How I Passed the CKA Exam in 2026
I sat the CKA exam twice in 48 hours: the first attempt ended early due to a platform issue, the second was a clean pass. Here are the resources, study plan and exam-day lessons that worked for me, plus how those Kubernetes skills carry over to Amazon EKS as I start my AWS journey.
Most “how I passed CKA” posts blur together. This one is a little different — I sat the exam twice in 48 hours. The first session got killed by a platform issue with 30 minutes still on the clock. The second one I passed clean. Here is what worked.
This article is the meta one: prep, resources, and what I would tell anyone going in.
CKA exam format (2026)
- Official CKA exam page
- Around 17 performance-based questions in 120 minutes. No multiple choice.
- Questions are no longer weighted — every question carries equal value.
- 66% to pass (old guides still cite 74% — that is outdated)
- Open access to the official Kubernetes documentation
- Proctored online via PSI Secure Browser
- One free retake included
The “open book” framing is a trap. If you are searching for syntax mid-question, you are already losing. The docs are for confirming, not learning.
What happened on my first sitting
I was mid-exam, around 30 minutes from the end, working through a question. The PSI Secure Browser closed on its own with no warning and pushed me to the post-exam feedback page. My laptop had been running hot the whole session — most likely thermal throttling on the secure browser process.
Score the next morning: 62%. Four points short, with three questions I never got to attempt.
I opened a ticket with Linux Foundation support and scheduled the retake immediately. Sat it 24 hours later with a cooling pad and every background app closed. Result: clean pass.
Take this away if nothing else: prepare your machine the same way you prepare your skills.
The resources that made the difference
1) KodeKloud — CKA course by Mumshad. My main learning track. Every blueprint domain with hands-on labs. I did not move past a section until I could re-do the lab from scratch without hints.
2) KodeKloud Mock Exams + Ultimate Mock. This is where I went from “I know the concepts” to “I can move fast under time pressure.” The Ultimate Mock is harder than the real exam. Hit 80%+ on it within the time limit and you are in pass shape.
3) Killer.sh simulator. Two sessions come bundled with your exam fee — use both. The scenarios are denser than the real exam, so if you can grind through them in the allotted time you are more than ready.
4) Killercoda. Free, instant environments, bite-sized scenarios. Perfect for muscle-memory drilling on the stuff you cannot practice in a textbook: context switches, RBAC validation,
crictl when the API server is down, troubleshooting flows.5) DumbItGuy YouTube channel — CKA 2025 questions. Underrated. Watched these on commutes and in the gym between sets. Useful for question wording you have not seen and for stealing terminal habits from someone faster than you.
6) Claude as a practice partner. Used it for active recall drills — “quiz me on imperative kubectl commands,” “give me a broken cluster scenario,” “review my mock answer.” Not a replacement for the others, but the difference between “I can probably answer this” and “I can answer this in 30 seconds.”
Documentation to bookmark
Open these in tabs before the timer starts:
The Tasks section is where you live during the exam — it has copy-paste-ready YAML for almost every common scenario.
Be fast
- Imperative first, declarative second.
kubectl create ... --dry-run=client -o yaml > file.yamlbeats writing manifests from scratch every time. Ctrl+Fis your best friend on the documentation pages. Searching beats browsing every time.- Include the namespace flag. The questions tell you which namespace to use — add
-n <namespace>to every relevant command. - Skip and return. Flag difficult questions and come back to them at the end. Easier points are waiting elsewhere.
- Bookmark anything you looked up more than once during mocks.
A simple plan
- KodeKloud CKA course end to end. Every lab. Re-do the hard ones until they are second nature.
- KodeKloud Mock Exams 1, 2, 3, strictly timed. Log every wrong answer with the reason behind it.
- Killercoda daily. Focus on troubleshooting, RBAC, and networking — the highest-weight domains.
- KodeKloud Ultimate Mock + DumbItGuy videos in parallel. Use both Killer.sh simulator attempts that come with your exam fee — they are very close to the real thing.
- Final 48 hours: light review only. Cheatsheet skim. Set up your exam environment. Sleep.
Lessons from a sitting that went sideways
The platform can fail. Schedule the exam at a time when a retake would not disrupt your week. Open the support ticket the same day if something goes wrong, with time stamps and details.
The score email tells you exactly where you are weak. Take it seriously even if you pass — those are the gaps you carry into CKS.
A failed first sitting is not a failure of preparation. Mine was platform-related, but even if it had been a knowledge gap, the system gives you a retake for a reason. Treat the first attempt as a diagnostic.
From CKA to Amazon EKS
CKA skills transfer directly to EKS: kubectl, troubleshooting and RBAC work the same way. The main difference is identity.
On EKS, access to the cluster is controlled through IAM (access entries), and pods get AWS permissions through EKS Pod Identity or IRSA. If you're coming from CKA, learning how IAM and Kubernetes RBAC fit together is the most valuable next step.
Final thoughts
CKA is worth the effort because it actually proves something. You either know how to administer a cluster from a terminal under time pressure or you do not.
Exam day is its own challenge. Get your machine ready the same way you get yourself ready.
Update: I've since completed CKAD, KCNA, KCSA and CKS and earned Kubestronaut. Next up: AWS AI Practitioner and Security Specialty.
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