Certified Kubernetes Administrator

First task on the exam: configure your shell. alias k=kubectl, source <(kubectl completion bash), complete -F __start_kubectl k, export do='--dry-run=client -o yaml'. The 30 seconds you spend here saves minutes on every subsequent task.

Never write manifests from scratch when you can scaffold them. kubectl run/create/expose with --dry-run=client -o yaml > pod.yaml then edit is faster and less error-prone than typing YAML by hand.

kubernetes.io/docs is open in your exam browser - bookmark the pages you reach for repeatedly (Pods, Services, Ingress, NetworkPolicy, StatefulSet, RBAC). The official docs include copy-pasteable examples for every resource.

Always run kubectl config use-context <name> as the first command of every task. Tasks span multiple clusters and grading happens on the wrong cluster if you forget. Many candidates lose easy points to this.

Set the namespace once per task with kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<ns> instead of typing -n <ns> on every command. Saves keystrokes and prevents 'wrong namespace' mistakes.

Troubleshooting is 30% of the exam - the largest single domain. Practice node-level debugging: systemctl status kubelet, journalctl -u kubelet -f, crictl ps, /etc/kubernetes/manifests, /var/log/pods. Don't only practice kubectl describe.

etcd backup and restore is almost guaranteed to appear. Memorize the etcdctl syntax cold, including the --endpoints, --cacert, --cert, --key flags. Practice restoring to a new --data-dir and updating the static pod manifest to point at it.

Cluster upgrade tasks follow a strict order: drain the node, upgrade kubeadm, kubeadm upgrade plan/apply (control plane) or kubeadm upgrade node (worker), upgrade kubelet + kubectl, systemctl restart kubelet, uncordon. Skipping drain or restart loses points.

Use the bundled killer.sh simulator twice - it's included free with your exam purchase. The simulator is intentionally harder and broader than the real exam; if you can score ~70% on it, the real exam will feel manageable.

Time budget: ~17 tasks in 120 minutes is ~7 minutes per task, but task weights vary. Read the task header for the percentage value, flag anything that looks like > 10 minutes, and come back to it after sweeping the easier ones.