C100DBA Application Administration Practice Question
Which read preference allows the application to read from the closest member of the replica set to minimize network latency?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many confuse 'nearest' with 'primaryPreferred', mistakenly believing nearest prioritizes data freshness over network latency, or vice versa.
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
✓
nearest
The 'nearest' read preference is specifically designed to reduce latency by targeting the node with the lowest network round-trip time. This is highly effective for global deployments where applications are distributed across regions. Understanding read preferences is fundamental for application administration, as it allows developers to influence traffic distribution and resource utilization across the replica set, ensuring the application remains responsive even when the primary node is geographically distant from the client.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
primaryPreferred
Why it's wrong here
The primaryPreferred preference directs reads to the primary node first, falling back to secondaries only if the primary is unavailable. It prioritizes data freshness over latency, which is the opposite of the intended behavior when the primary node might be far away and result in high network latency for users.
- ✗
secondary
Why it's wrong here
The secondary read preference forces the driver to route all read operations to one of the secondary nodes. While this removes load from the primary, it does not guarantee that the chosen secondary is the geographically closest or lowest-latency node available to the application driver, unlike the 'nearest' mode.
- ✓
nearest
Why this is correct
The nearest read preference selects the replica set member with the lowest network latency. This is the ideal setting for applications that prioritize low response times above data consistency, especially in multi-region deployments where connecting to the primary node might introduce significant network delay for the end-user application.
- ✗
secondaryPreferred
Why it's wrong here
The secondaryPreferred preference directs reads to secondaries, falling back to the primary only if no secondaries are available. This does not account for the network latency of the nodes, as it would prefer a far-away secondary over a closer primary, failing the requirement to minimize latency to the closest node.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official MongoDB exam blueprint
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