO reduces error budget, making the situation worse.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
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.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Increasing SLO reduces error budget, making the situation worse.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
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.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
Visual reference
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which PCDE 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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Applying Site Reliability Engineering Practices to a Service — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCDE question test?
Applying Site Reliability Engineering Practices to a Service — This question tests Applying Site Reliability Engineering Practices to a Service — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Declare a change freeze and focus on improving reliability — With high error budget consumption early, the team should throttle new releases to avoid exhausting the budget. This is a typical SRE practice: if error budget is nearly depleted, slow down changes.
What should I do if I get this PCDE question wrong?
Identify which PCDE 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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
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 →
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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