The CKAD covers five hands-on application domains, weighted most heavily toward configuration and security (25%). Everything is performance-based - you build and deploy real workloads, not multiple choice. Confirm current weights with CNCF.
| Domain | Weight | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Application Environment, Configuration & Security | 25% | ConfigMaps, Secrets, SecurityContexts, ServiceAccounts, resources |
| Application Design & Build | 20% | Images, Jobs/CronJobs, multi-container pods, volumes |
| Application Deployment | 20% | Rollouts, blue/green, canary, Helm/Kustomize |
| Services & Networking | 20% | Services, ingress, network policies |
| Application Observability & Maintenance | 15% | Probes, logging, debugging |
How to study it
Study by building and deploying workloads in a real cluster, generating objects with imperative kubectl. Weight your time toward configuration and security. Confirm the current curriculum with CNCF.