CCA Study Plan

How to prepare for the Cilium Certified Associate exam — a structured study plan covering all domains in priority order.

Prerequisites before you start

Kubernetes networking fundamentals (Services, NetworkPolicy). Basic understanding of TCP/IP, iptables, and Linux networking concepts.

4-week CCA study schedule

This schedule works whether you have 4 weeks or 4 months — compress or expand each week based on your available time. Engineers with relevant background can often move faster through early weeks.

• Week 1
  Architecture, eBPF & Network Policy

  Cilium Architecture (20%): how Cilium replaces kube-proxy, the agent, operator, and Hubble. eBPF (10%): what eBPF is, why Cilium uses it, programs vs maps. Network Policy (18%): CiliumNetworkPolicy vs Kubernetes NetworkPolicy, L3/L4/L7 policies, FQDN-based rules.

• Week 2
  Service Mesh, Observability & Cluster Mesh

  Service Mesh (16%): Cilium's sidecar-free service mesh, Envoy integration, mTLS. Network Observability (10%): Hubble UI, Hubble CLI, flow visibility. Cluster Mesh (10%): cross-cluster connectivity, global services, federated policies.

• Week 3
  Installation, BGP & Review

  Installation and Configuration (10%): Helm install, Cilium CLI, CNI chaining, kube-proxy replacement. BGP and External Networking (6%): BGP control plane, external load balancer integration. Consolidate all topics and run sample questions.

• Week 4
  Mock Exams & Targeted Review

  Run timed mocks targeting 85%+. Architecture and Network Policy together are 38% of the exam — these two domains should be review priorities. Focus on scenarios that test "which Cilium feature solves this problem".

Study tips for CCA

• Architecture (20%) and Network Policy (18%) are the two heaviest domains combined. Understand the Cilium agent lifecycle and how CiliumNetworkPolicy differs from standard NetworkPolicy.
• eBPF is unique to this exam — understand why eBPF gives Cilium a performance and observability edge over iptables-based CNIs.
• Hubble is Cilium's observability layer. Know the difference between Hubble UI (visual), Hubble CLI (operational), and Hubble Relay (aggregation).
• Cilium's service mesh is sidecar-free — this is architecturally different from Istio. Know the tradeoffs.

Mock exam strategy

Mock exams are the most important study tool for associate-level CNCF certs. Here is how to use them effectively:

• Take your first mock without studying — use the results as a diagnostic to see your baseline and find your weakest domains.
• Study the domains you missed most, not the ones you already know.
• Always do mocks under real conditions: no notes, 90-minute timer, no pausing.
• Review every wrong answer after each mock. Understanding why wrong answers are wrong is as valuable as knowing the right answer.
• Target 85%+ consistently before booking the real exam. The extra buffer protects against nerves on exam day.

Recommended CCA resources

• Official CNCF CCA curriculum — the authoritative list of topics. Use it as your checklist.
• The CCA exam is closed-book — read official documentation now, not on exam day.
• Community Slack channels (CNCF Slack #certifications) have real candidates discussing recent exam experiences.