Preparing for the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam? 🚀 You’re in the right place! This set of 50 practice questions (with answers and explanations) covers AWS Core Services including EC2, S3, RDS, and VPC. Each question is carefully crafted to reflect the real exam style and help you strengthen your concepts.

By practicing these questions, you’ll:

Understand AWS fundamentals with clarity.
Get exam-style scenario-based learning.
Build confidence for the actual SAA-C03 certification.

Let’s begin! ✅

📘 Batch 1: AWS Core Services (1–50)

Q1. Which Amazon EC2 pricing model is best for long-term, steady-state workloads?

A. On-Demand
B. Reserved Instances
C. Spot Instances
D. Dedicated Host

✅ Answer: B. Reserved Instances
💡 Explanation: Reserved Instances provide significant discounts (up to 72%) for long-term, predictable workloads compared to On-Demand pricing.

Q2. Amazon S3 provides which type of storage class that is designed for long-term archival?

A. S3 Standard
B. S3 Standard-IA
C. S3 Glacier
D. S3 Intelligent-Tiering

✅ Answer: C. S3 Glacier
💡 Explanation: S3 Glacier is a low-cost storage service designed specifically for data archiving and long-term backups.

Q3. Which AWS service allows you to run relational databases without managing servers?

A. DynamoDB
B. RDS
C. Aurora
D. ElastiCache

✅ Answer: B. RDS
💡 Explanation: Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) manages database provisioning, patching, backups, and scaling, so you don’t need to manage infrastructure.

Q4. Which of the following is a block storage service for use with Amazon EC2?

A. Amazon S3
B. Amazon EFS
C. Amazon EBS
D. Amazon Glacier

✅ Answer: C. Amazon EBS
💡 Explanation: Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) provides block-level storage volumes for use with Amazon EC2 instances.

Q5. Which AWS service provides an isolated network environment for your resources?

A. CloudFront
B. Route 53
C. VPC
D. Direct Connect

✅ Answer: C. VPC
💡 Explanation: A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) allows you to launch AWS resources in a logically isolated network.

Q6. Which Amazon S3 feature allows automatic migration of objects between storage classes based on usage patterns?

A. S3 Transfer Acceleration
B. S3 Lifecycle Policies
C. S3 Versioning
D. S3 Replication

✅ Answer: B. S3 Lifecycle Policies
💡 Explanation: Lifecycle policies allow automatic transition of objects to cheaper storage classes like S3-IA or Glacier when they are infrequently accessed.

Q7. Which AWS service provides DNS and domain registration?

A. Route 53
B. CloudFront
C. VPC
D. Elastic Load Balancer

✅ Answer: A. Route 53
💡 Explanation: Amazon Route 53 is a highly available and scalable DNS service that also offers domain registration and health checks.

Q8. Which type of Elastic Load Balancer works at the application layer (Layer 7)?

A. Classic Load Balancer
B. Network Load Balancer
C. Application Load Balancer
D. Global Accelerator

✅ Answer: C. Application Load Balancer
💡 Explanation: ALBs operate at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS), allowing advanced routing features like path-based and host-based routing.

Q9. Which AWS service is best for storing session data for a web application?

A. DynamoDB
B. RDS
C. ElastiCache
D. S3

✅ Answer: C. ElastiCache
💡 Explanation: ElastiCache (Redis/Memcached) provides in-memory caching, ideal for session storage and low-latency access.

Q10. Which AWS storage service automatically scales to store unlimited data?

A. EBS
B. EFS
C. S3
D. Instance Store

✅ Answer: C. S3
💡 Explanation: Amazon S3 is object storage that can scale virtually without limits.

Q11. Which database service offers global replication and single-digit millisecond latency?

A. Aurora
B. DynamoDB
C. RDS
D. Redshift

✅ Answer: B. DynamoDB
💡 Explanation: Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database with global tables and millisecond latency.

Q12. Which EC2 storage option is ephemeral and data is lost when the instance stops?

A. EBS
B. Instance Store
C. S3
D. EFS

✅ Answer: B. Instance Store
💡 Explanation: Instance Store provides temporary block-level storage directly attached to EC2, and data is lost when the instance stops.

Q13. What’s the maximum size of a single object in Amazon S3?

A. 1 TB
B. 2 TB
C. 5 TB
D. 10 TB

✅ Answer: C. 5 TB
💡 Explanation: S3 supports objects up to 5 TB, though multipart upload is recommended for files over 100 MB.

Q14. Which AWS service helps distribute content globally with low latency?

A. Route 53
B. CloudFront
C. Direct Connect
D. Global Accelerator

✅ Answer: B. CloudFront
💡 Explanation: Amazon CloudFront is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that caches content at edge locations for faster delivery.

Q15. Which Amazon RDS feature provides automatic failover for high availability?

A. Multi-Region Deployment
B. Multi-AZ Deployment
C. Read Replicas
D. Auto Scaling

✅ Answer: B. Multi-AZ Deployment
💡 Explanation: Multi-AZ provides synchronous replication to a standby DB instance, ensuring automatic failover in case of failure.

Q16. Which storage service provides a file system interface for Linux-based applications?

A. EBS
B. EFS
C. S3
D. Glacier

✅ Answer: B. EFS
💡 Explanation: Amazon EFS provides scalable, fully managed file storage that can be mounted on multiple EC2 instances simultaneously.

Q17. Which EC2 feature allows automatic adjustment of instance capacity based on demand?

A. Elastic Load Balancing
B. Auto Scaling
C. CloudFormation
D. Elastic Beanstalk

✅ Answer: B. Auto Scaling
💡 Explanation: Auto Scaling automatically increases or decreases EC2 capacity based on application demand.

Q18. Which Amazon S3 feature ensures protection against accidental deletion of objects?

A. S3 Transfer Acceleration
B. S3 Versioning
C. S3 Lifecycle Policies
D. S3 Intelligent-Tiering

✅ Answer: B. S3 Versioning
💡 Explanation: Versioning keeps multiple versions of an object, protecting against accidental overwrites and deletions.

Q19. What is the default maximum number of VPCs per AWS region?

A. 1
B. 3
C. 5
D. 10

✅ Answer: C. 5
💡 Explanation: By default, AWS allows up to 5 VPCs per region (this can be increased via support request).

Q20. Which service enables you to run containerized applications without managing servers?

A. Lambda
B. EC2
C. ECS with Fargate
D. Elastic Beanstalk

✅ Answer: C. ECS with Fargate
💡 Explanation: ECS with Fargate allows you to run containers without provisioning or managing EC2 instances.

Q21. Which AWS service is designed for real-time processing of streaming data?

A. S3
B. Kinesis
C. CloudTrail
D. Athena

✅ Answer: B. Kinesis
💡 Explanation: Amazon Kinesis processes large streams of real-time data such as IoT telemetry, app logs, or video streams.

Q22. Which AWS database is best suited for OLAP (data warehousing)?

A. RDS
B. DynamoDB
C. Redshift
D. Aurora

✅ Answer: C. Redshift
💡 Explanation: Amazon Redshift is a fully managed data warehouse designed for analytics and complex queries.

Q23. Which AWS service automatically provisions and manages SSL/TLS certificates?

A. IAM
B. CloudFront
C. Certificate Manager (ACM)
D. KMS

✅ Answer: C. Certificate Manager (ACM)
💡 Explanation: AWS Certificate Manager issues and renews SSL/TLS certificates for free, making it easy to secure apps.

Q24. What is the maximum size of a single Amazon RDS instance?

A. 16 TB
B. 32 TB
C. 64 TB
D. 128 TB

✅ Answer: C. 64 TB
💡 Explanation: Amazon RDS can support databases up to 64 TB in certain engines like Aurora and MySQL.

Q25. Which AWS service is best for creating isolated networks?

A. CloudFront
B. VPC
C. Direct Connect
D. Transit Gateway

✅ Answer: B. VPC
💡 Explanation: Amazon VPC lets you create logically isolated virtual networks where you control IP addressing, subnets, and gateways.

Q26. Which AWS service enables automatic backups and point-in-time recovery for databases?

A. DynamoDB
B. RDS
C. ElastiCache
D. Neptune

✅ Answer: B. RDS
💡 Explanation: RDS provides automatic backups, snapshots, and point-in-time recovery to minimize data loss.

Q27. Which service is primarily used for monitoring AWS resources and applications in real time?

A. CloudWatch
B. CloudTrail
C. Config
D. GuardDuty

✅ Answer: A. CloudWatch
💡 Explanation: Amazon CloudWatch collects metrics, logs, and events for real-time monitoring and alerting.

Q28. Which AWS service helps track API calls made to AWS services?

A. CloudTrail
B. CloudWatch
C. Inspector
D. Trusted Advisor

✅ Answer: A. CloudTrail
💡 Explanation: AWS CloudTrail records all API calls for auditing and compliance purposes.

Q29. Which service provides scalable email sending in AWS?

A. SES
B. SNS
C. SQS
D. WorkMail

✅ Answer: A. SES
💡 Explanation: Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) allows developers to send transactional and marketing emails at scale.

Q30. Which AWS service provides real-time threat detection powered by machine learning?

A. GuardDuty
B. Inspector
C. WAF
D. Macie

✅ Answer: A. GuardDuty
💡 Explanation: Amazon GuardDuty detects malicious activity and unauthorized access using ML and threat intelligence.

Q31. Which service provides a fully managed message queue?

A. SQS
B. SNS
C. Kinesis
D. CloudWatch

✅ Answer: A. SQS
💡 Explanation: Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) decouples applications by providing reliable message queuing.

Q32. Which service is used for push notifications to mobile devices?

A. SQS
B. SNS
C. CloudWatch
D. EventBridge

✅ Answer: B. SNS
💡 Explanation: Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) sends push notifications, emails, and SMS at scale.

Q33. Which AWS service is most commonly used for big data processing with Hadoop?

A. Glue
B. Redshift
C. EMR
D. Athena

✅ Answer: C. EMR
💡 Explanation: Amazon EMR provides managed Hadoop, Spark, and Presto clusters for big data analytics.

Q34. Which AWS service provides a visual interface to design and deploy workflows?

A. Step Functions
B. Lambda
C. EventBridge
D. CloudFormation

✅ Answer: A. Step Functions
💡 Explanation: AWS Step Functions let you build workflows by connecting multiple services with visual orchestration.

Q35. Which AWS service helps detect sensitive data like PII in S3 buckets?

A. GuardDuty
B. Macie
C. WAF
D. Inspector

✅ Answer: B. Macie
💡 Explanation: Amazon Macie uses ML to discover and protect sensitive data such as PII stored in S3.

Q36. Which service lets you run SQL queries directly on data stored in S3?

A. EMR
B. Redshift
C. Athena
D. Glue

✅ Answer: C. Athena
💡 Explanation: Amazon Athena allows interactive SQL queries on S3 data without loading it into a database.

Q37. Which service enables provisioning of AWS resources using code templates?

A. Elastic Beanstalk
B. CloudFormation
C. OpsWorks
D. Systems Manager

✅ Answer: B. CloudFormation
💡 Explanation: AWS CloudFormation automates infrastructure provisioning using JSON/YAML templates.

Q38. Which AWS service allows hosting of Docker containers without managing servers?

A. ECS with Fargate
B. EKS
C. Lambda
D. Lightsail

✅ Answer: A. ECS with Fargate
💡 Explanation: Fargate lets you run containerized workloads without provisioning servers.

Q39. Which service provides secure, dedicated network connections to AWS?

A. Transit Gateway
B. Direct Connect
C. VPC Peering
D. VPN Gateway

✅ Answer: B. Direct Connect
💡 Explanation: AWS Direct Connect establishes private, low-latency connections between your data center and AWS.

Q40. Which AWS service allows businesses to easily migrate databases to AWS?

A. Snowball
B. DMS
C. Glue
D. Storage Gateway

✅ Answer: B. DMS
💡 Explanation: AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) supports homogeneous and heterogeneous migrations with minimal downtime.

Q41. Which AWS tool helps estimate cloud costs?

A. Billing Console
B. Pricing Calculator
C. Cost Explorer
D. Trusted Advisor

✅ Answer: B. Pricing Calculator
💡 Explanation: AWS Pricing Calculator helps estimate service costs before deployment.

Q42. Which service helps analyze AWS spending and usage trends?

A. Cost Explorer
B. Billing Console
C. Pricing Calculator
D. CloudWatch

✅ Answer: A. Cost Explorer
💡 Explanation: AWS Cost Explorer provides visualization and analysis of your AWS usage and costs.

Q43. Which AWS service provides APIs to translate text between languages?

A. Lex
B. Translate
C. Polly
D. Comprehend

✅ Answer: B. Translate
💡 Explanation: Amazon Translate is a neural machine translation service for text.

Q44. Which service allows speech-to-text conversion?

A. Polly
B. Comprehend
C. Transcribe
D. Rekognition

✅ Answer: C. Transcribe
💡 Explanation: Amazon Transcribe converts spoken language into text using automatic speech recognition (ASR).

Q45. Which AWS service is used for face recognition in images and videos?

A. Rekognition
B. Comprehend
C. Polly
D. Lex

✅ Answer: A. Rekognition
💡 Explanation: Amazon Rekognition analyzes images and videos for objects, people, and facial recognition.

Q46. Which service allows developers to build chatbots?

A. Translate
B. Polly
C. Lex
D. Comprehend

✅ Answer: C. Lex
💡 Explanation: Amazon Lex powers chatbots and virtual assistants using speech and natural language understanding.

Q47. Which AWS service lets you create virtual desktops?

A. WorkSpaces
B. AppStream
C. WorkDocs
D. Connect

✅ Answer: A. WorkSpaces
💡 Explanation: Amazon WorkSpaces provides cloud-based virtual desktops for employees.

Q48. Which AWS service allows streaming applications to run on a browser without installation?

A. WorkSpaces
B. AppStream 2.0
C. Connect
D. Cloud9

✅ Answer: B. AppStream 2.0
💡 Explanation: AppStream 2.0 streams desktop applications to any browser without local installation.

Q49. Which AWS service enables businesses to run contact centers in the cloud?

A. WorkMail
B. WorkSpaces
C. Connect
D. AppStream

✅ Answer: C. Connect
💡 Explanation: Amazon Connect is a cloud-based contact center service with AI-powered routing and analytics.

Q50. Which service allows collaborative document editing within AWS?

A. WorkDocs
B. WorkMail
C. AppStream
D. Chime

✅ Answer: A. WorkDocs
💡 Explanation: Amazon WorkDocs is a secure document storage and collaboration service.

You have now completed 50 AWS Core Services MCQs with explanations, covering topics from compute and storage to networking and monitoring. These questions are highly relevant for AWS certification exams and real-world cloud projects.

👉 Next, continue your preparation with our Batch 2: AWS Security & Identity MCQs (51–100), which covers IAM, KMS, WAF, and advanced security practices.

Remember, consistent practice and a clear understanding of AWS fundamentals will set you apart in the exam and your cloud career. 🚀