Choosing the right AWS service

AWS exam scenario questions rarely ask what a service does. They describe a requirement and test whether you can pick between similar services by their trade-offs. Each comparison below lays out when to pick which, the traps that catch candidates, and a practice drill to try it on real exam-style questions.

How each comparison works

Every comparison follows the same layout, so once you have read one you know where to look in the next. Each fact links to the AWS documentation page that backs it.

  1. At a glanceWhat each service is for, in a sentence or two, and the situations where it is the right pick.
  2. Which one does the question want?A table of requirements as exam questions word them, such as "no servers to manage" or "the team already uses Kubernetes", with the service each one points to and why.
  3. Side by sideThe same aspects for every service, such as scaling, pricing model and the limits exams like to test, so the differences are easy to spot.
  4. Exam trapsThe answers that look right but are not, and why. These are the distractors that catch candidates who know each service only on its own.
  5. Practice itA short drill of exam-style questions on the same services from our free practice exams, so you can check the choice sticks.

How to use them

Start with the requirements table and cover the answer columns: for each requirement, name the service before you read the answer. Then read the exam traps, because most wrong answers on scenario questions are a similar service that misses one requirement. Finish with the drill, and come back to the side-by-side table for any question you got wrong.

The comparisons are written for the exams listed on each card, but the choices they cover come up across the AWS certifications, from the Associate exams to the Professional ones.