Free AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate Practice Questions

Sample Practice Questions

Try these 10 sample questions from the AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate practice bank. Each includes the answer and explanation. Continue with the interactive practice above to review the full question set.

1. 1A Kinesis Data Streams ingestion workload must adjust its stream capacity without the team specifying shard counts. Which capacity mode meets this requirement?

   1. A. Provisioned mode, with shards selected by the producer
   2. B. On-demand mode, with shards managed by Kinesis
   3. C. Provisioned mode, with shards selected by each consumer
   4. D. On-demand mode, with a fixed shard count set by the team

   Answer: B

   Explanation: AWS states, "With the on-demand mode, Kinesis Data Streams automatically manages the shards in order to provide the necessary throughput." This meets the requirement to avoid specifying shard counts. Provisioned mode requires a shard count; on-demand mode does not require the team to fix one.

   Reference: Amazon Kinesis Data Streams Terminology and concepts — Capacity Mode

2. 2A Redshift analytics workload must query structured files in S3 while leaving the data in S3 instead of loading it into local warehouse tables. Which feature fits?

   1. A. Redshift COPY
   2. B. Redshift UNLOAD
   3. C. Redshift Spectrum
   4. D. Redshift VACUUM

   Answer: C

   Explanation: AWS says Spectrum can query S3 data "without having to load the data into Amazon Redshift tables." COPY loads data, UNLOAD exports it, and VACUUM maintains local tables.

   Reference: Querying external data using Amazon Redshift Spectrum — Using Amazon Redshift Spectrum — introduction

3. 3A pipeline target must run every 15 minutes at a regular interval. Which EventBridge Scheduler schedule type directly represents this recurring interval?

   1. A. A rate schedule with a 15-minute interval
   2. B. A rate schedule with a 15-hour interval
   3. C. An at schedule set 15 minutes from now
   4. D. A cron schedule set to minute 15 of every hour

   Answer: A

   Explanation: AWS states, "A rate-based schedule starts after the start date you specify for your schedule, and runs at a regular rate that you define until the schedule's end date." A 15-minute rate supplies the required interval. Fifteen hours and once per hour are different frequencies; an at expression invokes once.

   Reference: Schedule types in EventBridge Scheduler — Rate-based schedules

4. 4A supported AWS workload should access AWS APIs without embedding long-term access keys. What does assuming an IAM role provide?

   1. A. A permanent password shared by all role users
   2. B. The root account's long-term access keys
   3. C. Temporary security credentials for a role session
   4. D. An access key that never expires or changes

   Answer: C

   Explanation: AWS states, "when you assume a role, it provides you with temporary security credentials for your role session." Role assumption does not provide permanent credentials or root access keys.

   Reference: IAM roles — IAM role — credentials

5. 5An ingestion consumer needs to replay Kinesis Data Streams records 48 hours after they arrive. The stream uses its default retention period. What must be changed before ingesting those records?

   1. A. Increase the stream retention period to cover 48 hours
   2. B. Increase the number of consumers to cover 48 hours
   3. C. Increase the producer partition-key length for replay
   4. D. Increase the consumer batch size for retained records

   Answer: A

   Explanation: The guide states, "A stream’s retention period is set to a default of 24 hours after creation." Retention controls how long records remain accessible, so it must cover the 48-hour replay requirement. Consumer count, partition-key length, and batch size do not extend record retention.

   Reference: Amazon Kinesis Data Streams Terminology and concepts — Retention Period

6. 6A Redshift query must join warehouse data with live rows in an RDS for PostgreSQL database without first loading those rows into Redshift. Which feature supports this access?

   1. A. Federated Query
   2. B. Spectrum on an S3 export
   3. C. UNLOAD to an S3 bucket
   4. D. A COPY from a nightly database export

   Answer: A

   Explanation: AWS states, "you can integrate queries from Amazon Redshift on live data in external databases". RDS for PostgreSQL is a supported source. S3 exports and COPY use copied data, while UNLOAD exports warehouse data.

   Reference: Querying data with federated queries in Amazon Redshift — Querying data with federated queries — introduction

7. 7A pipeline must run at 8 a.m. in a selected local time zone on the first Monday of every month. Which EventBridge Scheduler schedule type expresses this calendar recurrence?

   1. A. A fixed rate of 30 days
   2. B. A fixed rate of 4 weeks
   3. C. A cron-based schedule
   4. D. A one-time schedule with an annual end date

   Answer: C

   Explanation: AWS says, "you can create a cron-based schedule that runs at 8:00 a.m. PST on the first Monday of every month." Fixed day or week intervals do not preserve the first-Monday calendar rule, and a one-time schedule does not recur.

   Reference: Schedule types in EventBridge Scheduler — Cron-based schedules

8. 8Which IAM role policy identifies the principals trusted to assume the role, rather than the resource actions the role can perform?

   1. A. The role's trust policy
   2. B. The role's permissions policy
   3. C. The role's permissions boundary
   4. D. The account's service control policy

   Answer: A

   Explanation: AWS defines a trust policy as a document in which "you define the principals that you trust to assume the role." Permission policies and boundaries govern allowed actions, and service control policies constrain account permissions rather than define the role's trusted principals.

   Reference: IAM roles — Trust policy

9. 9What determines the shard to which a producer's Kinesis Data Streams record is assigned?

   1. A. The name of the consumer that first reads the record
   2. B. The sequence number chosen by the producer application
   3. C. The partition key associated with the record
   4. D. The retention period configured on the stream

   Answer: C

   Explanation: AWS explains, "It uses the partition key that is associated with each data record to determine which shard a given data record belongs to." Consumer names and retention do not route producer records, and Kinesis assigns sequence numbers after writes.

   Reference: Amazon Kinesis Data Streams Terminology and concepts — Partition Key

10. 10Repeated Redshift reports perform the same expensive joins and aggregations. The reports can use a stored precomputed result that is refreshed separately. Which database object matches this requirement?

    1. A. A view that recomputes the joins on every read
    2. B. A table containing only query execution logs
    3. C. An external schema containing connection metadata
    4. D. A materialized view containing the query result

    Answer: D

    Explanation: AWS states, "A materialized view contains a precomputed result set". It stores results for reuse, unlike an ordinary view, execution logs, or external schema metadata.

    Reference: Creating materialized views in Amazon Redshift — Materialized views — precomputed results