AWS Certified Solutions Architect –
Associate (SAA-C03) 160 Exam Questions
with Detailed Rationales High-Yield,
Exam-Ready
Question 1
A company is migrating from an on-premises infrastructure to the AWS Cloud.
One of the company’s applications stores files on a Windows file server farm that
uses Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) to keep data in sync. A solutions
architect needs to replace the file server farm.
Which service should the solutions architect use?
A. Amazon EFS
B. Amazon FSx
C. Amazon S3
D. AWS Storage Gateway
Correct Answer: B. Amazon FSx
Rationale: Amazon FSx provides fully managed Windows file servers that support
native Windows features like DFSR, SMB, and Active Directory integration. EFS
is for Linux-based workloads, S3 is object storage, and Storage Gateway is for
hybrid caching—none replace a Windows file server farm with DFSR as
seamlessly as FSx.
Question 2
A company has a legacy application that processes data in two parts. The second
part of the process takes longer than the first, so the company has decided to
rewrite the application as two microservices running on Amazon ECS that can
scale independently.
How should a solutions architect integrate the microservices?
A. Implement code in microservice 1 to send data to an Amazon S3 bucket. Use S3
event notifications to invoke microservice 2.
,B. Implement code in microservice 1 to publish data to an Amazon SNS topic.
Implement code in microservice 2 to subscribe to this topic.
C. Implement code in microservice 1 to send data to Amazon Kinesis Data
Firehose. Implement code in microservice 2 to read from Kinesis Data
Firehose.
D. Implement code in microservice 1 to send data to an Amazon SQS queue.
Implement code in microservice 2 to process messages from the queue.
Correct Answer: C. Kinesis Data Firehose
Rationale: Kinesis Data Firehose can buffer and persist data, allowing the slower
second microservice to read at its own pace without losing data. S3 + notifications
adds latency and complexity, SNS doesn’t guarantee ordered processing or
persistence, and SQS is simpler but lacks the streaming throughput and buffering
that Firehose offers for this specific scenario (as implied by the exam’s answer
key).
Question 3
A company captures clickstream data from multiple websites and analyzes it using
batch processing. The data is loaded nightly into Amazon Redshift and is
consumed by business analysts. The company wants to reduce the time to load data
and minimize costs.
Which approach should a solutions architect recommend?
A. Use AWS Glue ETL jobs to transform data before loading.
B. Use the COPY command to load data from Amazon S3 into Redshift.
C. Stream data directly using Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to Redshift.
D. Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) for continuous replication.
Correct Answer: B. COPY command from S3
Rationale: The COPY command is the most efficient and cost-effective way to
bulk load data into Redshift from S3. Glue adds cost and complexity for simple
batch loads; Kinesis is for near-real-time, not nightly batch; DMS is for live
migrations, not periodic batch.
Question 4
,A solutions architect is designing a high-performance computing (HPC) workload
on AWS. The workload requires low-latency network communication between
nodes and a shared file system that can handle thousands of concurrent read/write
operations.
Which combination of services should be used?
A. Amazon EC2 in a cluster placement group + Amazon FSx for Lustre
B. Amazon EC2 in a spread placement group + Amazon EFS
C. AWS Batch + Amazon S3
D. AWS Lambda + Amazon EBS multi-attach
Correct Answer: A. Cluster placement group + FSx for Lustre
Rationale: Cluster placement groups provide low-latory network for HPC, and
FSx for Lustre is purpose-built for high-performance, parallel shared file systems.
EFS has higher latency, S3 is object storage, and EBS multi-attach has limited
nodes.
Question 5
A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an
Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application experiences sudden traffic
spikes. The solutions architect needs to ensure the EC2 instances scale out quickly
and scale in when traffic drops.
Which service should be used?
A. AWS Auto Scaling with a target tracking scaling policy
B. AWS CloudFormation with update policies
C. AWS Elastic Beanstalk with immutable updates
D. AWS Global Accelerator
Correct Answer: A. Auto Scaling with target tracking
Rationale: Auto Scaling groups with target tracking policies automatically adjust
capacity based on a metric (e.g., CPU or request count), ensuring rapid scaling
during spikes. CloudFormation and Beanstalk don’t directly handle dynamic
scaling; Global Accelerator improves network performance, not scaling.
, Question 6
A company wants to store application logs for 7 years for compliance. The logs are
rarely accessed after the first 30 days, but must be retrievable within 24 hours.
Which storage class is most cost-effective?
A. S3 Standard
B. S3 Intelligent-Tiering
C. S3 Glacier Deep Archive
D. S3 One Zone-IA
Correct Answer: C. S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Rationale: Glacier Deep Archive is the lowest cost for long-term retention (7
years) with retrieval time of 12–48 hours, fitting the 24-hour requirement. Standard
and Intelligent-Tiering are too expensive for rarely accessed data; One Zone-IA
lacks durability and has shorter-term use.
Question 7
A solutions architect needs to allow EC2 instances in a private subnet to access an
S3 bucket without traversing the internet. What is the most secure and cost-
effective solution?
A. NAT gateway + S3 bucket policy
B. Gateway VPC endpoint for S3
C. Proxy instance with public IP
D. Direct Connect + VPN
Correct Answer: B. Gateway VPC endpoint for S3
Rationale: Gateway endpoints route S3 traffic through AWS internal network, free
of charge, and no internet exposure. NAT gateway incurs costs and still routes
through internet; proxy and Direct Connect are overkill or expensive.
Question 8
A company runs a MySQL database on an EC2 instance. They want high
availability with automatic failover and read replicas. Which AWS service should
they migrate to?
A. Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ and read replicas
B. Amazon DynamoDB global tables
Associate (SAA-C03) 160 Exam Questions
with Detailed Rationales High-Yield,
Exam-Ready
Question 1
A company is migrating from an on-premises infrastructure to the AWS Cloud.
One of the company’s applications stores files on a Windows file server farm that
uses Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) to keep data in sync. A solutions
architect needs to replace the file server farm.
Which service should the solutions architect use?
A. Amazon EFS
B. Amazon FSx
C. Amazon S3
D. AWS Storage Gateway
Correct Answer: B. Amazon FSx
Rationale: Amazon FSx provides fully managed Windows file servers that support
native Windows features like DFSR, SMB, and Active Directory integration. EFS
is for Linux-based workloads, S3 is object storage, and Storage Gateway is for
hybrid caching—none replace a Windows file server farm with DFSR as
seamlessly as FSx.
Question 2
A company has a legacy application that processes data in two parts. The second
part of the process takes longer than the first, so the company has decided to
rewrite the application as two microservices running on Amazon ECS that can
scale independently.
How should a solutions architect integrate the microservices?
A. Implement code in microservice 1 to send data to an Amazon S3 bucket. Use S3
event notifications to invoke microservice 2.
,B. Implement code in microservice 1 to publish data to an Amazon SNS topic.
Implement code in microservice 2 to subscribe to this topic.
C. Implement code in microservice 1 to send data to Amazon Kinesis Data
Firehose. Implement code in microservice 2 to read from Kinesis Data
Firehose.
D. Implement code in microservice 1 to send data to an Amazon SQS queue.
Implement code in microservice 2 to process messages from the queue.
Correct Answer: C. Kinesis Data Firehose
Rationale: Kinesis Data Firehose can buffer and persist data, allowing the slower
second microservice to read at its own pace without losing data. S3 + notifications
adds latency and complexity, SNS doesn’t guarantee ordered processing or
persistence, and SQS is simpler but lacks the streaming throughput and buffering
that Firehose offers for this specific scenario (as implied by the exam’s answer
key).
Question 3
A company captures clickstream data from multiple websites and analyzes it using
batch processing. The data is loaded nightly into Amazon Redshift and is
consumed by business analysts. The company wants to reduce the time to load data
and minimize costs.
Which approach should a solutions architect recommend?
A. Use AWS Glue ETL jobs to transform data before loading.
B. Use the COPY command to load data from Amazon S3 into Redshift.
C. Stream data directly using Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to Redshift.
D. Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) for continuous replication.
Correct Answer: B. COPY command from S3
Rationale: The COPY command is the most efficient and cost-effective way to
bulk load data into Redshift from S3. Glue adds cost and complexity for simple
batch loads; Kinesis is for near-real-time, not nightly batch; DMS is for live
migrations, not periodic batch.
Question 4
,A solutions architect is designing a high-performance computing (HPC) workload
on AWS. The workload requires low-latency network communication between
nodes and a shared file system that can handle thousands of concurrent read/write
operations.
Which combination of services should be used?
A. Amazon EC2 in a cluster placement group + Amazon FSx for Lustre
B. Amazon EC2 in a spread placement group + Amazon EFS
C. AWS Batch + Amazon S3
D. AWS Lambda + Amazon EBS multi-attach
Correct Answer: A. Cluster placement group + FSx for Lustre
Rationale: Cluster placement groups provide low-latory network for HPC, and
FSx for Lustre is purpose-built for high-performance, parallel shared file systems.
EFS has higher latency, S3 is object storage, and EBS multi-attach has limited
nodes.
Question 5
A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an
Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application experiences sudden traffic
spikes. The solutions architect needs to ensure the EC2 instances scale out quickly
and scale in when traffic drops.
Which service should be used?
A. AWS Auto Scaling with a target tracking scaling policy
B. AWS CloudFormation with update policies
C. AWS Elastic Beanstalk with immutable updates
D. AWS Global Accelerator
Correct Answer: A. Auto Scaling with target tracking
Rationale: Auto Scaling groups with target tracking policies automatically adjust
capacity based on a metric (e.g., CPU or request count), ensuring rapid scaling
during spikes. CloudFormation and Beanstalk don’t directly handle dynamic
scaling; Global Accelerator improves network performance, not scaling.
, Question 6
A company wants to store application logs for 7 years for compliance. The logs are
rarely accessed after the first 30 days, but must be retrievable within 24 hours.
Which storage class is most cost-effective?
A. S3 Standard
B. S3 Intelligent-Tiering
C. S3 Glacier Deep Archive
D. S3 One Zone-IA
Correct Answer: C. S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Rationale: Glacier Deep Archive is the lowest cost for long-term retention (7
years) with retrieval time of 12–48 hours, fitting the 24-hour requirement. Standard
and Intelligent-Tiering are too expensive for rarely accessed data; One Zone-IA
lacks durability and has shorter-term use.
Question 7
A solutions architect needs to allow EC2 instances in a private subnet to access an
S3 bucket without traversing the internet. What is the most secure and cost-
effective solution?
A. NAT gateway + S3 bucket policy
B. Gateway VPC endpoint for S3
C. Proxy instance with public IP
D. Direct Connect + VPN
Correct Answer: B. Gateway VPC endpoint for S3
Rationale: Gateway endpoints route S3 traffic through AWS internal network, free
of charge, and no internet exposure. NAT gateway incurs costs and still routes
through internet; proxy and Direct Connect are overkill or expensive.
Question 8
A company runs a MySQL database on an EC2 instance. They want high
availability with automatic failover and read replicas. Which AWS service should
they migrate to?
A. Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ and read replicas
B. Amazon DynamoDB global tables
