What I wish I knew before I took the CKAD: Steady as she goes!
This may come as a “no duh” to most, but I used a wireless connection during my exam. To be honest, I felt fine with wireless for the following reasons:
- I built my own computer with a dedicated WiFi card and modular antenna
- I sat right next to the router
- My internet connection is stable and runs at 1gbps down 30mbps up
- Everyone else was off the internet during the two hours of the exam
- It had not been a problem as of yet
The last bullet point was the one that got me. You see I had no problem with my WiFi because it hadn’t reared its ugly head during a stressful moment. Such as taking the CKAD. That’s why when you sit down for the exam, ensure you are wired directly into your modem or router for a consistent connection. Consistency is key.
What it did to my experience…
The reason I bring this up is that I lost several minutes (arguably more) of precious exam time due to my session dropping with the proctor. When this happened, it immediately interrupted my focus, left me feeling frustrated and I then had to wait for the proctor to re-initiate the connection with me (which took about a minute at most). That put me back at the home screen of the exam, not on the question I was interrupted on. I was flustered, lost, and had to quickly navigate back to the question (if I remembered which one I was on!).
The biggest factor in this interruption was that it took me some time to get back into my groove — the focused, confident mind that I know I have. In fact, it can take up to 23 minutes to get back into a focused mindset (The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress). So don’t let something as easy as a consistent internet connection knock you around! Use a stable, wired Ethernet connection directly to your modem if possible.
That does it for our microblog tips on becoming a Certified Kubernetes Application Developer. Be sure to share your tips below on how you feel best prepared to pass the CKAD!
