Paul:
Hi guys! I got CKAD certification with a score of 91% last January 10 2022 and now I’m happy to share that I’ve cracked my second kubernetes certification of CKA with a score of 92%!
Here’s 10 tips I’d like to share:
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For laptop users. If you are using a better external webcam ensure that your os set it as the default. Disable your integrated webcam if possible at a BIOS level or if your laptop has a shortcut key for it. As there’s no way to set devices later on(at least in my experience)
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Killer.sh has been my determining factor if your ready to take the real exam. Note that you can restart each session UNLIMITED times within the 36 hour period so make the most of it. If you’re aiming for high score, you can try to do the ff:
- On first take, aim to answer all the questions regardless of time and it’s ok if you took more than 2 hours. Review their answers for the ones you got as incorrect then memorize, absorb, familiarize and understand the answers given.
- On second take, aim to answer all the questions and finish under 2 hours with a high score verdict.
- On third take, aim to answer all the questions and finish under 2 hours (faster than your second take) with higher score than previous take.
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Create your OWN kubernetes bookmarks. Copying from others is great but creating your own bookmarks is better! Simply due to mental mapping and muscle memory(typing + mouse) Have a bookmark for the cheatsheet and each object in kubernetes. Aim those pages with actual yaml files to create objects.
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Practice your imperative commands to create objects. Example, if you want to create a daemonset. Now, based on the lecture from Absolute beginner or CKAD a daemon set is similar to a deployment. so what do you do? you imperatively create a deployment and output the yaml to a file then change the kind and remove some unsupported keys and BOOM you have a daemonset yaml. To create objects, its better to do them imperatively + output to a file then edit later for additional configuration or you can copy an entire yaml from the docs. Never create an entire object yaml by typing it yourself.
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Utilize your notepad (killer.sh and exam) here’s some suggestions:
- On the notepad, put 3 categories (low, skipped, note)
- low: is for questions under 4% (decide on your own what % is considered low) weight, add the question number in your note then move to next. The idea is to finish all high % first then go back for the lower % ones. This will improve your speed by a TON.
- skipped: is for questions thats either too hard or unfamiliar or need more reference in the docs.
- note: is your clipboard. Paste here snippets that you will copy from later such as node names, cert directories or very long commands etc.
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Create your OWN Aliases and exports. Similar to #3, we’re looking for mental mapping and muscle memory(typing). Assess yourself what are the most common commands we do in managing a kubernetes cluster? then put those into aliases then memorize typing them all. This will help you a lot in the exam in terms of speed. Here are some commands to consider
- get current context
- switch to another namespace
- force delete a pod
- create a busybox pod and run a command then delete itself (for testing pod, netpols, services and ingress accessibility)
- create a nginx pod and run a command then delete itself (for testing pod, netpols, services and ingress accessibility)
- kubectl apply -f
- (export) output to yaml then export to file
- I’m a nano user. If you are too, don’t forget to set it up so you won’t mess your yaml files which can definitely eat your time troubleshooting. Learn to select as well as move multiple lines.
export KUBE_EDITOR=nano #so that when you do kubectl edit, it will open it up with nano instead of vi
nano ~/.nanorc then add the ff: values
set tabsize 2 # When you tab, it will insert 2 spaces instead
set tabstospaces # When you tab, it will not insert tab but spaces
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Prepare your browsers, google chrome, chromium, firefox, and vivaldi each with the same set of bookmarks. In the event that there’s issue with one browser, you can easily switch to the next.
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Be aware how much time your spending on a question. If a question is too hard, skip it and go back to it later. Don’t spend 10-30 minutes on a single question unless it’s the last one.
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During the exam, relax. Before anything, make sure you are in the right cluster and namespace. Read the entire question first, then keep a mental list of the step by step tasks. Once you have completed all tasks. Read it again and verify if all tasks are done. Practice reading through your eyes and mind only in killer.sh.
That’s all I can share. Thank you once again to the KodeKloud Team for the wonderful course and support!
@Mumshad Mannambeth @Tej Singh Rana @unnivkn
Hope this will help you in your individual journey towards certification! See you in CKS!
