Quick Answer
The answer is to increase the number of Streaming Units (SUs) allocated to the job. This is the correct choice because Streaming Units represent the compute resources—CPU and memory—assigned to your Azure Stream Analytics job; increasing them directly boosts the job’s throughput, allowing it to process incoming events from Event Hub faster and reduce the growing latency to Power BI. On the Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate DP-203 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of scaling Stream Analytics performance under load, and a common trap is to overcomplicate the fix by changing output sinks or event sizes when the simplest, most direct solution is to increase Streaming Units. Remember, when you need to increase streaming units for Stream Analytics performance, think of SUs as the engine’s horsepower—more horsepower means more events processed per second. A handy memory tip: “SU = Speed Up” when latency climbs.
This DP-203 practice question tests your understanding of secure, monitor, and optimize data storage and data processing. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
You are running an Azure Stream Analytics job that reads from an Event Hub and writes to a Power BI dataset. The job is falling behind and processing latency is increasing. What should you do to improve performance?
Increase the number of Streaming Units (SUs) allocated to the job.
More SUs increase processing capacity.
Use a reference data input to filter events.
Why wrong: Reference data doesn't improve throughput.
Change the output to Azure Blob Storage instead of Power BI.
Why wrong: This changes the output but may not be acceptable.
Decrease the size of events sent to the Event Hub.
Why wrong: Not under your control and may not help.
Answer choices
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 Streaming Units (SUs) allocated to the job.
Option D is correct because increasing the Streaming Units (SUs) allocates more compute resources to the job, improving throughput. Option A (change output to blob) changes architecture. Option B (decrease event size) is not always possible. Option C (use reference data) does not affect throughput.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Increase the number of Streaming Units (SUs) allocated to the job.
Why this is correct
More SUs increase processing capacity.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Use a reference data input to filter events.
Why it's wrong here
Reference data doesn't improve throughput.
Change the output to Azure Blob Storage instead of Power BI.
Why it's wrong here
This changes the output but may not be acceptable.
Decrease the size of events sent to the Event Hub.
Why it's wrong here
Not under your control and may not help.
Common exam traps
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
Command / output trap
This changes the output but may not be acceptable.
Detailed technical explanation
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Identify which DP-203 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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FAQ
Secure, monitor, and optimize data storage and data processing — This question tests Secure, monitor, and optimize data storage and data processing — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Increase the number of Streaming Units (SUs) allocated to the job. — Option D is correct because increasing the Streaming Units (SUs) allocates more compute resources to the job, improving throughput. Option A (change output to blob) changes architecture. Option B (decrease event size) is not always possible. Option C (use reference data) does not affect throughput.
Identify which DP-203 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.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 21, 2026
This DP-203 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 DP-203 exam.
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