How to prepare for the CKAD exam?

About Me

I have been working on Kubernetes applications for the last two years. So, I decided to attempt CNCF sponsored CKAD exam to test my knowledge and experience that I gained over the period. I am delighted that I scored 98% in the exam and would like to share the resources and platforms I used to practice for the exam. If you have spent a year developing Kubernetes applications, I am sure you do not need the basics of what Kubernetes is. So this blog post lists various resources you can harness to get exam ready and brush up on your core Kubernetes domain knowledge. I hope these resources are helpful to you.

How to prepare for the CKAD exam?

How to prepare for the CKAD exam? Only one answer – PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

CKAD: Certified Kubernetes Application Developer Exam is one of the most hands-on exam I have attempted to test your day to day skills required as a Kubernetes application developer.

You can use the CKAD’s curriculum to sharpen your skills to more efficiently manage your cluster resources and manage any applications deployed on the clusters.

Where can I practice for the CKAD exam?

CKAD exam keeps getting updated every time a new Kubernetes release is available. Some of the fastest ways to get a practice cluster up with the same Kubernetes version as the exam are:

1. Minikube - You can always download the latest version of Minikube, which has the latest Kubernetes version support available in a few weeks.
2. Docker-for-Mac - Recently, docker-for-mac has been updating quite regularly to keep up with the latest Kubernetes versions. You can use docker-for-mac to practice locally on your workstation.
3. Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service - In my experience AKS is one of the public cloud providers with the latest Kubernetes version available earlier than the other public cloud providers. Sometimes within few weeks.
4. KodeKloud - It offers a set of courses specially designed for CKA/CKAD exams. All these courses offered are practical oriented. They offer scenario-based lab sessions and use these clusters for your practice.
5. KataKoda - Although this has free environments to run, they might have older versions. But you can still use them to get started with the basics

What is the syllabus for the CKAD exam?

The CNCF foundation releases the curriculum for the CKAD exam from time to time for each Kubernetes version. You can find the CKAD Curriculum on Github

Note: The curriculum for the CKAD exam has been the same for the past few versions.

Practice questions for CKAD

Following is a list of some GitHub repositories that have a set of questions that you can refer to practice your skills.

1. subodh-dharma/ckad
2. dgkanatsios/CKAD-exercise
3. bmuschko/ckad-prep
4. bbachi/CKAD-Practice-Questions

Is there any online course for CKAD preparation?

Yes, there are a bunch of them. In my experience, I came across a couple of courses that I will list below. The courses below explain the concepts required for the curriculum so you can register for any of them and practice more with them.

In my experience, I highly recommend Udemy’s CKAD course by Mumshad Mannambeth. The advantage of this course is that you get an interactive in-browser environment to practice the questions.

Here is the list of online course that I came across:

1. CNCF CKAD Training
2. Kubernetes Certified Application Developer (CKAD) with Tests
3. CKAD Course by Zeal Vora

Are there any mock tests available for CKAD?

Yes, of course there are! There are two platforms where you can practice for the tests.

1. KodeKloud - If you register for the CKAD course by Mumshad Mannambeth you will get free access to this platform. You can subscribe to it monthly for $19 monthly.
2. Killer.sh - This is a CKAD/CKA/CKS exam simulator and is very close to simulating the actual exam environment. A one time subscription offers two sessions when you register the first time. Each session lasts 36 hours. You can start the exam anytime you want that lasts for 2 hours. You can use the rest of the time to practice questions from any of the above sources.

Practice hard and All the Best for your exams!