CKA — Exam Overview
Exam Snapshot
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Passing Score | 66% |
| Questions | 15–20 performance-based tasks |
| Kubernetes Version | Latest stable (check CNCF curriculum for current version) |
| Allowed Resources | kubernetes.io/docs, kubernetes.io/blog, github.com/kubernetes/ |
| Cost | $395 USD (includes one free retake) |
| Prerequisite | None (but Kubernetes fundamentals are essential) |
| Validity | 2 years from certification date |
| Format | Remote proctored, Linux terminal |
| Retake | One free retake included with exam purchase |
Tip: Your exam fee includes one free retake. If you fail on the first attempt, you get a second chance at no extra cost.
Exam Domains & Weights
The CKA exam covers five domains. Troubleshooting carries the highest weight at 30% — this single domain can make or break your exam.
| Domain | Weight | Key Topics |
|---|---|---|
| Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration | 25% | kubeadm, etcd, upgrades, RBAC, HA clusters |
| Workloads & Scheduling | 15% | Deployments, ConfigMaps, Secrets, scaling, scheduling |
| Services & Networking | 20% | Services, Ingress, DNS, CNI, NetworkPolicies |
| Storage | 10% | PV, PVC, StorageClasses, volume expansion |
| Troubleshooting | 30% | Cluster failures, node issues, app debugging, logging |
Visual Weight Breakdown
Troubleshooting ██████████████████████████████ 30%
Architecture & Configuration █████████████████████████ 25%
Services & Networking ████████████████████ 20%
Workloads & Scheduling ███████████████ 15%
Storage ██████████ 10%
Domain Deep Dive
Domain 1 — Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration (25%)
This is the broadest domain and spans 5 chapters in this tutorial:
- Manage RBAC (Roles, ClusterRoles, RoleBindings, ClusterRoleBindings)
- Use kubeadm to install, configure, and upgrade clusters
- Manage highly available Kubernetes clusters
- Provision infrastructure for cluster deployment
- Perform version upgrades with kubeadm
- Implement etcd backup and restore
- Understand API server, scheduler, controller manager, kubelet, kube-proxy
Related chapters: Cluster Architecture, Kubeadm Setup, Cluster Upgrades, etcd Backup & Restore, RBAC & Security
Domain 2 — Workloads & Scheduling (15%)
- Understand Deployments, rolling updates, and rollbacks
- Use ConfigMaps and Secrets to configure applications
- Scale applications manually and with HPA
- Understand how resource limits affect Pod scheduling
- Use manifest management tools (Kustomize, Helm)
- Configure scheduling with nodeSelector, affinity, taints, tolerations
Related chapters: Workloads & Scaling, Scheduling
Domain 3 — Services & Networking (20%)
- Understand host networking on cluster nodes
- Understand Pod-to-Pod connectivity (CNI)
- Understand ClusterIP, NodePort, and LoadBalancer services
- Use Ingress controllers and Ingress resources
- Configure and use CoreDNS
- Choose appropriate CNI plugins
- Implement NetworkPolicies
Related chapters: Services & Networking, Ingress & DNS
Domain 4 — Storage (10%)
- Understand StorageClasses and PersistentVolumes
- Understand volume modes, access modes, and reclaim policies
- Work with PersistentVolumeClaims
- Configure applications with persistent storage
- Understand volume expansion
Related chapter: Storage
Domain 5 — Troubleshooting (30%)
- Evaluate cluster and node logging
- Monitor applications
- Manage container stdout and stderr logs
- Troubleshoot application failures
- Troubleshoot cluster component failures
- Troubleshoot networking issues
- Troubleshoot node-level issues (kubelet, kube-proxy, DNS)
Related chapter: Troubleshooting
Tutorial-to-Domain Mapping
| Domain (Weight) | Chapters |
|---|---|
| Architecture, Installation & Configuration (25%) | Cluster Architecture, Kubeadm Setup, Cluster Upgrades, etcd Backup & Restore, RBAC & Security |
| Workloads & Scheduling (15%) | Workloads & Scaling, Scheduling |
| Services & Networking (20%) | Services & Networking, Ingress & DNS |
| Storage (10%) | Storage |
| Troubleshooting (30%) | Troubleshooting |
How Scoring Works
- Each task has a specific point value (not all tasks are equal weight)
- Partial credit is possible on some tasks
- There is no penalty for wrong answers — always attempt every question
- The passing score is 66% — you can afford to miss some tasks and still pass
- Tasks vary in difficulty from simple resource creation to complex multi-step troubleshooting
Exam tip: Focus on completing all easy and medium tasks first. A 2-point troubleshooting task takes the same time as a simpler 2-point task — but the simpler one is less likely to have errors.
Next: Compare certifications with CKA vs CKAD vs CKS →
