- A
Increase the worker disk size.
Why wrong: Disk size does not directly affect CPU utilisation; it may help with shuffle but not CPU-bound processing.
- B
Increase the number of workers.
More workers distribute the load and reduce CPU per worker.
- C
Use batch processing instead of streaming.
Why wrong: Switching to batch would change the architecture and may not be suitable for the requirement.
- D
Enable Dataflow Streaming Engine.
Streaming Engine offloads state management to external services, reducing CPU overhead.
- E
Use higher-CPU machine types (e.g., n2-highcpu).
Higher CPU capacity allows each worker to process more data.
Question 101 of 1,000
PDE Maintaining and Automating Data Workloads Practice Question
This PDE practice question tests your understanding of maintaining and automating data workloads. 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 runs a Dataflow pipeline that processes a high-volume data stream. They notice that the pipeline's worker CPU utilisation is near 100% and the system lag is increasing. Which three actions can improve performance? (Choose three.)
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
✓
Increase the number of workers.
Option B is correct because increasing the number of workers distributes the processing load across more parallel workers, reducing CPU utilization per worker and allowing the pipeline to keep up with the incoming data stream. This directly addresses both high CPU usage and increasing system lag by scaling out horizontally.
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.
- ✗
Increase the worker disk size.
Why it's wrong here
Disk size does not directly affect CPU utilisation; it may help with shuffle but not CPU-bound processing.
- ✓
Increase the number of workers.
Why this is correct
More workers distribute the load and reduce CPU per worker.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use batch processing instead of streaming.
Why it's wrong here
Switching to batch would change the architecture and may not be suitable for the requirement.
- ✓
Enable Dataflow Streaming Engine.
Why this is correct
Streaming Engine offloads state management to external services, reducing CPU overhead.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Use higher-CPU machine types (e.g., n2-highcpu).
Why this is correct
Higher CPU capacity allows each worker to process more data.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that increasing disk size (Option A) can improve processing performance, when in fact it only addresses storage bottlenecks, not CPU or lag issues.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Dataflow Streaming Engine offloads state management and shuffle operations to a backend service, reducing the CPU and memory load on workers. Higher-CPU machine types (e.g., n2-highcpu) provide more vCPUs per worker, allowing each worker to process more data concurrently. In practice, combining these with autoscaling can dynamically adjust resources to handle spikes in data volume.
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.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PDE question test?
Maintaining and Automating Data Workloads — This question tests Maintaining and Automating Data Workloads — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the number of workers. — Option B is correct because increasing the number of workers distributes the processing load across more parallel workers, reducing CPU utilization per worker and allowing the pipeline to keep up with the incoming data stream. This directly addresses both high CPU usage and increasing system lag by scaling out horizontally.
What should I do if I get this PDE 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.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
This PDE 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 PDE exam.
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