AWS Cloud Practitioner

Core Services

24 free practice questions with explanations

PassNova has 24 free AWS Cloud Practitioner practice questions on Core Services, each with a clear explanation. Practise them in the browser with instant feedback — 100% free, no sign-up, on any device. Updated for 2026.

Sample questions

Core Services: example questions & answers

12 worked examples with answers and explanations below. Practise all 24 Core Services questions free in the browser, with instant feedback on every answer.

  1. What is Amazon S3 primarily used for?

    • ARunning virtual machines
    • BHosting relational databases
    • CObject storage for any type of data
    • DContent delivery acceleration

    Answer: Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is an object storage service offering industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance for storing any type of data.

  2. Which AWS service provides a managed relational database?

    • AAmazon DynamoDB
    • BAmazon ElastiCache
    • CAmazon RDS
    • DAmazon Redshift

    Answer: Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) provides a managed relational database service supporting engines like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, and Amazon Aurora.

  3. Which Amazon S3 storage class is most cost-effective for data that is accessed infrequently but requires rapid access when needed?

    • AS3 Standard
    • BS3 Glacier
    • CS3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
    • DS3 One Zone-IA

    Answer: S3 Standard-IA is designed for data that is accessed less frequently but requires rapid access when needed. It offers lower storage costs than S3 Standard with a retrieval fee, making it ideal for backups and disaster recovery files.

  4. Which AWS database service is a fully managed NoSQL key-value and document database?

    • AAmazon RDS
    • BAmazon Aurora
    • CAmazon DynamoDB
    • DAmazon Neptune

    Answer: Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed, serverless, key-value NoSQL database designed to run high-performance applications at any scale with single-digit millisecond performance.

  5. What makes Amazon Aurora different from standard RDS database engines?

    • AAurora only supports NoSQL workloads
    • BAurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible database with up to 5x better performance than standard MySQL
    • CAurora requires manual backups unlike other RDS engines
    • DAurora is a document database service

    Answer: Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud that combines the performance of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity of open-source databases, offering up to 5x MySQL performance.

  6. What is Amazon Redshift used for?

    • ACaching frequently accessed data
    • BRunning a fully managed data warehouse for analytics and business intelligence
    • CStoring unstructured documents
    • DProcessing real-time streaming data

    Answer: Amazon Redshift is a fast, scalable, fully managed cloud data warehouse service that makes it simple and cost-effective to analyze data using standard SQL and business intelligence tools.

  7. Which AWS service provides in-memory caching to improve application performance?

    • AAmazon RDS
    • BAmazon DynamoDB
    • CAmazon ElastiCache
    • DAmazon Neptune

    Answer: Amazon ElastiCache is a fully managed in-memory caching service supporting Redis and Memcached, improving application performance by allowing retrieval of information from fast, managed, in-memory caches rather than disk-based databases.

  8. What is Amazon S3 Glacier used for?

    • AFrequently accessed hot data requiring millisecond retrieval
    • BLong-term archival storage with retrieval times ranging from minutes to hours
    • CHigh-performance database caching
    • DReal-time data streaming and processing

    Answer: Amazon S3 Glacier is a secure, durable, and extremely low-cost storage service designed for long-term data archiving with retrieval times ranging from minutes (Expedited) to hours (Standard/Bulk).

  9. Which AWS service provides a fully managed graph database?

    • AAmazon DynamoDB
    • BAmazon DocumentDB
    • CAmazon Neptune
    • DAmazon Keyspaces

    Answer: Amazon Neptune is a fast, reliable, fully managed graph database service that makes it easy to build and run applications that work with highly connected datasets like social networks and recommendation engines.

  10. What is Amazon DocumentDB primarily used for?

    • AStoring and querying graph relationships
    • BRunning MongoDB-compatible document database workloads
    • CIn-memory caching for web applications
    • DTime-series data storage and analysis

    Answer: Amazon DocumentDB is a scalable, highly durable, and fully managed database service for operating MongoDB-compatible workloads, storing and querying JSON-like document data.

  11. Which AWS service provides a managed file system compatible with NFS for use with EC2?

    • AAmazon S3
    • BAmazon EBS
    • CAmazon EFS
    • DAmazon FSx

    Answer: Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) is a managed NFS file system that can be mounted on many EC2 instances simultaneously across multiple Availability Zones, providing shared storage for Linux-based workloads.

  12. What is the primary difference between Amazon EBS and Amazon S3?

    • AEBS is for object storage; S3 is for block storage
    • BEBS provides block storage attached to a single EC2 instance; S3 provides object storage accessible over HTTP
    • CEBS is cheaper than S3 for all use cases
    • DS3 can only be accessed from within a VPC; EBS is internet-accessible

    Answer: Amazon EBS provides block-level storage volumes attached to individual EC2 instances (like a hard drive), while S3 provides scalable object storage accessible via HTTP/HTTPS APIs from anywhere.

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