mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

A global social media startup stores user profiles as JSON documents in Azure Cosmos DB. Their application frequently reads profiles by user ID and also runs queries to find users based on location or interests. The workload is read-heavy with high throughput requirements. The operations team notices that query performance degrades during peak hours. Which action would most effectively improve query performance?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
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A global social media startup stores user profiles as JSON documents in Azure Cosmos DB. Their application frequently reads profiles by user ID and also runs queries to find users based on location or interests. The workload is read-heavy with high throughput requirements. The operations team notices that query performance degrades during peak hours. Which action would most effectively improve query performance?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Distractor review

Increase the number of containers

Incorrect. Adding more containers (collections/tables) without changing throughput doesn't increase overall capacity; it might fragment data.

B

Distractor review

Choose a different API (e.g., switch from SQL API to MongoDB API)

Incorrect. The API affects the query language and data model, but does not directly improve throughput availability.

C

Best answer

Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s)

Correct. Provisioned throughput is the key resource controlling the number of operations per second. Increasing RU/s provides more computational power for queries.

D

Distractor review

Switch to a different Azure region

Incorrect. Changing the region might reduce network latency but does not increase the provisioned throughput allocated to the database.

Common exam trap

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.

Technical deep dive

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.

Related practice questions

Related DP-900 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A data engineer needs to process streaming data from IoT devices and store the results in Azure Data Lake Storage for long-term analytics. The data must be processed in near real-time to detect anomalies and trigger alerts. Which Azure service should the engineer use for stream processing?

Question 2

A data engineer needs to query data stored in CSV files in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using T-SQL in Azure Synapse Analytics, without loading the data into the database. Which feature should they use?

Question 3

A data engineer needs to process raw clickstream data from multiple websites that is stored in Azure Blob Storage as JSON files. The processing must run automatically every hour, transform the data into a structured format for reporting, and handle schema changes in the source data without manual intervention. Which Azure service should be used?

Question 4

A data engineer is designing a data lake architecture in Azure. They plan to first ingest raw data from various sources into a landing zone in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. Then they will clean, validate, and deduplicate that data in a second zone. Finally, they will create aggregated, business-ready datasets in a third zone for analysts. This layered approach is known as which architecture?

Question 5

A data engineer needs to transform large datasets stored in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using Python and Apache Spark. They want a serverless compute option that automatically scales and requires no cluster management. Which Azure service should they use?

Question 6

A company collects customer feedback forms. Each form contains always-present fields like CustomerID and SubmissionDate, but also a free-text Comments field and optional fields like Rating or ProductCategory that vary between forms. How should this data be classified?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this DP-900 question test?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s) — Azure Cosmos DB performance is provisioned in Request Units per second (RU/s). Increasing the provisioned throughput (RU/s) allocates more resources to handle the workload, directly improving performance during peak times. Choosing a different API or increasing containers does not directly address throughput. Changing regions affects latency but not the underlying throughput capacity.

What should I do if I get this DP-900 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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