Passed CKA (study details inside)

@Cyber : Thank you!
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@maren.peasley Congratulations maren :clap: :clap: And also thank you for sharing details . Will be so much helpful for me and others as well :slight_smile:

Good luck skill!

Congrulations!

How did you do time-wise with the actual exam? Did you find 3 hours to be too short, or was it a comfortable pace?

Also, did you find a lot of testing of networking-level things like configuring/repairing ip tables, or was it mostly centered around creating/setting up objects in Kubernetes?

@jacobbeasley : Thank you!

Time-wise, I flew through most of the test in half an hour, then forgot something that I needed to check on every problem (I didn’t pay attention to the exam screen very well and ignored a require notice - fortunately no major corrections were needed). I had estimated 6 minutes per problem and about 30 minutes for review. While I had time to recheck all the problems (and I fixed one glaring problem), I got stuck on two problems. On one, I was hobbled by lack of access to documentation outside of what was allowed. On the other, it was just plain out there - very edge-case.

I used the mildly cumbersome notepad app that they give you to keep track of my thoughts on scores like this:

1: weight (verified)
2: weight (verified) (yay!)
3: weight

That is, problem number, the listed weight, whether I had rechecked it (“(verified)”), and whether I thought I got it right (“(yay!)”). Mainly, this system was lightweight (for me): I could quickly add up my estimated score and I could leave other tiny notes in place (like “RECHECK”) so I could quickly see where I needed to spend the little time that was left.

In the end, I probably had 20-40 minutes left and spent about half on one problem, then threw everything but the last minute on the other problem. I couldn’t really have used the last minute - I was spinning my wheels. I credit maniacal focus on lab times as helping with time discipline.

Oh, and the time keeper in the test is … weird.

I hope this helps!

  • Maren

Gotcha, so basically you actually had the test basically done with a passing score in an hour, then spent 2 hours basically checking your work and trying to figure out a couple odd-ball questions you were struggling with. Good to know, thank you! I have my test scheduled for tomorrow morning.

First pass was quick - rechecking work was a little slower. Also, I had serious issues with my webcam: Delayed 1 hour 15 minutes getting that sorted and another 45 minutes getting the test loaded / doing id check - mainly waiting for the proctor to come back. Fortunately my other appointments that day could be rescheduled.

I took one brief break during the test following their procedure.

I considered, but rejected going through questions a third time in favor of spending time on those two problems that I knew I might be able to make progress on. I also considered point value, too - was I above 74% or not (and how far)?

Also - best of luck tomorrow!!!

Congratulations @maren.peasley. Thanks for the tips!

@dcmexy - For sure! I hope it ends up being helpful.

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