Thanks a lot @Mumshad Mannambeth and KodeKloud Team, got through the Exam and sc . . .

Kubernetes-Slack Discussions
#1

bushniel ashraf:
Thanks a lot @Mumshad Mannambeth and KodeKloud Team, got through the Exam and scored 86. Could have done better (scoring 100 is very possible) with the training provided by @Mumshad Mannambeth but the new platform sucks has severe lag, could not use search in the browser, browser scroll was too slow and couldnt use external monitor and was using my 13 in mac screen. Was pulling my hair out due to this.

AFAIK I covered all portions in the curriculum but will help if the named port and patch commands were added as well. @Mumshad Mannambeth

NB: If you are using external monitor for mac, make sure to have external webcam so that you can close the mac lid and use in clamshell mode. Else the exam will not start if you have additional monitor connected even in mirrored mode. If you connect the external after the initial checks the browser auto closes and you will have to start all over again. My exam was scheduled at 11;30 PM and I struggled with support for an hour and wasted my time. The PSI support and the proctor are not helpful at all and you would feel like talking to a damn bot after a while. The support after an hour asked me if I can use my mac monitor or BORROW an external webcam from somebody at midnight:eyes:. Anyways decided to go ahead with mac screen only finally as I was fed up by then.

Preparation time 12 days. I was listening to the course at 2x speed (Note I have some experience working with k8s earlier so take that into consideration)

  1. Finished the entire CKA course and labs
  2. Did the mock tests a few times.
  3. Attempted the CKAD mock labs as well. Used the k8s documentation myself during labs for portions not covered in CKA like probes to get a hang of things
  4. Finished the free mock from Linux foundation. The killer.sh mock gives us a good idea of how the exam portal will look. So learn to use the terminal and browser etc from it if you are not familiar with Ubuntu
  5. Shortcuts used
    alias k=kubectl
    alias kd='kubectl describe'
    export do="--dry-run=client -oyaml"
    export now="--grace-period=0 --force"

vim hacks
set ts=2 sw=2
set et
:set paste
syntax enable

Terminal configurations required
Terminal Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Show unsafe paste dialog
Terminal Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Automatically copy selection to clipboard

I enabled the clipboard from accessories of Ubuntu as I felt that helps me a lot
Also was using the mousepad for editing some commands like etcdctl or kubeadm, but my suggestion after exam is to use VIM itself as mousepad was too slow to respond to key strokes
bushniel-CKA.pdf (701 KB)

#2

ZM:
Congratulations! Thanks for the tips

#3

Madhusmita Nayak:
@bushniel ashraf Congratulations and thank you so much for the valuable tips. Could you please share the link for free muck from lInux Foundation?

#4

bushniel ashraf:
@Madhusmita Nayak When we sign up for the exam we get two free mock trials. The questions are the same in both but access is granted for 36 hours each. Was referring to this. The questions are more difficult compared to the actual exam, but gives you a good feel of the exam and the interface as well

#5

Mayur Gehi:
Congratulations and thanks for the tips and heads up!

#6

Przemek Golicz:
The mockup exam environment is already switched to remote desktop. So the experience in the simulator is very similar to the real exam.

#7

Mumshad Mannambeth:
Congratulations @bushniel ashraf! And thank you for sharing your experience!!

#8

Amrut Chougale:
@bushniel ashraf First of all congratulations !! And thanks for sharing the exam experience.

I would like to know how do you use exported command line options? e.g as you mentioned export do="--dry-run=client -oyaml , if you could provide sample command to use that would be appreciated.

#9

bushniel ashraf:
@Amrut Chougale
You can use ‘$’ to call the variables.

k run nginx --image=nginx _$do_ > pod.yaml
k delete pod _nginx_ $now

#10

bushniel ashraf:
@Przemek Golicz Yeah the killer.sh interface looks the same but the lag was way too much in the exam. Also the simulator or the system check doesnt check for external monitor etc. So in the simulator I was able to use the browser search etc without issues. But in the exam none of that worked as I was using the mac screen only.

#11

Ravi Shanker:
Web can be searched in exam using the 3 horizontal lines on the top right corner of mozilla browser. In the drop down menu you get an option “Find in page … Ctrl+F”. Obviously “Ctrl+F” will not work so use the mouse to reach here. The search dialog box would by default come in left bottom of screen. Hope this helps.

#12

Ravi Shanker:
Old school browser user :nerd_face::joy: