KCA — Kyverno Certified Associate
This Is What the KCA Exam Looks Like
In one line
The KCA is a multiple-choice exam, and you pass by scoring 75% or more within 90 minutes.
Why read this first
The most common failure in studying for a certification comes not from not knowing the material but from going in without knowing the shape of the exam. If you do not know what the passing score is, how tight the time is, or which domains have many questions, you cannot set your preparation priorities.
Official specifications
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | Multiple choice |
| Time limit | 90 minutes |
| Passing score | 75% |
| Length | 60 questions |
| Exam fee | $250 (includes one retake) |
| Validity | 2 years |
These values come from the candidate documentation at docs.linuxfoundation.org. The certification's introduction page does not state the passing score or the number of questions, so if you prepare by looking only at that page, you will walk into the exam room without knowing the passing score.
Domain weights
| Domain | Weight | Questions in this practice exam |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals of Kyverno | 18% | 11 questions |
| Installation, Configuration, and Upgrades | 18% | 11 questions |
| Kyverno CLI | 12% | 7 questions |
| Applying Policies | 10% | 6 questions |
| Writing Policies | 32% | 19 questions |
| Policy Management | 10% | 6 questions |
Domains with larger weight have more questions. Use this ratio as the basis when allocating your study time. This practice exam also distributes its questions in the same ratio.
This is where answers get decided
When you grade a practice exam, the questions you get wrong cluster in one pattern. You get them wrong not because you do not know the content but because you missed which of two similar concepts the question was asking about. When a pair below comes to mind while you read a question, separate them first by the criterion in the third column.
| This | That | What separates them |
|---|---|---|
| validate | mutate | If it fills in or changes values, it is mutate |
| generate | cleanup | If it creates, it is generate; if it deletes, it is cleanup |
| Audit | Enforce | If it only records without blocking, it is Audit |
| ClusterPolicy | Policy | If it is limited to a namespace, it is Policy |
| Background scan (background) | Check at admission | If it looks at resources that already exist, it is background |
This does not mean you should memorize the table. If you mark which pair each wrong question hit, the place you need to study again becomes much narrower than a domain name.
What you may look at while solving
In a multiple-choice exam, you cannot look at any materials. Documentation, searching, and notes are not allowed. This is the biggest difference from a hands-on exam.
What you actually experience on exam day
Many people know all the content yet lose time by panicking over the procedure.
The exam is taken with online proctoring on PSI's Bridge platform. The video check by the proctor can take up to 30 minutes, and during this time the questions do not open and the time limit does not start. Even so, you should keep your schedule clear for 30 minutes of check-in plus the exam time.
There are four things confirmed at check-in: agreeing to the nondisclosure agreement, a government-issued ID that matches your registered name exactly, showing the room by panning the webcam, and closing unapproved software. Because of the last item, turning off background programs such as Slack or cloud sync in advance saves time.
There are several conditions that are easy to trip over when taking the exam in Korea. Your ID must have a signature, so a passport is the safest. You may use only one monitor, and dual monitors are not supported. There must be nothing on the desk or under it, taking notes on paper is prohibited, and reading the questions aloud is not allowed either. On a corporate network or VPN, access to AWS S3 is sometimes blocked and you get caught in the pre-check.
A reservation can be changed only up to 24 hours before the start. And if you book and do not show up, you not only lose the exam fee but also lose your eligibility for the retake. Results arrive by email within 24 hours after the exam ends.
The exam fee includes one retake, and you must complete both the exam and the retake within 12 months of the original purchase date. There is no official waiting period, so you can retake right after you get the result. Rather than postponing because your preparation is not perfect, it is often better to sit for it once and find out which domain is weak.
The certification is valid for 2 years. On top of this comes the CARE program introduced in 2026. If you pass the CKA or CKAD, the KCNA is renewed automatically, and if you pass the CKS, the KCSA and CKA are renewed automatically. However, you must earn the lower-level certifications first for this chain to work. If you earn the CKA first and the KCNA later, that CKA will not renew the KCNA. If you are aiming for Golden Kubestronaut, this order determines your renewal burden for the next several years.
How to use this practice exam
The time limit is set the same as the real exam. The remaining time is shown at the top of the screen, and when time runs out it is submitted automatically and unanswered questions are counted as wrong. This is because the real exam is also graded only on what you have answered at that point.
It is important to sit and finish it in one go. If you look things up midway, your score goes up but that score does not predict the real exam. What you want to check is not whether you know it but whether you can clear the passing score within the time limit.
After reading the explanation for each wrong question, study the domain that question belongs to again.