What is the definition of cloud computing?
A) Software installed locally on company hardware managed by an internal IT team.
B) Dedicated physical servers rented from a hosting provider on a monthly basis.
C) On-demand delivery of IT resources (compute, storage, databases, networking) via an API-driven model.
D) A virtualization technology that runs multiple OS instances on a single machine.
C) On-demand delivery of IT resources (compute, storage, databases, networking) via an API-driven model.
What are the three cloud deployment models?
A) Public Cloud, Community Cloud, and Distributed Cloud.
B) Edge Cloud, Fog Cloud, and Core Cloud.
C) IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS deployment models.
D) 1. All-in Cloud – all workloads on AWS
D) 1. All-in Cloud – all workloads on AWS
What is the difference between Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud?
A) Multi-cloud is only for enterprises; hybrid cloud is only for startups.
B) Hybrid cloud = on-premises + one cloud provider. Multi-cloud = using multiple cloud providers simultaneously.
C) Hybrid cloud uses multiple providers; multi-cloud mixes on-premises with one provider.
D) They are the same thing — both use multiple cloud providers simultaneously.
B) Hybrid cloud = on-premises + one cloud provider. Multi-cloud = using multiple cloud providers simultaneously.
What are the pros and cons of traditional on-premises IT?
A) Pros: no upfront costs. Cons: slow scaling and vendor lock-in.
B) Pros: low cost and fast scaling. Cons: less control and customisation.
C) Pros: increased control and customisation. | …
D) Pros: instant global deployment. Cons: requires large IT team.
C) Pros: increased control and customisation. | …
What are the 6 benefits of cloud computing (key exam topic)?
A) 1. Trade OpEx for CapEx 2. Economies of scale 3. Unlimited capacity 4. Reduce agility 5. Outsource all IT 6. Deploy regionally only
B) 1. Reduce latency 2. Eliminate databases 3. Remove security needs 4. Free storage 5. Instant scaling 6. No billing
C) 1. Free hardware 2. Unlimited bandwidth 3. No compliance requirements 4. Automatic code deployment 5. Built-in disaster recovery 6. Free support
D) 1. Trade fixed expense (CapEx) for variable expense (OpEx) | 2. Benefit from massive economies of scale | 3. Stop guessing capacity | …
D) 1. Trade fixed expense (CapEx) for variable expense (OpEx) | 2. Benefit from massive economies of scale | 3. Stop guessing capacity | …
Explain ‘Trade fixed expense for variable expense’ in cloud.
A) You pay a fixed monthly fee regardless of how much you use, eliminating unpredictable bills.
B) AWS charges upfront for all resources, reducing your ongoing operational costs to zero.
C) You trade your existing software licences for AWS-managed licences at a fixed annual rate.
D) In cloud you pay only for what you consume – no upfront capital expenditure on data centres/servers.
D) In cloud you pay only for what you consume – no upfront capital expenditure on data centres/servers.
Explain ‘Benefit from massive economies of scale’.
A) Individual customers negotiate lower prices by committing to long-term contracts with AWS.
B) AWS reduces costs by limiting the number of services it offers to increase specialisation.
C) AWS passes hardware manufacturing costs directly to customers through spot pricing.
D) AWS aggregates usage from hundreds of thousands of customers, driving down pay-as-you-go prices through its massive…
D) AWS aggregates usage from hundreds of thousands of customers, driving down pay-as-you-go prices through its massive…
Explain ‘Stop guessing capacity’.
A) You must still provision capacity in advance, but AWS provides better forecasting tools.
B) Traditional IT forces over-provisioning (wasted resources) or under-provisioning (performance issues).
C) AWS charges you based on your peak usage forecast rather than actual consumption.
D) AWS predicts your future usage automatically and pre-provisions exactly what you need.
B) Traditional IT forces over-provisioning (wasted resources) or under-provisioning (performance issues).
Explain ‘Increase speed and agility’.
A) New IT resources require a 2–4 week approval process versus months on-premises.
B) Cloud eliminates the need for software development, allowing faster time-to-market.
C) AWS automatically writes and deploys code faster than on-premises development teams.
D) New IT resources are available in minutes vs.
D) New IT resources are available in minutes vs.
Explain ‘Go global in minutes’.
A) You can deploy applications in any AWS Region worldwide with a few clicks, giving end users lower latency and a…
B) You can move your entire data centre to another country within minutes using Snowmobile.
C) AWS automatically translates your application into all languages for global users.
D) AWS ships pre-configured servers to your location within minutes of ordering.
A) You can deploy applications in any AWS Region worldwide with a few clicks, giving end users lower latency and a…
What is CapEx vs OpEx in the context of cloud?
A) CapEx = upfront capital investment in hardware with long depreciation cycles (3-5 years) and over/under-provisioning risk.
B) CapEx = monthly usage fees; OpEx = one-time hardware purchase at start of project.
C) Both are the same in cloud — all AWS costs are classified as capital expenditure.
D) CapEx is for software licences; OpEx is for physical server purchases only.
A) CapEx = upfront capital investment in hardware with long depreciation cycles (3-5 years) and over/under-provisioning risk.
What factors should you consider for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?
A) Only hardware purchase price and annual software licence fees.
B) Server/hardware, data centre facility (power, cooling, space), IT staff salaries, licensing fees,…
C) Just the AWS monthly invoice compared to your previous hosting provider’s bill.
D) Server count, RAM, and CPU only — network and staff costs are excluded from TCO.
B) Server/hardware, data centre facility (power, cooling, space), IT staff salaries, licensing fees,…
What are the 5 AWS pricing models?
A) Pay-as-you-go, Subscription, Prepaid, Credit-based, and Barter.
B) 1. On-Demand – pay by hour/second, no commitment
C) Hourly, Daily, Monthly, Annual, and Lifetime.
D) On-Demand, Reserved, Spot, Free Tier, and Enterprise.
B) 1. On-Demand – pay by hour/second, no commitment
What are the 6 pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework?
A) 1. Operational Excellence | 2. Security | 3. Reliability | …
B) Compute, Storage, Networking, Databases, Security, and Monitoring.
C) Agility, Elasticity, Durability, Observability, Portability, and Compliance.
D) Security, Scalability, Availability, Manageability, Affordability, and Simplicity.
A) 1. Operational Excellence | 2. Security | 3. Reliability | …
Describe the Operational Excellence pillar.
A) Eliminate all manual operations by fully automating every process with zero human interaction.
B) Focus exclusively on reducing costs through right-sizing and Reserved Instances.
C) Prioritise adding new features as quickly as possible with minimal testing or review.
D) Run and monitor systems, continuously improve operations.
D) Run and monitor systems, continuously improve operations.
Describe the Security pillar of the Well-Architected Framework.
A) Encrypt only data at rest; data in transit encryption is handled automatically by AWS.
B) Protect information, systems, and assets.
C) Assign one master admin user all permissions to simplify access management.
D) Disable logging to reduce storage costs while using AWS-native protection services.
B) Protect information, systems, and assets.
Describe the Reliability pillar.
A) Deploy all workloads in a single AZ to reduce network latency and complexity.
B) Avoid horizontal scaling; instead use the largest possible instance type for reliability.
C) Recover from failures and meet demand dynamically.
D) Manually monitor systems and intervene during failures to ensure uptime.
C) Recover from failures and meet demand dynamically.
Describe the Performance Efficiency pillar.
A) Avoid serverless — it introduces cold starts that reduce performance efficiency.
B) Use computing resources efficiently.
C) Always use the same instance types regardless of workload to maintain consistency.
D) Provision maximum capacity upfront to ensure resources are never a bottleneck.
B) Use computing resources efficiently.
Describe the Cost Optimisation pillar.
A) Disable monitoring and logging to reduce CloudWatch costs.
B) Always choose the most powerful instance type to avoid performance issues that cost more.
C) Avoid unnecessary costs.
D) Use On-Demand instances exclusively to avoid commitment and maintain flexibility.
C) Avoid unnecessary costs.
Describe the Sustainability pillar.
A) Avoid managed services as they consume more energy than self-managed infrastructure.
B) Use only on-premises infrastructure to avoid the environmental cost of cloud data centres.
C) Maximise resource usage by always running instances at 100% CPU utilisation.
D) Minimise environmental impact of cloud workloads.
D) Minimise environmental impact of cloud workloads.
What are the 4 cloud design principles (beyond the Well-Architected Framework)?
A) 1. Use monolithic architecture 2. Pre-provision maximum capacity 3. Avoid queues 4. Scale manually
B) 1. Centralise components 2. Scale vertically 3. Use a single availability zone 4. Minimise automation
C) 1. Design for perfection 2. Tightly couple components 3. Avoid elasticity 4. Process serially
D) 1. Design for failure – assume everything fails; build resiliency (no single point of failure) | …
D) 1. Design for failure – assume everything fails; build resiliency (no single point of failure) | …
What are the 3 ways to interact with AWS?
A) Management Console, AWS Support Portal, and AWS Marketplace.
B) Web GUI, Mobile App, and SSH terminal.
C) 1. AWS Management Console – web-based GUI, ideal for beginners
D) REST API only — all other interfaces are built on top of direct API calls.
C) 1. AWS Management Console – web-based GUI, ideal for beginners
When was AWS launched and with which service?
A) 2006, with Amazon S3 (then SQS shortly after). Today AWS offers 300+ services.
B) 2004 with Amazon SQS, which was the first ever cloud service.
C) 2008 with Amazon RDS, which started the cloud database era.
D) 2003 with Amazon EC2, which was the first cloud compute service.
A) 2006, with Amazon S3 (then SQS shortly after). Today AWS offers 300+ services.
What are the 6 AWS core service categories?
A) Compute, Storage, Networking and Content Delivery, Databases,…
B) Servers, Databases, Files, Queues, Emails, and Analytics.
C) Compute, Storage, Networking, AI/ML, IoT, and Blockchain.
D) EC2, S3, VPC, RDS, IAM, and CloudWatch.
A) Compute, Storage, Networking and Content Delivery, Databases,…
