Pass Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) in 14 days (2023)
Hello there! I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to tell you about my story behind getting certified as a Certified Kubernetes Administrator. I will also share my study plans, resources, and strategies to pass the exam.
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My Story
Getting certified in CKA is not going to be easy because it is fully hands-on. So, if you don’t know Kubernetes, you are certainly going to fail. As I passed my CKAD two weeks ago, I was confident enough that I would pass this one as well. Briefly talking, I have a little experience in Kubernetes. So, I enrolled in Mumshad’s Certified Kubernetes Administrator course on KodeKloud. I went through the course step by step following the course's curriculum.
Then, I purchased the exam and tried the Killer Shell first session. That made me realize where I was in the readiness path toward the certification. I revisited all the concepts once again, did the mock tests, and tried the Killer Shell again and again until I was confident. Then, I scheduled the exam for the next day and repeated the same process until the moment before the exam.
About CKA exam
According to the CNCF website, the purpose of the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) program is to assure that CKAs have the skills, knowledge, and competency to perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes administrators. The cost is $375 but you can wait for frequent discounts.
The exam is an online proctored performance-based test in a command line where you will be given a certain amount of tasks that you will have to solve in 2 hours. When you purchase the exam, you will also get two Killer Shell sessions, which is an emulator for helping you prepare for the exam.
Questions on the Killer Shell are comparatively hard.
Aim to score above 90% in the Killer Shell
Here is the weightage on each topic for the exam:
Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration — 25%
Workloads & Scheduling — 15%
Services & Networking — 20%
Storage — 10%
Troubleshooting — 30%
Changes in the new version
As of June 2022, the exam has changed slightly. Here are the changes:
- Remote Ubuntu Desktop instead of Remote Terminal
- Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V for copying and pasting into the Desktop
- Ctrl+Shift+C/V for terminal
My Strategy
~ Week 1 — KodeKloud CKA course with practice labs
~ Week 2— Killer Shell Sessions, revisiting concepts, mock tests
Exam Experience
I practiced my way up to score above 90% in the Killer Shell and it turned out to be an advantage in the exam. I felt the questions to be easy and could finish the exam 15 minutes before the end time. The environment by PSI is not that smooth and scrolling inside the Desktop is also a little hard. So, I’ll recommend using a larger monitor for taking the exam.
Note: You can only use 1 active monitor for the exam.
24 hours later, I saw PASS on the exam portal.
Important Tips
- Always keep track of time.
- Use imperative commands as much as possible.
- Don’t spend time setting an alias for kubectl (it now comes pre-installed).
- Keep an eye on the context of each question.
I felt happy seeing this:
For other certification study guides: Click here!
I hope this helps you. All the best! Have a great day!
