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CKA Exam Prep

Certified Kubernetes Administrator: from the basics to exam-ready, with a plan for the last 24 hours

Check before the exam: The Linux Foundation updates the exam's Kubernetes version and rules. Read the current CKA Candidate Handbook and Important Instructions the day before. This guide follows the curriculum revised in February 2025, which added Helm, Kustomize, Gateway API, CRDs/operators and extension interfaces.

How this section is organized

Page Level What you get
1. Fundamentals & kubectl Speed Beginner Architecture, imperative commands, YAML generation, JSONPath, contexts
2. Workloads & Scheduling Beginner → Intermediate Deployments, rollouts, ConfigMaps/Secrets, HPA, probes, sidecars, affinity, taints, quotas
3. Services & Networking Intermediate Services, DNS, NetworkPolicy, Ingress, Gateway API
4. Storage Intermediate StorageClass, PV, PVC, access modes, reclaim policies, expansion
5. Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration Advanced kubeadm install/upgrade, etcd backup/restore, RBAC, certificates, HA, Helm, Kustomize, CRDs, CNI/CSI/CRI
6. Troubleshooting Advanced Broken nodes, control plane, apps, services, DNS: the 30% domain
7. Practice Tasks Exam-style 25 timed tasks with hidden solutions
8. Cheat Sheet Last-minute One page to read right before the exam

The exam at a glance

Item Detail
Format Online, remotely proctored, performance-based: you fix and build things in real clusters from a command line
Duration 2 hours
Tasks About 15–20 tasks, each with its own weight (shown per task)
Passing score 66%
Environment Remote Linux desktop (PSI) with a terminal and a browser. Multiple clusters, and you switch context per task
Allowed docs kubernetes.io/docs, kubernetes.io/blog, and the other sites listed in the handbook (check the current list; Helm and Gateway API docs have been added for the new curriculum)
Retake One free retake is included
Simulator Two killer.sh sessions come with your registration (36 hours each). The simulator is harder than the real exam

Curriculum weights (where the points are)

Domain Weight Focus
Troubleshooting 30% Nodes, control plane components, apps, services, logs, resource usage
Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration 25% RBAC, kubeadm, upgrades, HA, Helm, Kustomize, CRDs/operators, CNI/CSI/CRI
Services & Networking 20% Pod connectivity, NetworkPolicy, Service types, Gateway API, Ingress, CoreDNS
Workloads & Scheduling 15% Deployments, rollouts, ConfigMaps/Secrets, autoscaling, self-healing, scheduling
Storage 10% StorageClasses, dynamic provisioning, volume types, access modes, PV/PVC

Takeaway: Troubleshooting plus cluster administration make up 55%. If you only have one day, those two get most of your time.

Your 24-hour plan (exam tomorrow)

You can't learn Kubernetes in a day. You can get faster, fill gaps in high-weight topics, and avoid silly point losses.

Today

Block Time Do this
1 30 min Read the Cheat Sheet and set up your aliases on a practice cluster until they're muscle memory
2 90 min Cluster admin drills: etcd backup and restore, kubeadm upgrade (control plane, then worker), join a node, RBAC with a ServiceAccount, CSR for a user. See Page 5
3 90 min Troubleshooting drills: break and fix kubelet, kube-apiserver manifest, scheduler, a Service with no endpoints, DNS. See Page 6
4 60 min New-curriculum topics: Gateway API HTTPRoute, Helm install with values, Kustomize overlay, CRD/operator, HPA, native sidecar, PriorityClass
5 60 min NetworkPolicy (AND vs OR selectors), Ingress, StorageClass + PVC + pod
6 2 h Timed mock: Practice Tasks under a 2-hour timer, or a killer.sh session. Review every miss
7 — Stop early and sleep. A rested brain beats one more hour of practice

Free hands-on practice environments: killer.sh (included with registration) and Killercoda CKA scenarios (free, in the browser).

Exam morning

  • Run the PSI system check on the same computer and network you'll use
  • Clean desk, clear room, only one monitor, government ID ready
  • Close all other apps (VPNs, chat, screen recorders)
  • Log in 30 minutes early. Check-in takes time
  • Re-read the Cheat Sheet once

Exam-day strategy

  1. Run the context command at the start of every task. Each task shows a command like kubectl config use-context <cluster>. Copy it, run it, and only then work. Doing a correct task on the wrong cluster scores zero.
  2. Note the host. Some tasks say "ssh to node X". Do it, use sudo -i if you need root, and exit back to the base terminal afterwards.
  3. Triage. Do quick, high-weight tasks first. If a task takes more than about 8 minutes, flag it and move on. About 6 minutes per task is the average budget.
  4. Generate YAML, don't type it. Use kubectl create ... --dry-run=client -o yaml > file.yaml, then edit. Copy examples from kubernetes.io for kinds without generators (PV, PVC, NetworkPolicy, HTTPRoute).
  5. Verify every answer. k get, k describe, k logs, k auth can-i, curl from a test pod. Partial credit exists, so a verified half-solution beats an unverified full one.
  6. Use the exact names, namespaces and paths given. Graders check name, namespace, labels, the file path and the output format literally.
  7. Copy and paste: in the PSI terminal, use Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V. Copy names straight from the task text to avoid typos.
  8. Don't fight the environment. If the browser docs are slow, use kubectl explain <kind>.spec --recursive in the terminal.

Set up the terminal in the first minute

kubectl and the k alias with completion are usually preconfigured. If not, or to add helpers:

alias k=kubectl                                   # usually already set
export do="--dry-run=client -o yaml"              # k create deploy x --image=nginx $do > x.yaml
export now="--force --grace-period=0"             # k delete pod x $now
source <(kubectl completion bash); complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k

Vim, for YAML that doesn't break:

" ~/.vimrc
set expandtab tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 autoindent number

Useful vim keys: :set paste before pasting, V + > / < to indent a block, u to undo, :%s/old/new/g to replace.

Start with 1. Fundamentals & kubectl Speed →, or jump to the Practice Tasks if you're already confident.