CKAD practice examsIn development
Certified Kubernetes Application Developer
Building and running applications on Kubernetes under time pressure: generating manifests, multi-container patterns and Jobs, rolling updates and rollback, probes and debugging, configuration, storage and security contexts, and Services, Ingress and network policies.
What you get
Papers are cut from the bank and weighted like the real exam, and no question appears in two of them. Every wrong answer comes back on later days until you have it right.
What the exam covers
| Application design and build | 20% |
| Application deployment | 20% |
| Application observability and maintenance | 15% |
| Application environment, configuration and security | 25% |
| Services and networking | 20% |
Two sample questions
1. Which object stores non-sensitive configuration data as key-value pairs for Pods to consume?
- A Secret
- A Service
- A ConfigMap — correct
- A Node
Why: A ConfigMap stores non-sensitive configuration as key-value pairs that Pods consume as env vars or files.
2. What does kubectl set image do to a Deployment?
- Updates the image and rolls out — correct
- Scales the Deployment to a new replica count
- Pauses the Deployment's current rollout
- Reverts the Deployment to an earlier revision
Why: Changing the image is a spec change, so a new ReplicaSet rolls out. It is the quick imperative way to update a running Deployment.
The real CKAD exam
| Length | 2 hours |
|---|---|
| Questions | Performance-based tasks on live clusters; typically 15 to 20 |
| Pass mark | 66% |
| Price | $445 USD, including one free retake |
| Recommended before you sit it | None, though working knowledge of containers and a command line is assumed. |
| Valid for | 2 years |
Exam facts as published by CNCF / Linux Foundation; always check the vendor’s page before you book.
Study CKAD with Chiron
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