PCA practice test
Prometheus Certified Associate · free · 539 questions in the bank today
By Ibrahim Yesilay · Published · Updated
Start a free PCA practice test: Prometheus Certified Associate questions with an instant verdict and explanation, an order that returns to your weakest domains, and a timed mock in the official format. The official PCA exam is 60 questions in 90 minutes with a passing score of 75%, as read from the Linux Foundation documentation on 2026-10-23.
Ten guest answers need no account; mock exams need a free one. Independent practice, not affiliated with the CNCF or the Linux Foundation.
PCA exam snapshot
Exam facts from the Linux Foundation pages, checked 2026-10-23; full table with sources on the PCA certification page.
What this PCA practice test is
This page starts a free PCA practice session on GoldenKube. The official PCA exam is 60 questions in 90 minutes with a passing score of 75%, as read from the Linux Foundation documentation on 2026-10-23. The GoldenKube PCA bank held 539 questions when this page was written; the live count is shown above. One question at a time. As soon as you answer you see whether you were right and read the explanation; reloading the page keeps the verdict on screen. The next question comes from the questions due for review first, then from the domain where you are weakest and still have unseen questions, then from the rest of the bank. Use it to drill terminology and configuration questions; write real PromQL against a Prometheus instance for the query domain.
Every PCA question in the bank has a written explanation, so a wrong answer is always followed by the reasoning that fixes it.
What the PCA bank covers
The PCA bank is the largest on the site. Observability Concepts and PromQL hold a smaller share of it than their official weights, so pair the bank with hands-on PromQL practice against a real Prometheus. The table compares the official domain weights, checked against the PCA certification page on 2026-10-23, with the share of the bank each domain holds and the number of explained questions, both read from the database when the page is served. PromQL is the heaviest domain at 28%, so it deserves the largest share of your study time whatever the bank's share is.
| Official domain | Exam weight | Bank share | Questions | Explained |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observability Concepts | 18% | 14% | 75 | 75 |
| Prometheus Fundamentals | 20% | 21% | 112 | 112 |
| PromQL | 28% | 22% | 121 | 121 |
| Instrumentation and Exporters | 16% | 15% | 82 | 82 |
| Alerting & Dashboarding | 18% | 16% | 85 | 85 |
| Mixed / not mapped to one domain | - | 12% | 64 | 64 |
All 539 questions have a written explanation. Live from the database; the PCA bank coverage report explains the method.
A domain whose bank share is well below its weight is one to study from the official curriculum and the project documentation as well; the bank-coverage report linked below tracks these gaps over time.
Try three PCA questions
Three questions from the bank with their answers and explanations. The PCA sample-questions page has twenty more; the practice session has the whole bank.
Question 1
- A.
byandwithout - B.
and/or - C.
group_leftandgroup_right - D.
offsetand@
Correct answer: C
Question 2
# TYPE line do?- A.Declares the retention period for the metric
- B.Sets a label value on the metric
- C.Specifies the metric's type (counter, gauge, histogram, or summary)
- D.Defines an alerting threshold for the metric
Correct answer: C
# TYPE comment line tells Prometheus how to interpret the following metric (counter, gauge, histogram, or summary). It does not configure retention, labels, or alerts.Question 3
http_requests_total returns:- A.A single scalar number
- B.A range vector covering the last minute
- C.A string value
- D.An instant vector — one sample per matching series at the evaluation time
Correct answer: D
Mock exam
The PCA mock exam draws 60 questions from the bank, gives you 90 minutes and scores the run against the 75% threshold, the same numbers as the official format. It is a timed rehearsal of pacing and stamina, not a prediction: the questions are GoldenKube's own and the result is practice feedback. Mock exams need a free account; your history of runs is kept on the exam's mock page.
How to get the most out of practice
Short daily sessions beat one long one, because the review ladder works on days: A wrong answer returns after 12 other answers, then after 1 day and after 4 days when answered correctly, until it counts as mastered. A wrong answer at any step restarts the ladder. Focus mode limits practice to one domain or subdomain until you leave it. Read the explanation even when you are right, mark the concept behind every miss, and move to a mock exam only when the per-domain view shows no domain far behind the others. Your first 10 answers need no account. After that a free account keeps your progress; there is no paid tier and no card.
Frequently asked questions
Is the PCA practice test free?
Yes. Your first 10 answers need no account. After that a free account keeps your progress; there is no paid tier and no card.
How many PCA questions are there?
539 when this page was written; the live count from the database is shown at the top of the page. Questions are added and corrected over time.
Does the PCA practice test match the real exam format?
The mock exam uses the published format: 60 questions, 90 minutes, 75% to pass. Practice mode is untimed and adaptive. The questions themselves are GoldenKube's own, not exam content.
Where are more sample questions with answers?
The PCA sample-questions page shows 20 questions with answers and explanations without an account, and each PCA topic page shows three more for its subdomain.
Sources
Last updated