CPDN study plan

Define the core vocabulary of the domain set (service models, deployment models, shared responsibility, tenancy) in your own words without notes

Diagram how the major architectural components in Domain 1 relate to one another, labeling every interface between them

Classify ten realistic scenarios by service/deployment model and justify each classification in one sentence

Build a flashcard deck of at least 40 Domain 1 terms and run it to 90% recall

Translate a written business requirement into a set of functional and non-functional design constraints

Compare at least three design alternatives for a given scenario and document the trade-offs in cost, performance, and resilience

Produce a capacity and sizing estimate for a small workload, showing the assumptions behind each number

Identify single points of failure in a reference design and propose a mitigation for each

Apply the planning lifecycle end to end to a second scenario, from requirements through cutover planning

Draft a migration or rollout plan with sequenced phases, dependencies, and rollback points

Re-test Domain 1 weak areas identified in week 1 and close at least three of them

Explain aloud, without notes, how design decisions in Domain 2 depend on concepts from Domain 1

Configure a working end-to-end example environment covering the core configuration objects for this domain

Document the configuration steps you performed as a repeatable runbook with preconditions and verification checks

Diagnose and correct five intentionally broken configurations, recording the symptom, root cause, and fix for each

Map each configuration object you touched back to the design decisions from week 2

Complete the remaining Domain 3 configuration topics and re-run your runbook from scratch to confirm it is repeatable

Define the routine operational tasks for a deployed environment and set a cadence and owner for each

Practice reading and interpreting operational telemetry (logs, metrics, health signals) to answer three specific operational questions

Write an incident response sequence for one plausible failure, including detection, triage, escalation, and communication

Perform a risk assessment on a reference scenario, ranking at least eight risks by likelihood and impact

Map the applicable compliance and governance obligations to concrete controls in the environment

Configure and verify the core access-control and identity protections for the example environment

Identify the top three security gaps in your own build and write a remediation action for each

Apply a structured troubleshooting method to six distinct fault scenarios spanning all prior domains

Distinguish between symptoms caused by configuration, capacity, and access-control problems in at least four cases

Document an escalation path and evidence-collection checklist for issues you cannot resolve yourself

Re-test your two weakest domains and confirm measurable improvement

Complete two full-length timed practice exams under test-day conditions and score each one

Review every missed question and assign each to a domain, then re-study the two densest error clusters

Recite the key facts, limits, and decision points for all six domains from a single condensed sheet you wrote yourself

Finalize a test-day plan covering timing strategy, question triage, and break schedule