Recently, I passed the CKAD exam. This post is about the approach I took to prepare for this exam, my overall experience and some mantras to crack these exams.
About CKAD :-
CKAD is the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer certification which mostly focuses on development skills for Kubernetes application.
Be familiar with exam curriculum, what CNCF expects you to know. Focus on the topics that are mentioned in the curriculum.
The exam is an online, proctored, performance-based test that requires solving multiple tasks from a command line running Kubernetes. During exam time, you are monitored by a PSI proctor, who provides you with all the necessary information and controls what you do and how you behave.
Experience :-
In my case, the Proctor was on time but unfortunately, we ran into Chrome browser problem as he was not able to see my screen. So, he then suggested me to close Chrome and download and install a brand new browser “Vivaldi”. This was the first time I was hearing this browser name. I was stressed as I have not used this browser before and my bookmarks where in chrome and I was getting late for the exam. Proctor told me that you can’t switch to chrome for bookmarks.
So first, we have verified that everything works fine on new browser and then I have requested Proctor to allow me to import bookmarks from Chrome to Vivaldi.
Vivaldi offered to import all settings from another browser. Exactly what I wanted. Selected Chrome and it said close Chrome. I told the proctor I will back on Vivaldi.
Hence I suggest you all to install this browsers, copy bookmarks and familiarize yourself. Don’t trust compatibility check.
Mantras :-
In order to pass the exam, you will have to demonstrate that you are able to perform a long list of k8s tasks within given time. Basically, this exam judges your knowledge, skills, and capability to design, configure, and expose cloud-native applications for Kubernetes and also perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes application developers.
Success Mantra #1: Practice, Practice and Practice
Practice Makes Perfect!!
You may have heard this many times before as well and I can only emphasize on the importance of practice to demonstrate your competence in a hands-on, command-line environment where you have to solve a set of problems within 2 hours. You can use the Kubernetes official documentation for reference.
You need to practice with the Kubernetes CLI a lot. You need to learn about all possible subcommands and flags. You need to know what flag can be used with which object so that you don’t lose time checking it in the documentation.
Success Mantra #2: Sources of knowledge and preparation
The internet consists of billions of pages and youtube videos with information loaded. You can find various resources from the internet to study. I have followed below material for the exam:
1. https://github.com/dgkanatsios/CKAD-exercises
2. https://github.com/bmuschko/ckad-prep
3. Standard Kubernetes documentation. This will be most used during the exams. So I used this CKAD Bookmark: https://gist.github.com/kangshung/bb57b9393fbfc3c804b37c3cbd2b7a75
4. Book: https://www.manning.com/books/kubernetes-in-action
5. And of course Mumshad’s courses on Udemy and they are pretty good.
Success Mantra #3: Save your precious time
Preparation for such exam is like an Olympian race. There is no limit on how many hours you practice. No limit on how many hours you have studied and no limit on how many sacrifices you have made. So save time as much as possible and invest it in preparation and study.
Success Mantra #4: Test yourself; Learn from your mistakes
Give multiple mock tests and check your score and timing before appearing for the exam.
Mock attempts by killer.sh- When you register for the exam you get free mock exams. These mock papers simulate exam and you can attempt these when you are ready to take the exam, to get a grip with scenario based questions. Also, they give accurate picture of how exam questions are presented.
Exam Tips :-
- At the start of exam, remember to set auto-completions and kubectl alias, trust me it will save a lot of time.
- Try to remember basic imperative commands as much as possible. The kubectl cheatsheet is your saviour. Do not write YAML manifests from scratch. It is always faster to either use the kubectl run / kubectl create/ kubectl get commands or copy the basic manifest from the documentation and tweak it.
- You can also use kubectl explain [] -recursive and Kubectl create — help
- Make sure to switch to correct cluster context using the command given at the top of every question and run it before attempting every question. Your score will not count, if you create the resources on different context so be careful.
- Also, use the correct namespace as mention in the question and use default if nothing is mentioned.
- Spend time depending on the weightage of the question. The weightage of the questions is usually between 3% and 13%. Please note that a partial assessment is possible. It means that for an incomplete task you can still get, for example, 3% out of a possible 8% for the task depend how much task you have completed.
- If you think the question is complex or lengthy, flag it, feel free to skip and attempt next question. Don’t spend more then 6–7 minutes per question. You can return to pervious questions anytime.
- Keep a soft milestone. For example, I will complete 9–11 questions within the first 1 hour.
- Make your self familiar with https://kubernetes.io/docs/home/ documentation and ckad bookmark.
- Learn Vim or an alternative editor. You will have to deal with a lot of YAML files in the exam and many of them will need editing.
Conclusion :-
As said before that these exams require a lot of practical skills and a fresh mind. Even if you don’t make it on your first attempt, there is one free retake is possible.
I think that’s it from my side, I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t worry about the result, just give your best.
let me know how your exam went and share your experience.
I wish you Good luck and Happy learning!!
