Mike K:
I got my CKAD certification today, thanks in no small part to @Mumshad Mannambeth’s excellent course. I want to share a few tips that helped me in the exam:
- Before starting the exam, take a minute to setup kubectl completion, aliases, and vim/tmux. For vim I used
set nu sw=2 ts=2 softtabstop=2 expandtab autoindent pastetoggle=<f5>and for tmux I usedset -g mouse on. - Read the questions carefully. Some questions specify the namespace right at the top and others specify it in the bottom. I had to go back and fix 2 questions because I did not pay attention to the namespaces.
- Bookmark often used documentation pages/anchors for objects that cannot be created through kubectl commands. You’ll surely get a couple of questions related to PV/PVC or NetworkPolicies where these bookmarks will be handy.
- Practice all the different ways to mount configs and secrets to pods (through volumes, environment variables (
envFromand picking specific keys) - Practice the mock exams and lightning labs, but remember that after the first few attempts your speed increases a lot because you anticipate the questions.
- Some questions are tedious but are worth only 2%. Flag those and come back to them at the end.
- If you create objects through yaml files, name the yaml files with the question number. For example,
08-pv.yaml. This is easier than creating folders for each question, and will help you if you want to review your work at the end. - If you are able to setup 2 monitors, you’ll be allowed to move the documentation tab to one of the monitors. This really helped me a lot because I could view the question as well as the documentation simultaneously.
- Some questions are relatively straightforward whereas others have nuances. Some questions ask you to create objects from yaml files. For these, create the yaml file through kubectl commands, but don’t forget to store the yaml in the correct paths specified in the question.
I hope these tips help you.