Is the CKA certificate mandatory to appear in the CKS exam? un-expired CKAD will work?

nagananda92 · January 22, 2025, 1:57am

is the CKA certificate mandatory to appear in the CKS exam? un-expired CKAD will work?

rob_kodekloud · January 22, 2025, 2:04am

A valid CKA certification is mandatory for you to sit for the CKS exam. A CKAD cert won’t work, since the overlap between CKA and CKS is fairly large.

nagananda92 · January 22, 2025, 2:25am

Hey Rob, thank you for replay. I have scheduled the exam in the training portal till now no where i have seen this details. even in the section: Important Instructions: CKS

Srikanth_Reddy · January 22, 2025, 7:14am

CKA is necessary for you to take CKS. Not sure if that has to be active or not though.

Exam Details & Resources

This exam is an online, proctored, performance-based test that requires solving multiple tasks from a command line running Kubernetes. Candidates have 2 hours to complete the tasks. Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) candidates must have taken and passed the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam prior to attempting the CKS exam.

Check the Linux Foundation page.

rob_kodekloud · January 22, 2025, 7:36am

It does need to be active and valid; if it expires, you won’t be allowed to take CKS.

Srikanth_Reddy · January 22, 2025, 8:08am

This page says otherwise

Reminder! Prerequisites Recently Changed
The pre-requisite requirements to schedule the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) were updated earlier this year. In order to schedule your exam you no longer need to have an active Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam, you only need to have achieved your CKA at any time. Specifically:

A Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) exam can be scheduled if a Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification was achieved at any time in a candidate’s lifetime (it does NOT have to be “Active”).

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) can be a status of Achieved, Renewed or Expired in order to schedule your Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) exam.

rob_kodekloud · January 22, 2025, 8:11am

It says what it says, then. News to me!

nagananda92 · January 22, 2025, 9:14am

Thank you Srikanth …!!! Now things are bit clear to me. in KodeKloud CKS course it has mentioned mandatory. But now understood that course content is not upto date @mumshadgmail @mmumshad …