AZ-204 Develop for Azure storage Practice Question
You are building an application that uses Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL. The application performs frequent point reads and writes on a container. You need to minimize request unit (RU) consumption for read operations. The container has a partition key and a unique key policy. Which two actions should you take? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that increasing throughput or enabling indexing reduces the RU cost per read, when in fact RU cost is determined by the operation type and data size, not by provisioned throughput.
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
✓
Include the partition key in the query filter for point reads.
To minimize RU consumption for reads in Cosmos DB, you should perform point reads using both the item ID and partition key. This avoids query overhead and targets a single partition. Including the partition key in any query filter ensures the query is scoped to a single partition, reducing the number of partitions scanned and thus the RU cost.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Include the partition key in the query filter for point reads.
Why this is correct
Including the partition key in the query filter allows the query to target a single partition, avoiding cross-partition fan-out. This significantly reduces RU consumption because the query is routed directly to the relevant partition and does not need to scan multiple partitions. For point reads, always specify the partition key to achieve the lowest possible RU cost.
- ✗
Use a query with ORDER BY on a non-indexed property.
Why it's wrong here
Using ORDER BY on a non-indexed property forces Cosmos DB to perform a full scan, which consumes a high number of RUs. Additionally, non-indexed properties cannot be used for sorting without enabling indexing. This approach would increase RU consumption for reads, not minimize it.
- ✓
Use the ReadItemAsync method with both the item ID and partition key.
Why this is correct
ReadItemAsync performs a point read by directly accessing an item using its ID and partition key. This is the most efficient read operation in Cosmos DB, consuming the fewest RUs (typically 1 RU for a 1 KB item). It bypasses query processing entirely, so it is ideal for minimizing RU consumption on reads.
- ✗
Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s) on the container.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing provisioned throughput provides more RUs per second but does not reduce the RU cost per operation. The RU charge for a read depends on the size of the item and the complexity of the operation, not on the provisioned throughput. This action would increase cost without optimizing the per-read RU consumption.
- ✗
Enable indexing on all properties by setting indexingMode to Consistent.
Why it's wrong here
Setting indexingMode to Consistent ensures that indexes are updated synchronously with writes, but it does not reduce RU consumption for reads. In fact, it may increase write RU costs. While indexing can improve query performance, it does not minimize RU consumption for point reads; the most efficient read is a point read without query overhead.
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Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
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