What are the prerequisites for taking the CCAAK exam?

There are no strict formal prerequisites, but Confluent recommends having practical experience with Apache Kafka and understanding of distributed systems concepts. Most candidates have 6-12 months of hands-on experience with Kafka in production environments.

How long is the CCAAK exam and what is the passing score?

The exam is typically 120 minutes long with approximately 60-70 questions in multiple-choice format. You need to score at least 70% to pass the certification.

What topics are covered in the CCAAK certification exam?

The exam covers Kafka architecture, brokers, topics, partitions, replication, consumers, producers, security, monitoring, and troubleshooting. It also includes questions about Confluent Platform components and best practices for Kafka deployment and management.

Is the CCAAK exam proctored and can it be taken remotely?

Yes, the exam is proctored and can be taken remotely through Confluent's testing platform. You will need a quiet environment, a reliable internet connection, and a webcam to complete the remote proctored exam.

How much does the CCAAK certification cost and how long is it valid?

The exam typically costs between $150-$200 USD, though pricing may vary by region. The certification is valid for three years from the date you pass the exam, after which you may need to recertify.

Free Confluent CCAAK Exam Questions

Q1 MultipleChoice

A topic 'recurring payments' is created on a Kafka cluster with three brokers (broker id '0', '1', '2') and nine partitions. The 'min.insync replicas' is set to three, and producer is set with 'acks' as 'all'. Kafka Broker with id '0' is down.

Which statement is correct?

AConsumers can read committed messages from partitions on broker id T, '2\

BProducers can write messages to all the partitions, because new leaders for the partitions will be elected.

CProducers and consumers will have no impact on six of the nine partitions.

DProducers will only be able to write messages to the topic where the Leader for the partition is on Broker id T.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

With 9 partitions spread across 3 brokers, each broker typically hosts 3 leaders (assuming even distribution). When Broker 0 fails, the partitions for which it was leader will elect new leaders on brokers 1 or 2 if enough in-sync replicas (ISRs) remain. But since min.insync.replicas=3 and only 2 brokers are up, no partition can meet the minimum in-sync replica requirement, so producers with acks=all will fail to write. However, for partitions where Broker 0 is not the leader, consumers can still read committed messages. Given that only 3 partitions likely had Broker 0 as leader, six partitions remain accessible for reads, but not writes.

Q2 MultipleChoice

When using Kafka ACLs, when is the resource authorization checked?

AEach time the resource is accessed.

BThe initial time the resource is accessed.

CEach time the resource is accessed within the configured authorization interval.

DWhen the client connection is first established.

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

Kafka ACLs (Access Control Lists) perform authorization checks every time a client attempts to access a resource (e.g., topic, consumer group). This ensures continuous enforcement of permissions, not just at connection time or intervals. This approach provides fine-grained security, preventing unauthorized actions at any time during a session.

Q3 MultipleChoice

The Consumer property 'auto offset reset' determines what to do if there is no valid offset for a Consumer Group.

Which scenario is an example of a valid offset and therefore the 'auto.offset.reset' does NOT apply?

AThe Consumer offset is greater than the last offset in the partition (log end offset).

BThe Consumer offset is less than the smallest offset in the partition (log start offset).

CThe Consumer Group started for the first time.

DWhen an offset points to a message that has been removed by compaction but is still within the current partition.offset range.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

In this scenario, the offset itself is still valid, even though the record at that offset was compacted away. The consumer can continue consuming from the next available record. Therefore, auto.offset.reset does NOT apply, because there is a valid offset present.

Q4 MultipleChoice

A Kafka cluster with three brokers has a topic with 10 partitions and a replication factor set to three. Each partition stores 25 GB data per day and data retention is set to 24 hours.

How much storage will be consumed by the topic on each broker?

A75 GB

B250 GB

C300 GB

D750 GB

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

10 partitions 25 GB/day = 250 GB total per day for the topic (primary data).

With a replication factor of 3, there are 3 full copies of the data: 250 GB 3 = 750 GB total across the entire cluster.

The cluster has 3 brokers, and Kafka tries to distribute replicas evenly among them: 750 GB 3 brokers = 250 GB per broker on average.

However, due to replication, some partitions have leaders and followers, so there's some overlap and not-perfect distribution. Each broker stores approximately 2/3 of the total topic data (since each broker holds replicas for around 2/3 of the partitions).

2/3 750 GB = 500 GB, but this is shared, so each broker ends up storing ~300 GB of replicated data, including its share of leaders and followers.

Q5 MultipleChoice

Why does Kafka use ZooKeeper? (Choose two.)

ATo access information about the leaders and partitions

BTo scale the number of brokers in the cluster

CTo prevent replication between clusters

DFor controller election

Correct Answer: A, D

Explanation:

ZooKeeper stores metadata such as partition leadership and ISR (in-sync replicas), which brokers use to coordinate.

Kafka uses ZooKeeper to perform leader election for the Controller broker, which manages cluster metadata and leadership changes.

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