CKA Practice Tasks
A comprehensive hands-on drill index for every topic in the CKA curriculum. Each section links to the Practical Practice tasks on the topic page. Use this for pre-exam cramming, daily lab drills, or weak-domain targeting.
How to Use This Page
- Pick a weak domain from the weight table below
- Complete all tasks in that domain on the linked topic pages
- Time yourself — CKA tasks are designed to be 5–7 minutes each
- Review solutions only after attempting — resist the urge to peek early
- Track progress in your personal Learning Tracker
Exam Mindset: The CKA is an open-book practical exam. Speed comes from repetition, not memorization. Every task here uses the same imperative → declarative → verify pattern you will use on exam day.
Domain Task Index
| Domain | Weight | # Tasks | Practice Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cluster Architecture | ~25% | 12 | Pods, Kubeadm Setup, ETCD Backup, Architecture, Static Pods, Version Skew |
| Workloads & Scheduling | ~15% | 18 | Deployments, Multi-Container Pods, Init Containers, DaemonSets, Jobs, CronJobs, Taints & Tolerations, Node Affinity, Manual Scheduling |
| Services & Networking | ~20% | 15 | Services, Service Types, Ingress, Network Policies, CoreDNS, CNI |
| Storage | ~10% | 9 | Storage, ConfigMaps & Secrets, Environment Variables |
| Troubleshooting | ~30% | 16 | Application Troubleshooting, Control Plane Troubleshooting, Worker Node Troubleshooting, Logging & Monitoring, Health Probes |
| Security & Auth | cross-domain | 12 | RBAC, Authentication & Authorization, Service Accounts, Kubeconfig |
Universal Exam Speed Patterns
These commands are your muscle memory. Every practice task should reinforce one or more of these patterns.
# Generate manifest skeleton (your #1 time-saver)
kubectl run nginx --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml > pod.yaml
kubectl create deployment web --image=nginx --replicas=3 --dry-run=client -o yaml > deploy.yaml
# Explain any field without leaving the terminal
kubectl explain deployment.spec.template.spec.containers.livenessProbe
# Fast context switching (critical on multi-cluster exams)
kubectl config use-context <exam-context>
kubectl config get-contexts
# Dry-run validation before every apply
kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml --dry-run=client
kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml --dry-run=serverRecommended Drill Schedule
| Phase | Focus | Days | Pages/Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Foundation | Pods, Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps | Days 1–7 | 2–3 |
| Phase 2: Deep Dive | Networking, Storage, RBAC, Scheduling | Days 8–14 | 2–3 |
| Phase 3: Troubleshooting | App, Control Plane, Worker Node failures | Days 15–21 | 2 |
| Phase 4: Cluster Ops | Kubeadm, Upgrades, ETCD, DR | Days 22–28 | 2 |
| Phase 5: Mock Exam | Random 17 tasks in 120 minutes | Days 29–35 | 1 full mock |
| Phase 6: Weak Area Polish | Re-do only failed domains | Days 36–40 | targeted |
Related Pages
- CKA-Study-Roadmap — 40-day daily schedule with video links
- CKA-Certification — exam structure, domains, and strategy
- Kubernetes-Index — master index of all Kubernetes concepts
- Index — track your course progress and milestones
Tags: kubernetes cka practice hands-on exam-prep devops certification