{"id":640,"date":"2020-06-13T21:39:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T21:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/?p=640"},"modified":"2021-03-27T15:06:09","modified_gmt":"2021-03-27T15:06:09","slug":"preparation-tips-for-cka-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/preparation-tips-for-cka-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparation Tips for CKA Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">I passed my CKA exam recently and had a great time preparing for it.&nbsp; I cleared the CKAD a week before.&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/preparation-tips-for-ckad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">You can check on how to prepare for CKAD, in my earlier blog<\/a>. In September, the CKA is getting an update. It totally depends on you which one you want to take. You are going to be awarded the same certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:30px\"><strong>Timeline:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-text-color has-very-dark-gray-color wp-block-list\"><li>Started with Mumshad&#8217;s course on CKA in mid-April.<\/li><li>I finished the course in 3 weeks then started studying for CKAD. Many topics in CKAD overlapped with CKAD so I managed to finish it in about a week.<\/li><li>Booked the CKAD for 2 weeks from the day I finished the course<\/li><li>Practiced for 2 weeks using Mumshad&#8217;s practice test and Labs, Linux Academy practice test, also found some useful free labs on the Kubernetes.io website with KataKoda playground.<\/li><li>I also used KodeKloud&#8217;s game of pods for improving my Kubernetes concepts.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"489\" src=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/image-6-1024x489.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-641\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/image-6-1024x489.png 1024w, https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/image-6-300x143.png 300w, https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/image-6-768x367.png 768w, https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/image-6.png 1475w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CKA Exam Info:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-text-color has-very-dark-gray-color wp-block-list\"><li>Time: 180 minutes ~ 3 hours<\/li><li>Price: $300<\/li><li>Total no of Questions: 24<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tips for CKA Exam:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">1. Use alias and autocomplete for alias<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">alias k=kubectl<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">complete -F __start_kubectl k<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">You can also make custom aliases for your ease. I made aliases for common commands that I knew I will be using a lot definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;These were,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp; alias kg=&#8217;kubectl get pod&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp; alias kga=&#8217;kubectl get pod &#8211;all-namespaces&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp; alias kc=&#8217;kubectl create -f&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp; alias kd=&#8217;kubectl delete -f&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>NOTE<\/strong>: if you ssh into another node, these aliases won&#8217;t work<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">2. Use documentation effectively. This is where solving problems from the mock tests will help you. The answer to your questions are given in the documentation, you just need to know where.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">3. Use the &#8211;dry-run command. This command is used to check whether your command is correct and if it is you can use -o yaml flag to get the yaml code for the component and store it in a YAML file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">4. The exam uses the latest version so better if you read the latest documentation as the courses I have mentioned use bit old versions of Kubernetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">5. In the exam, there will be multiple clusters like k8s,n8s,d8s. There will be commands to change clusters. First, read the question and see which cluster it is working on and if it is different then copy and paste the command from the question to set the cluster. A precautionary method will be to copy-paste the command for every question if you don&#8217;t know which cluster you are on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">6. Try to use imperative commands to create resources. Practice will help you in knowing what can be done through commands and what cannot be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">7. I suggest attempting the troubleshoot and managing clusters in the end after you are done with other questions as they take a lot of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">8. When you ssh into a worker node, Kubectl may not work. So use docker commands to see if the containers are up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">9. Practice troubleshooting well and remember that in the exam the changes made during troubleshooting and installation are permanent and you cannot revert back to the state it was before you attempted the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">10. In case you need to delete and recreate any Kubernetes resources, store a backup in case you mess up you can revert the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">11.&nbsp;Know where you are in the cluster. Some questions require you to ssh onto different nodes. When you do sudo -i on the node you need to logout twice to return to the previous node.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">12.&nbsp;Use Kubernetes cheat sheets from Kubernetes docs they have a lot of commands that are helpful. You can search for cheat sheet in the search box and goto first link<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:30px\"><strong>Bonus<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">I have created a Kanban board to help students out in their CKA\/CKAD journey. For people unfamiliar with Kanban. It is a board with a number of columns. Each column shows the state of each task. Most famous is with 3 columns: <strong>Task\/Todo, Doing, Done<\/strong>. You pick a task you like and you drag it and put it in doing column and start doing the work. When you are finished you pick up the task and put it in the done section. I have added useful links in the description as well as tips for clearing the exam. Here&#8217;s a preview of how the Kanban Board looks. Sign up for free and start using it. Click on &#8220;Create a Board from Template&#8221;.&nbsp;&nbsp;This board has all the resources you will need to clear CKA\/CKAD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>LINK:&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/trello.com\/b\/5CARFKBg\/ckackad-board\/ankitdongre\/recommend\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to get started<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:30px\"><strong>Some FAQs:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q. Can I access Kubernetes documentation in the exam?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">A. Yes, you can but there are links leading outside of kubernetes.io and you must not visit them. You are also given a notepad in the environment to make notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q. Are partial marks awarded for completing 1 step?&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">A. Possibly, as I completed 81% worth marks correctly and had done partial completion of 4 other questions worth 19 marks. I got 85% total which makes me conclude that yes they do award marks for steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:30px\"><strong>Useful Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.udemy.com\/course\/certified-kubernetes-administrator-with-practice-tests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CKAD COURSE UDEMY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/linuxacademy.com\/cp\/modules\/view\/id\/327\" target=\"_blank\">Linux Academy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kodekloud.com\/p\/game-of-pods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Game of Pods<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-very-dark-gray-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/trello.com\/b\/5CARFKBg\/ckackad-board\/ankitdongre\/recommend\" target=\"_blank\">Trello Kanban Board<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/preparation-tips-for-ckad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Preparation Tips for CKAD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-vivid-cyan-blue-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Have questions? Participate in discussions on our Forums. <a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/forums\/\">Click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Author: Ankit Dongre is a life long learner and a cloud enthusiast with 3x AWS,2x OCI,1x Azure, CKAD. You can connect with him on LinkedIn&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ankit-dongre\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For more unbiased reviews and blogs from community members who are certified, please follow us on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/35671994\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preparation Tips for CKA Certification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,81,76,3],"tags":[16,78,83,82],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cka","category-kubernetes","category-linux","category-reviewnprep","tag-cka","tag-ckad","tag-k8","tag-kubernetes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1962,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/1962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}