My ICA Exam Experience — What You Should Know Before Taking It
I recently took the Istio Certified Associate (ICA) exam. Here’s what the experience was like, what I found hard, and what helped me prepare.
These are tips and things I wish I knew earlier.
First Impressions: The Exam UI Layout Feels Overwhelming at First
When the exam starts, you don’t get one question at a time like in other Kubernetes exams. Instead, there’s a side menu showing all the questions at once.
That can be a little overwhelming.
It made me feel like I was already behind, like there wouldn’t be enough time. But once I got going, I realized 2 hours is more than enough.
Skip the harder questions at first.
Start with the quick ones. It helps build confidence and saves time.
During the Exam: Use Two Terminal Tabs
The first tab is where you do your work.
The second tab is there to help you get info about the cluster.
You’ll use that second tab a lot to check service names, labels, ports, etc.
Example:
# check what's running in istio-system
kubectl get all -n istio-system --show-labels# check a different namespace, like 'API'
kubectl get all -n API --show-labelsUse that second tab every time you need to double-check something — it saves mistake, especially labels and services names.
Quick Kubernetes Tips That Helped Me
Switching cluster context
Know how to do this quickly:
kubectl config get-contextskubectl config use-context <context-name>- Set kubectl alias
alias k=kubectl— it’s not there by default, but it helps. - Double-check service names before writing virtual services
kubectl get svc -n <namespace>MOST IMPORTANT — Keep Your Work Organised
This made a big difference for me. When you start the exam, it has many questions, each domain has multiple questions, for example, domain 2 has 8~9 questions, that’s why you should make a folder for each task:
2.1/, 2.2/, 2.3/, and so on.
When you finish a task and need to do something similar, copy the file forward and change only what’s needed:
cp 2.2/vs.yaml 2.3/vs.yamlThis helps a lot with VirtualService questions, where small changes are needed between tasks.
Not only that, it prevents you from overwriting files from the previous question, and if for some reason you need to revisit a question, you still have the exact file untouched.
Don’t Get Stuck on Hard Questions
Some questions take longer and may need more than one resource to be created.
What I recommend you to do:
- Do what you can
- Save it for later
- Come back to it at the end
What do I mean by that?
If a question asks you to create a gateway, a virtual service, and a destination rule — start with the easier parts first, like the gateway and destination rule.
Later, after working through more questions, you might remember what’s missing in the virtual service, or you might find a similar example in another question that you can reuse.
This approach helped me finish everything on time without panicking.
What About Multiple Choice Questions?
There are a few (less than 10). Don’t spend too much time on them.
Just make sure you know what Cilium is and how it works, and you’ll be fine. The main focus is on hands-on tasks.
Resources — Kodekloud ICA Exam Preparation Course
This is by far the most complete course you’ll be able to find. It has the whole course to study, plus a mock exam with 25 questions at the end, don’t skip that!
I did the mock exam twice, and it really helped me grasp the concepts:
Practice: Do All the Labs You Can
This is the best prep you can do.
Go through all the labs on Killerkoda:
If you can, do them more than once — especially the ones about VirtualServices. You’ll definitely see those on the exam.
Take the Exam in the Morning
Try to book your slot early in the day. Your brain will be fresh, and you’ll be less distracted.
Final Thoughts
The ICA exam isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either. If you’ve done the labs and used Istio before — even just a bit — you’ll do fine.
Hope this helps if you’re getting ready to take it!
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