AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Exam
New 202-2026 Version with 65 Questions, Correct
Answers and Rationale
Question 1A company wants to host a web application on AWS with high availability across
multiple Availability Zones. Which architecture ensures resilience?
A. Host the application on a single EC2 instance in one Availability Zone.
B. Deploy the application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer across two
Availability Zones.
C. Use a single Amazon RDS instance in one Availability Zone.
D. Store static content in an S3 bucket without replication. Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Deploying EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones with an Application
Load Balancer ensures high availability and fault tolerance, aligning with the Design Resilient
Architectures domain.
Question 2 Which AWS service is BEST suited for decoupling application components to
improve scalability?
A. Amazon EC2
B. Amazon SQS
C. Amazon RDS
D. Amazon CloudFront Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) decouples application components by enabling
asynchronous communication, improving scalability and resilience.
Question 3A solutions architect needs to design a cost-optimized storage solution for
infrequently accessed data with low-latency retrieval. Which service should be used?
A. Amazon S3 Standard
B. Amazon S3 Glacier
C. Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
D. Amazon EBS Correct Answer: C
Rationale: S3 Standard-IA is designed for infrequently accessed data with low-latency retrieval
at a lower cost than S3 Standard, aligning with cost optimization.
Question 4A company wants to secure access to an S3 bucket containing sensitive data. Which
approach ensures the HIGHEST level of security?
A. Make the bucket publicly accessible.
B. Use bucket policies to restrict access to specific IAM roles.
C. Disable server-side encryption.
D. Allow access via unsigned URLs. Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Bucket policies restricting access to specific IAM roles enforce least privilege,
enhancing security per the Design Secure Architectures domain.
Question 5Which AWS service provides a fully managed, scalable relational database for a web
application?
, A. Amazon DynamoDB
B. Amazon RDS
C. Amazon Redshift
D. Amazon ElastiCache Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service that scales automatically, ideal
for web applications requiring SQL databases.
Question 6A company needs to analyze JSON log files stored in an S3 bucket with minimal
operational overhead. What is the BEST solution?
A. Use Amazon Athena to query the logs directly in S3.
B. Copy the logs to an EC2 instance for analysis.
C. Use Amazon Redshift to store and query the logs.
D. Create an API Gateway to access the S3 bucket. Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Amazon Athena allows querying JSON logs directly in S3 with minimal setup,
reducing operational overhead.
Question 7A company’s application experiences variable workloads. How should a solutions
architect design a scalable architecture?
A. Use EC2 instances with manual scaling.
B. Configure an Auto Scaling group with EC2 instances based on CPU utilization.
C. Deploy the application on a single EC2 instance.
D. Use Amazon RDS with fixed capacity. Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Auto Scaling groups adjust EC2 instance counts based on metrics like CPU
utilization, ensuring scalability for variable workloads.
Question 8Which AWS service provides edge caching to improve application performance
globally?
A. Amazon Route 53
B. Amazon CloudFront
C. AWS Global Accelerator
D. Amazon API Gateway Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Amazon CloudFront is a CDN that caches content at edge locations, reducing latency
for global users.
Question 9A company wants to ensure data durability for critical application data. Which storage
option is BEST?
A. Amazon EBS with no replication
B. Amazon S3 with cross-region replication
C. Amazon EFS with no backups
D. Amazon RDS with single-AZ deployment Correct Answer: B
Rationale: S3 with cross-region replication ensures high durability (11 nines) and availability for
critical data.
Question 10What is the BEST way to secure API access to an application hosted on AWS?
A. Use API Gateway with IAM authentication.
B. Expose the API publicly with no authentication.
New 202-2026 Version with 65 Questions, Correct
Answers and Rationale
Question 1A company wants to host a web application on AWS with high availability across
multiple Availability Zones. Which architecture ensures resilience?
A. Host the application on a single EC2 instance in one Availability Zone.
B. Deploy the application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer across two
Availability Zones.
C. Use a single Amazon RDS instance in one Availability Zone.
D. Store static content in an S3 bucket without replication. Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Deploying EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones with an Application
Load Balancer ensures high availability and fault tolerance, aligning with the Design Resilient
Architectures domain.
Question 2 Which AWS service is BEST suited for decoupling application components to
improve scalability?
A. Amazon EC2
B. Amazon SQS
C. Amazon RDS
D. Amazon CloudFront Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) decouples application components by enabling
asynchronous communication, improving scalability and resilience.
Question 3A solutions architect needs to design a cost-optimized storage solution for
infrequently accessed data with low-latency retrieval. Which service should be used?
A. Amazon S3 Standard
B. Amazon S3 Glacier
C. Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
D. Amazon EBS Correct Answer: C
Rationale: S3 Standard-IA is designed for infrequently accessed data with low-latency retrieval
at a lower cost than S3 Standard, aligning with cost optimization.
Question 4A company wants to secure access to an S3 bucket containing sensitive data. Which
approach ensures the HIGHEST level of security?
A. Make the bucket publicly accessible.
B. Use bucket policies to restrict access to specific IAM roles.
C. Disable server-side encryption.
D. Allow access via unsigned URLs. Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Bucket policies restricting access to specific IAM roles enforce least privilege,
enhancing security per the Design Secure Architectures domain.
Question 5Which AWS service provides a fully managed, scalable relational database for a web
application?
, A. Amazon DynamoDB
B. Amazon RDS
C. Amazon Redshift
D. Amazon ElastiCache Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service that scales automatically, ideal
for web applications requiring SQL databases.
Question 6A company needs to analyze JSON log files stored in an S3 bucket with minimal
operational overhead. What is the BEST solution?
A. Use Amazon Athena to query the logs directly in S3.
B. Copy the logs to an EC2 instance for analysis.
C. Use Amazon Redshift to store and query the logs.
D. Create an API Gateway to access the S3 bucket. Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Amazon Athena allows querying JSON logs directly in S3 with minimal setup,
reducing operational overhead.
Question 7A company’s application experiences variable workloads. How should a solutions
architect design a scalable architecture?
A. Use EC2 instances with manual scaling.
B. Configure an Auto Scaling group with EC2 instances based on CPU utilization.
C. Deploy the application on a single EC2 instance.
D. Use Amazon RDS with fixed capacity. Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Auto Scaling groups adjust EC2 instance counts based on metrics like CPU
utilization, ensuring scalability for variable workloads.
Question 8Which AWS service provides edge caching to improve application performance
globally?
A. Amazon Route 53
B. Amazon CloudFront
C. AWS Global Accelerator
D. Amazon API Gateway Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Amazon CloudFront is a CDN that caches content at edge locations, reducing latency
for global users.
Question 9A company wants to ensure data durability for critical application data. Which storage
option is BEST?
A. Amazon EBS with no replication
B. Amazon S3 with cross-region replication
C. Amazon EFS with no backups
D. Amazon RDS with single-AZ deployment Correct Answer: B
Rationale: S3 with cross-region replication ensures high durability (11 nines) and availability for
critical data.
Question 10What is the BEST way to secure API access to an application hosted on AWS?
A. Use API Gateway with IAM authentication.
B. Expose the API publicly with no authentication.
