M0.4 module quiz
Ten questions. 80% to pass (8 of 10). Open book, unlimited retakes.
Answers are collapsed under each question. Answer first, then check.
Q1
On Azure, a per-resource report built on ActualCost shows $0 for every reservation-covered VM. The fix is:
A. Exclude all of the reserved resources from the report entirely, first
B. Switch the report to AWS-style unblended cost
C. Wait for the monthly invoice to settle first
D. Use AmortizedCost, which distributes the reservation purchase across the term
Show answer
Correct: D. ZopNight pulls AmortizedCost for all Azure billing sync for exactly this reason: ActualCost reflects cash flow accurately and breaks the per-resource reporting use case.
Q2
AWS lineItem/UnblendedCost is:
A. As-charged, so an upfront RI posts as a lump sum and covered hours show $0
B. Already amortized across the term
C. Identical to Azure’s own AmortizedCost column in more or less every way
D. Net of credits already applied
Show answer
Correct: A. AWS has the same trap as Azure under a different name, which is why it ships a separate amortized view: Cost Explorer’s Amortized toggle, or the CUR’s EffectiveCost column.
Q3
Rack rate is:
A. The price after all discounts are applied
B. The invoice total simply divided by the total count of resources
C. The provider’s own internal cost to serve
D. The list price, calculated from published pricing APIs, always available
Show answer
Correct: D. It is always available because it is computed rather than fetched, which is what makes it the fallback when billing sync has not landed for a resource-day.
Q4
In the two-source cost model, resolution between rack rate and billing cost happens:
A. Per organisation, all-or-nothing
B. Per cloud account connected
C. Per resource-day, by row presence
D. Per calendar month billed
Show answer
Correct: C. A resource-day with a billing-backed row uses it; one without falls back to rack rate. An earlier org-wide gate was removed because one unsynced account was suppressing real billing data for every resource in the org.
Q5
The cost_source label on a cost record takes which values?
A. rack and billed
B. list, net and amortized
C. estimated and final
D. calculated and actual
Show answer
Correct: D. calculated means only rack rate is populated; actual means the billing API overlaid it. Rollup-level source is derived: actual if any contributing row is actual, else calculated.
Q6
A non-USD invoice should be converted using:
A. The rate as of the date of the usage, stored with the record
B. Today’s exchange rate, applied fresh at every render time
C. The rate as of the invoice issue date
D. The monthly average rate for the period
Show answer
Correct: A. Re-converting at render time makes the report non-deterministic: the same query returns different numbers on different days. Rate-as-of storage is the fix.
Q7
GCP avoids the per-resource $0 trap because:
A. It does not offer any commitment discounts of any kind at all, today
B. It bills monthly rather than hourly
C. CUD discounts are applied at the resource level in the BigQuery billing export
D. It has no equivalent of reservations
Show answer
Correct: C. The cost column for a CUD-covered VM shows the post-discount amortized figure directly, so the trap that catches Azure and AWS does not arise.
Q8
Rack rate is the right number to quote when:
A. Reporting actual spend to the finance team
B. Estimating the savings a schedule would produce
C. Reconciling the total against the invoice
D. Calculating a chargeback figure per team
Show answer
Correct: B. A savings estimate is about hours removed at list price, before the discount stack. Using billed cost there would double-count discounts you already have.
Q9
The gap between rack rate and billing cost is:
A. The discount stack: commitments, sustained use, negotiated agreements, credits
B. A provider billing error
C. Currency conversion loss
D. Unattributed residual spend sitting somewhere on the account already
Show answer
Correct: A. Understanding the gap as a stack is what stops people treating a large gap as a data problem. It is the thing the org already negotiated.
Q10
Three FX mistakes distort reports. Which is one of them?
A. Storing amounts in the original billing currency
B. Re-converting historical records at today’s rate
C. Rounding every amount to two decimal places
D. Recording which rate source was used
Show answer
Correct: B. It makes history mutable: last quarter’s report changes because the exchange rate moved, which is indefensible to anyone reconciling against a filed number.