PCA
Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA)
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Cheat sheet
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ExploreKey terms
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ExploreCommon mistakes
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ExploreAbout this exam
The Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA) is an entry-level, pre-professional certification from CNCF that validates foundational knowledge of observability and hands-on familiarity with Prometheus, the open source systems monitoring and alerting toolkit. It is aimed at engineers and application developers with a special interest in observability and monitoring, and CNCF notes that ideal candidates may already hold Kubernetes certifications such as KCNA, CKA, or CKAD, or have completed Prometheus-specific training or cloud engineer bootcamps. The credential confirms that a candidate can build or scrape observability data in an application stack whether or not it is cloud native, and it prepares candidates to work with the fundamentals of data monitoring, metrics, alerts, and dashboards using Prometheus. The exam is delivered online, is proctored, uses multiple-choice questions, and runs 90 minutes. Content is weighted across five domains: Observability Concepts at 18%, Prometheus Fundamentals at 20%, PromQL at 28%, Instrumentation and Exporters at 16%, and Alerting & Dashboarding at 18%. PromQL carries the largest share, so query work deserves the most practice time. CNCF has open sourced the curriculum around which the exam was created, and it is the natural starting point for preparation. Pair it with hands-on work: run Prometheus, scrape real targets, write and test recording and alerting rules, and route notifications through Alertmanager. There are no prerequisites, and the exam fee includes one free retake.
What you'll study
About PCA preparation
What is the format of the PCA exam?
It is an online, proctored, multiple-choice exam lasting 90 minutes. You take it remotely with a live proctor rather than at a test center. Because the format is multiple choice, you are tested on recognizing correct configurations, PromQL expressions, and concepts rather than typing commands into a live cluster.
How much does the PCA cost, and does it include a retake?
The exam-only price is $250, and that fee includes one free retake. The Linux Foundation also lists bundles: exam plus a THRIVE-ONE annual subscription for $495, or exam plus the LFS241 Monitoring Systems and Services with Prometheus course for $299. The certification is valid for two years, and exam eligibility lasts 12 months.
Are there prerequisites for taking the PCA?
No. The Linux Foundation states there are no prerequisites for this exam, and it is rated at beginner experience level. That said, CNCF describes ideal candidates as engineers or application developers who may hold Kubernetes certifications such as KCNA, CKA, or CKAD, or who have completed Prometheus-specific training or cloud engineer bootcamps.
Which domain should I study first?
Start with Prometheus Fundamentals, then move to PromQL. Fundamentals covers architecture, configuration and scraping, the data model and labels, the exposition format, and Prometheus limitations, and every PromQL question depends on understanding labels and time series. PromQL is the heaviest domain at 28%, so give it the most practice once the basics are solid.
How is the exam weighted across topics?
Five domains carry fixed weights: Observability Concepts 18%, Prometheus Fundamentals 20%, PromQL 28%, Instrumentation and Exporters 16%, and Alerting & Dashboarding 18%. PromQL is the single largest block, and the two 18% domains plus Fundamentals account for 56% combined, so no domain can be safely skipped.
What does the Observability Concepts domain actually test?
It covers the vocabulary and theory behind monitoring: metrics, logs and events, tracing and spans, the push versus pull collection models, service discovery basics, and the definitions of SLOs, SLAs, and SLIs. These questions reward precise definitions, so be able to distinguish an SLI from an SLO and explain why Prometheus favors pull-based scraping.
What are common failure modes on the PCA?
Candidates often lose points on PromQL functions and operators, especially rate and derivative calculations, aggregation over time versus over dimensions, and histograms. Instrumentation questions about client libraries and metric naming also trip people up. Reading the curriculum and practicing real queries against a running Prometheus closes most of these gaps.
How should I prepare for the Alerting & Dashboarding domain?
Write alerting rules with real expressions, understand for clauses and how pending versus firing states work, and route alerts through Alertmanager, including notification channels. For dashboarding, focus on the basics of presenting metrics rather than tool-specific features. The domain also asks when, what, and why to alert, so think about alert quality, not just syntax.
What resources does CNCF point candidates to?
CNCF has open sourced the curriculum around which the exam was created, and both CNCF and the Linux Foundation link a curriculum overview, a candidate handbook, and the Linux Foundation Global Certification and Confidentiality Agreement. The Linux Foundation also publishes a PCA FAQ and offers the LFS241 Prometheus course as an optional paid companion.