How I passed Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Exam (quick tips)

Exam Score: 93. Passing score: 66.

4-6 weeks before Exam

Since CKA is an "open book" exam, you should be preparing with the mindset of knowing where to find stuff in the Kubernetes documentation.

Mumshad Mannambeth CKA course

• If you are stuck while doing the practice questions after each chapter, dive into the official Kubernetes documentation to find your answer.
• Don't rely on the course content to find your answers. Use it to understand concepts.
• Begin bookmarking documentation pages you find helpful.
• Run through the jsonpath practices.
• After finishing the Killer.sh simulators, come back this course to run through as many practice questions as you can.

Killer.sh CKA simulator

• Comes with 2 free tries after you've registered for the CKA exam
• Only use official Kubernetes documentation to find your answers
• Take the opportunity to bookmark documentation pages you find helpful
• Do not panic if you find yourself struggling, I did too. The simulator is very tough.
• Practice setting up your Vimrc configuration, Kubectl autocomplete and alias.

Administrative stuff

• Register for the CKA exam
• Purchase a magnifying glass if you don't have one, in case you have issues with your webcam not being able to focus on your identification proof clearly. I faced this issue personally.
• Ensure you have read through the Candidate Handbook and Important Instructions.
• Buy a decent webcam if you do not have one.
• Get a second monitor (or a monitor extension for your laptop). This is extremely helpful and reduces time required to alternate between windows.
• Run the compatibility check tool and make sure everything is good.

Less than 1 Day Before Exam

• Clear out your desk, including speakers. You don't need speakers for the exam.
• Get a clear cup for water
• Run the compatibility check tool again and make sure everything is good.
• Go through the entire Kubernetes Cheat Sheet and get familiar with every line in it.

During the Exam

• Always execute the switch context command displayed at every question before attempting the question, even if you think you are already on the correct context.
• Do not get stuck on a question. Mark/Flag it and move on to the next.
• Open a second browser window with a single tab on your second monitor, with all the bookmarks you need on the bookmark bar. Remember to let the proctor know that you have a second monitor.

Bonus: My List of Bookmarks

These bookmarks have also been named according to what you see in the list.

• Cheat Sheet
• Kubectl Cmds
• Debug Svcs (nslookup,exec,iptables,run)
• Debug DNS
• Certs openssl
• PV hostPath
• Affinity
• Kubeadm upgrade
• Kubeadm cmds
• Kubelet cmds
• etcd backup
• Taints & Tolerations
• Mutli-scheduler
• Svc Acc
• ConfigMap
• CSR
• Secrets
• Security Contexts
• Liveness, Readiness Probes

After the Exam

Results usually come within 24 hours. For me, it was published almost exactly 24 hours later.

Good luck and all the best!

Comments

[Srinivasulu Paranduru]

nice one

[Alok Kumar]

Very nice article, lots of learning, keep posting. I also created a full course on Kubernetes in 10hr on YouTube, please have a look and motivate me. Thanks
youtu.be/toLAU_QPF6o