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Foundational · KCNAPrep available

Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) practice exam and study path

A free, timed 60-question KCNA practice exam in 90 minutes, scored by domain, with every option explained after you submit. Also 112 practice questions you can check one at a time, a page for every task in the exam guide, and a study path. No sign-up.

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KCNA exam pack:

$4.99for 12 months

For anyone starting with Kubernetes and the cloud native ecosystem: the cluster's building blocks and kubectl, scheduling and containers, networking, security, storage and troubleshooting, delivering and debugging applications, observability, and how the CNCF community works.

The exam

Exam code
KCNA
Questions
Not yet published
Time
90 minutes
Passing score
75% correct
Exam fee
$250 (USD)
Question types
multiple choice, multiple response

A 90-minute, online-proctored, multiple-choice exam with no prerequisites. The $250 fee includes one retake and 12 months to take the exam, and the certification is valid for 2 years. The Linux Foundation's exam instructions give 60 multiple-choice questions (the published count) and its FAQ a passing score of 75%, a plain percentage rather than a scaled score (`passingPercent`). Domains and competencies follow the current curriculum (cncf/curriculum, 24 November 2025). The curriculum names no Kubernetes version; our answers follow the Kubernetes v1.37 documentation. Our forms hold 60 questions and include a few choose-two questions as extra practice.

From CNCF's certification page and exam guide, checked Oct 18, 2026.

Domains and weights

  • Domain 1: Kubernetes Fundamentals

    44%

  • Domain 2: Container Orchestration

    28%

  • Domain 3: Cloud Native Application Delivery

    16%

  • Domain 4: Cloud Native Architecture

    12%

Practice

112 original practice questions, every option explained with the CNCF documentation page that proves it. Free, no sign-up; progress stays on this device.

Your results on this device →

More practice exams

The lessons, the sample questions on every task page and the first full practice exam are free and stay free. A pack adds the further timed KCNA practice exams.

KCNA exam pack

$4.99for 12 months

  • Every paid KCNA practice exam, timed, with every option explained
  • The next version of this exam included when it changes within your 12 months
  • 12 months of access. One payment, nothing renews by itself.
  • 14-day refund, no conditions
  • 14-day refund, no conditions: ask within 14 days of buying and you get the whole payment back.
  • No pass guarantee. These are practice exams written by us from the exam guide and the CNCF documentation; a score here does not predict your result on the real exam.

Study path

One module per exam domain. Lessons that already exist on BytePatterns are linked; the rest are being written.

  1. Module 1: Kubernetes Fundamentals

    1. 1Control plane and nodes: the API server, etcd, scheduler, controllers, kubelet and kube-proxyTask 1.1

      Partly covered by: Pods, ReplicaSets & Deployments

    2. 2Workload resources: Pods, ReplicaSets and DeploymentsTask 1.1

      Lesson: Pods, ReplicaSets & Deployments

    3. 3StatefulSets, DaemonSets, Jobs and CronJobsTask 1.1

      Partly covered by: Storage: PV, PVC & StatefulSet

    4. 4Objects, namespaces, labels and selectorsTask 1.1

      Lesson coming

    5. 5Working with a cluster: kubectl, kubeconfig contexts, apply versus createTask 1.2

      Lesson coming

    6. 6Quotas, limit ranges, node maintenance, upgrades and etcd backupsTask 1.2

      Lesson coming

    7. 7How Pods land on nodes: requests, filtering and scoringTask 1.3

      Partly covered by: Scheduling & Rolling Updates, Requests, Limits & HPA

    8. 8Steering Pods: nodeSelector, affinity, taints and tolerations, topology spread, priorityTask 1.3

      Lesson coming

    9. 9Containers versus virtual machinesTask 1.4

      Lesson: Containers vs VMs

    10. 10Images, layers, tags and digestsTask 1.4

      Lesson: Images, Layers & Multi-Stage Builds

    11. 11Running containers locally with ComposeTask 1.4

      Lesson: Docker Compose for Local Dev

    12. 12OCI images and the Container Runtime InterfaceTask 1.4

      Lesson coming

  2. Module 2: Container Orchestration

    1. 13Ports, container networks and volumesTask 2.1, 2.4

      Partly covered by: Ports, Networks & Volumes

    2. 14Services, Ingress and load balancingTask 2.1

      Partly covered by: Services & Ingress, Load Balancing

    3. 15The network model, CNI, cluster DNS, the Gateway API and network policiesTask 2.1

      Lesson coming

    4. 16Authentication, RBAC, service accounts and admissionTask 2.2

      Lesson coming

    5. 17Secrets, security contexts and Pod Security StandardsTask 2.2

      Partly covered by: ConfigMaps, Secrets & Env

    6. 18Troubleshooting Pods, nodes and ServicesTask 2.3

      Lesson coming

    7. 19Probes and self-healingTask 2.3, 3.2

      Partly covered by: Probes & Self-Healing

    8. 20PersistentVolumes, claims, StorageClasses and StatefulSet storageTask 2.4

      Lesson: Storage: PV, PVC & StatefulSet

  3. Module 3: Cloud Native Application Delivery

    1. 21Rolling updates and rollbacksTask 3.1

      Lesson: Scheduling & Rolling Updates

    2. 22Configuration with ConfigMaps and SecretsTask 3.1

      Lesson: ConfigMaps, Secrets & Env

    3. 23Designing a deployment end to endTask 3.1

      Partly covered by: Design a Deployment on Kubernetes

    4. 24Blue-green and canary releases, Helm and Kustomize, CI/CD and GitOpsTask 3.1

      Lesson coming

    5. 25Debugging running applications: logs, exec, debug containers and port-forwardTask 3.2

      Lesson coming

  4. Module 4: Cloud Native Architecture

    1. 26Logs, metrics and tracesTask 4.1

      Partly covered by: Observability Basics

    2. 27Distributed tracing and OpenTelemetryTask 4.1

      Partly covered by: Tracing a Request

    3. 28Prometheus, the metrics pipeline and SLOsTask 4.1

      Lesson coming

    4. 29Scaling out: requests, limits and autoscalingTask 4.2

      Partly covered by: Requests, Limits & HPA, Vertical vs Horizontal Scaling

    5. 30Cloud native principles, microservices, serverless and the CNCF landscapeTask 4.2

      Lesson coming

    6. 31CNCF, maturity levels, SIGs, KEPs, releases and conformanceTask 4.3

      Lesson coming

Every task in the exam guide

The exam guide splits each domain into task statements. Each one has a page with a short summary, the lessons that teach it and open sample questions.

Domain 1: Kubernetes Fundamentals

Domain 2: Container Orchestration

Domain 3: Cloud Native Application Delivery

Domain 4: Cloud Native Architecture

How these questions are made

  • Written by us from the exam guide's task statements and the CNCF documentation — never from real exam content.
  • Every option carries its own explanation and a link to the CNCF page that proves it.
  • A question enters a timed exam only after an independent check; until then it is a practice question.
  • Results are a plain percentage, per domain too — not an imitation of CNCF's scaled score.

Questions about the KCNA practice exam

Is the KCNA practice exam free?
Yes. The full practice exam (60 questions, 90 minutes) is free with no sign-up, and so are the 112 practice questions, the task pages and the study path. Your attempts are saved in this browser, on this device.
How many questions does it have, and is it timed?
60 questions in 90 minutes: the real KCNA pace, scaled to this form. When the time runs out, the exam is submitted as it stands.
Are the answers explained?
After you submit, not during: like the real exam, the timed exam gives no feedback until the end. Then you get your score overall and per exam domain, and every question with each option explained and a link to the CNCF documentation page behind it. In practice mode an answer is explained as soon as you check it.
What does the KCNA exam pack add?
3 more timed practice exams (Practice exam 1: 60 questions, 90 minutes; Practice exam 2: 60 questions, 90 minutes; Practice exam 3: 60 questions, 90 minutes), each scored and explained the same way, and the next version of this exam if it changes within your 12 months. 12 months of access. One payment, nothing renews by itself. Everything above stays free. See the pack.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, with no conditions: ask within 14 days of buying and you get the whole payment back. The details are in the terms.
Is this an official CNCF practice exam?
No. BytePatterns is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by The Linux Foundation (CNCF). Every question is written by us from the public exam guide and the CNCF documentation, never from real exam content, and a score here does not predict your result on the real exam. CNCF lists its own preparation resources on its certification page.