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Objective 5.2

PCDE

Implementing FinOps practices for optimizing resource utilization and costs

Objective 5.2 sits in Optimizing performance and cost, which carries 12% of the Cloud DevOps Engineer exam. The questions below are original, written from the official objective title above, and each explanation cites the Google Cloud page it rests on.

Objective title verbatim from the official objectives. Google Cloud exam page ↗

A worked example

Shown solved, with the whole explanation open: this is what every question here carries.

5-2Optimizing performance and cost

A team's hourly spend on eligible resources runs above its committed amount for several hours. How is the excess billed?

At the committed rate, with a true-up laterNothing reconciles later, and the charge lands at the time the usage occurs.
At the standard on-demand rate for that usageCorrect · your answerCorrect: only the covered portion is discounted.
At double the committed rate as a penaltyNo penalty multiplier exists, and a surcharge is not part of how these work.
At the on-demand rate for all usage that hourThe covered portion keeps its discount, so the whole hour is not repriced.

Correct.

Concept

A commitment sets a floor that is paid for whether or not it is used, and nothing above that floor is covered by it. Sizing too low leaves the top of the curve at list price.

Why B

Discounted rates apply up to the committed hourly figure. Consumption beyond it is priced as though no commitment existed, so an under-sized commitment simply leaves the surplus undiscounted.

Source

With spend-based CUDs, you keep receiving discounted rates until your hourly spend on eligible resources and services meets your hourly committed spend amount. Any overage usage that takes your hourly spend amount over your committed amount is charged at the on-demand rate.

Google Cloud: Committed use discounts, checked August 2026
#finops#committed-use-discounts#billing

Now you: objective 5.2 questions

No account needed. The explanation opens when you answer.

Sample question 1 of 3

5-2Optimizing performance and cost

A team asks whether they can buy a resource-based commitment for Cloud SQL. What is the answer?

Sample question 2 of 3

5-2Optimizing performance and cost

A team wants one Compute Engine commitment covering both vCPUs and the operating system licences on the same VM. Can they?

Sample question 3 of 3

5-2Optimizing performance and cost

A team buys a Cloud SQL commitment and finds their db-f1-micro instances still billed at list price. Why is that?

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Read the sources

These are the official pages the questions above cite. Reading them is studying the objective from the primary source, which is what the explanations point you toward anyway.

More objectives in Optimizing performance and cost