CKA Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the CKA exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
CKA exam key facts
- Candidates have 2 hours to complete the performance-based tasks on the CKA exam. Source
- Candidates need a score of 66% or higher to pass the CKA exam. Source
- The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam costs $445 USD when bought as the exam only from the Linux Foundation. The price includes one retake and two exam-simulator sessions. Source
- The CKA certification is valid for 2 years. CKA certifications earned before April 1, 2024 are valid for 3 years. Source
📋 CKA Exam Format at a Glance
📚 CKA Topics to Study (25)
✍️ Sample CKA Questions & Answers
1. What is a Pod in Kubernetes?
A Pod is Kubernetes' atomic deployment unit, wrapping one or more containers that share storage, networking, and a specification for how to run.
2. Which Service type allows external access to a Kubernetes application through a specific port on each node in the cluster?
The NodePort Service type exposes the Service on a static port on each node's IP address. This means that any traffic sent to that specific port on any node in the cluster will be routed to the Service and its backing Pods. It's a common way to make a service accessible from outside the cluster, especially in development or smaller environments where an external load balancer isn't readily available.
3. Which of the following is the default Kubernetes DNS Service?
CoreDNS is the default DNS server in Kubernetes clusters since version 1.11. It provides DNS resolution for services and Pods within the cluster, allowing them to discover each other by name rather than IP address. This is a critical component for inter-service communication and application functionality.
4. Which Service type creates a DNS CNAME alias pointing to an external hostname?
ExternalName service maps a Kubernetes service to an external DNS name by returning a CNAME record for the configured hostname.
5. What does 'kubectl get pods' show?
This command displays all Pods in the current namespace with their name, ready status, current state, restarts, and age.
6. Which component of a Kubernetes cluster stores the configuration data in a key-value store?
etcd is a distributed, reliable key-value store that Kubernetes uses to store all cluster data, including configuration, state, and metadata. It acts as the cluster's single source of truth, ensuring consistency and availability of the control plane's critical information. Without etcd, the Kubernetes API server would not be able to retrieve or persist the desired state of the cluster.
🎯 Free CKA Practice Tests
📖 CKA Guides & Articles
What Practice Test Geeks adds beyond an AI chat for CKA
An AI chatbot can quiz you, but it can't reproduce the exam conditions or keep your record. Here you get:
- A timed, full-length CKA mock exam — 66 questions in 120 minutes with a 66% pass mark, modeled on the official exam's question count and time limit, followed by a score report broken down by exam domain.
- A fixed CKA question bank: the same test every attempt, so your score is comparable from one try to the next instead of changing with every regenerated quiz.
- Progress saved on your device: completed tests, scores and missed questions stay in My Progress, so you can retake only what you got wrong.
- A printable CKA cheat sheet you can print or save as a PDF.
- CKA flashcards built from the same question bank.
- Free CKA practice tests with the correct answer shown after each question.
How this page was made: written with AI tools and published by Nathan Beja, founder of Practice Test Geeks, who is responsible for its content. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy
Sources & references
Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy
- training.linuxfoundation.org — Test delivery, eligibility, fees, time limit, exam information · verified Nov 2026
- docs.linuxfoundation.org — Passing score, renewal, score release, score validity, test dates · verified Oct 2026