# A CKA study guide that follows the exam weighting > cka-certification-guide is a documentation set for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam, pinned to the CNCF curriculum v1.35 and Kubernetes v1.35, with weighted study notes, practice questions, cheat sheets and lab folders. It is written for candidates rather than for production clusters, and its licence terms are unusual for a study resource. **techiescamp/cka-certification-guide** — This comprehensive CKA learning path repo equips aspiring Kubernetes administrators with all the knowledge and resources to ace the CKA exam on the first try. Includes in-depth explanations, hands-on labs, and valuable study materials. Pass the CKA and unlock your Kubernetes potential today! - Repository: https://github.com/techiescamp/cka-certification-guide - Website: https://courses.devopscube.com/p/cka-complete-prep-course-practice-tests - Stars: 1,006 · Forks: 308 - Language: Java - License: NOASSERTION - Published: 2026-10-20 · Updated: 2026-10-20 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/techiescamp-cka-certification-guide ## The guide is arranged by exam weight, not by learning order Most study guides for a certification are organised by subject, in a roughly logical order. This one is organised by how much of the score each part carries, and that single decision shapes everything else in the repository. The table at the top of the README maps the five exam domains to weights, study notes and key topics, and it cites the CNCF CKA Curriculum v1.35 as the source with Kubernetes version v1.35 and an update date of 2026. The distribution is lopsided in a way most candidates underestimate: - Cluster Architecture, Installation and Configuration, 25 percent - Workloads and Scheduling, 15 percent - Storage, 10 percent - Services and Networking, 20 percent - Troubleshooting, 30 percent The first domain is the one everyone studies, because cluster setup is the part of Kubernetes that feels like a subject. The fifth is the one the guide flags hardest. It calls troubleshooting the single largest domain and advises dedicating at least one third of study time there, which is the opposite of where most people's preparation goes. Each domain has a matching notes file, referenced from the table as paths inside the study-notes/ directory: ```bash ./study-notes/01-cluster-architecture.md ./study-notes/05-troubleshooting.md ``` Below the summary table the README expands each domain into its individual tasks, from managing RBAC and creating clusters with kubeadm through to configuring workload autoscaling and defining Network Policies, each with a key topics list naming the tools involved, such as Helm, Kustomize, CRDs, Operators, Gateway API, Ingress and CoreDNS. ## Troubleshooting is the domain that decides the score The guide spends more of its emphasis on failure than on construction, and the structure explains why. The troubleshooting domain carries 30 percent of the exam and is broken into four sub-areas: troubleshooting clusters and nodes, troubleshooting cluster components, monitoring cluster and application resource usage, and a fourth item whose title is cut off in the README table. The named tools in the other domains are the same tools an administrator uses on day one. Troubleshooting is the domain where the task is not to create a deployment but to work out why the deployment is not working, with limited time and no obvious place to start. Two facts about how this is packaged are worth noting. The troubleshooting notes live in their own file, study-notes/05-troubleshooting.md, and the repository also carries a separate top-level TROUBLESHOOTING_GUIDE.md and a troubleshooting/ directory. So the topic that carries the highest weight is addressed in more than one place rather than being squeezed into a single chapter. The repository is also structured as a working environment, not just prose. The top level contains helm-charts/, ingress/, network-policy/, storage-provisioner/, kind-cluster/, lab-setup/, lessons/, study-notes/ and troubleshooting/, plus CHEATSHEET.md, EXAM_TIPS.md, EXAM_DAY_GUIDE.md, PRACTICE_QUESTIONS.md, SYLLABUS.md and FAQ.md, and an mkdocs.yml for the documentation site. That directory shape suggests the intent: read the notes, then run the same topic in a lab. The kind-cluster/ and lab-setup/ directories are where a local environment would live, and the presence of Helm charts and manifest directories for ingress, network policy and storage provisioning gives you something concrete to apply instead of a list of concepts. ## Exam day files are separated from the study notes The top level of the repository draws a distinction that many study guides blur, and it is the distinction between learning the subject and performing under exam conditions. The learning content sits in lessons/, study-notes/ and the practice environment directories. The exam performance content sits in four separate files. EXAM_TIPS.md collects advice. EXAM_DAY_GUIDE.md covers the day itself. CHEATSHEET.md is the lookup reference. PRACTICE_QUESTIONS.md is where the exam interface gets rehearsed. That separation is a reasonable design for a certification resource. The exam has its own interface and its own time pressure, and the README badges record the two numbers that frame the whole exercise: a passing score of 66 percent and a duration of 2 hours. A candidate who has read the notes can still lose marks on time management, and a cheat sheet that is only read once during revision is not much use. Having those files separate from the notes makes it possible to use them on the day, which is where they actually matter. The FAQ.md file at the top level is a third category, the questions that come up around the exam rather than inside it. The repository also includes a CONTRIBUTING.md, so it accepts outside changes to the study notes. One caveat applies to all of it. The README describes the project as a study guide with tips and practical examples, and the practice questions are the part you should read first. If their wording and format do not match what you expect to meet in the exam, the rest of the notes have been built around a rehearsal that does not fit. ## Pinning to curriculum v1.35 is both the strength and the risk The guide states its provenance clearly: the source is the CNCF CKA Curriculum v1.35, the Kubernetes version is v1.35, and the update year is 2026. The document title carries a version of its own, V1.37, which appears to be the guide's own revision rather than the exam's. Pinning to a specific curriculum is the right approach, because the exam is defined by the curriculum and a guide that tracks the official document can be checked against it line by line. Anyone reading the README can confirm that the domains and weights come from the CNCF document rather than from the author's memory. The risk is the same thing viewed from the other side. A pinned resource ages, and the exam does not wait. The Kubernetes version matters as much as the curriculum version, since topics like Gateway API and Helm and Kustomize usage move between releases, and a note written against v1.35 ages the moment the exam targets a newer one. The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-15, so somebody is still working on it, but there are no GitHub releases at all, which means there is no tagged version history and no changelog to check against. For a guide whose whole value is tracking an external document, the update history is worth watching rather than assuming. There is also no stated policy for how quickly the guide follows a curriculum change, and the README does not describe a review cadence. If your exam date is months away, check the pinned versions against the current CNCF curriculum before you commit your revision time to it. ## Licence terms are not the open source ones you expect The repository is published under a custom licence that GitHub cannot classify, and the badge on the README states the terms plainly: All Rights Reserved. That is worth pausing on, because a guide like this is exactly the kind of resource people copy into internal team documentation, fork for a study group, or print and hand around. Under All Rights Reserved the default position is that the work is protected and no permission is granted, and the practical questions about redistribution, internal reuse and derivative works are answered by the LICENSE file rather than by an open source grant. The file is in the repository, so the answer is available. But the short version for a reader deciding what to do with these notes is that a permissive licence cannot be assumed here, and anyone embedding the notes in a company wiki or a course of their own should read LICENSE first and check with whoever owns that decision. There is a related commercial dimension. The README links to a structured Kubernetes and CKA course, and the project description positions itself as a learning path for aspiring administrators who want to pass on the first attempt. A free study guide that is also the front door to a paid course is a legitimate model, but it is worth understanding what you are reading. The guide content stands on its own as notes derived from a public curriculum; the paid course is the structured, guided version of the same content. The primary language listed for the repository is Java, which tells you something about the labs and exercises: whatever the notes describe, the code in the lab directories is not a Kubernetes configuration in a declarative file only. ## What this guide is not for There is a clear boundary around this project, and it is worth stating before anyone spends a fortnight on it. It is not operational documentation. Nothing in the top-level file list is a runbook for a running cluster, and the content is organised by exam domain, which is a teaching order rather than an incident order. If your problem is a production cluster that is failing at 3am, the troubleshooting notes here are structured around what the exam asks about, and a set of study notes is the wrong shape for that work. It is not a complete Kubernetes reference either. The README names the tools that appear in the key topics, RBAC, kubeadm, Helm, Kustomize, CRDs, Operators, HPA, affinity, StorageClasses, dynamic provisioning, NetworkPolicies, Gateway API, Ingress and CoreDNS, but naming a tool in a table row is not the same as covering its failure modes. It is also not a substitute for the curriculum itself. The guide derives from the CNCF CKA Curriculum v1.35, and the syllabus file at the top level, SYLLABUS.md, is presumably a restatement rather than the authority. If the two ever disagree, the CNCF document wins, and anyone who spots a discrepancy has a repository with a CONTRIBUTING.md to report it through. The last limitation is the one every certification guide shares. Passing an exam and being able to run a cluster are different skills. This resource is built entirely for the first of them, and it is a good build for that purpose, but a certificate is a ticket to begin, not a substitute for the work that follows. ## Conclusion cka-certification-guide suits a candidate who wants the official curriculum turned into a weighted revision plan with somewhere to practise, especially anyone who underestimates the troubleshooting domain. It does not suit a working administrator looking for runbooks against a live production cluster, because nothing here describes operating clusters at scale, and it is the wrong base for a team that needs shared, licensed internal documentation, since the repository ships under All Rights Reserved rather than an open source licence. Before you start, check that the pinned curriculum version still matches the exam you are sitting, read the practice questions to judge whether the style matches your own, and confirm in the LICENSE file that your intended use is permitted. ## FAQ ### Which Kubernetes and curriculum versions does the CKA certification guide cover? The guide cites the CNCF CKA Curriculum v1.35 as its source, targets Kubernetes version v1.35, and is dated 2026 in its update line. The document itself carries the title V1.37, which is the guide's own revision rather than the exam version. ### Which CKA exam domain should I spend the most time on? Troubleshooting. It carries 30 percent of the exam, the largest of the five domains, and the guide advises dedicating at least one third of study time to it. Cluster Architecture, Installation and Configuration is next at 25 percent. ### What files does the cka-certification-guide repository contain? The top level holds CHEATSHEET.md, EXAM_DAY_GUIDE.md, EXAM_TIPS.md, FAQ.md, PRACTICE_QUESTIONS.md, SYLLABUS.md, TROUBLESHOOTING_GUIDE.md, an mkdocs.yml and directories for study-notes, lessons, troubleshooting, lab-setup, kind-cluster, helm-charts, ingress, network-policy and storage-provisioner. ### Can I use the CKA certification guide in my own team's documentation? Check the LICENSE file first. The repository is published under a custom licence marked All Rights Reserved rather than an open source licence, so redistribution and internal reuse are not automatically permitted. ### Is the cka-certification-guide repository still being updated? The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-15, though there are no GitHub releases, so there is no tagged version history to check. The pinned curriculum and Kubernetes versions are the thing to verify before you rely on it for a specific exam sitting. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/techiescamp/cka-certification-guide/issues) - [Project website](https://courses.devopscube.com/p/cka-complete-prep-course-practice-tests) - [README](https://github.com/techiescamp/cka-certification-guide/blob/main/README.md) - [techiescamp/cka-certification-guide on GitHub](https://github.com/techiescamp/cka-certification-guide) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/techiescamp-cka-certification-guide