This CKA practice question tests your understanding of workloads and scheduling. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A Job named 'pi' runs a container that computes pi to 2000 digits. The Job's spec has completions=3 and parallelism=2. After some time, you observe that two pods completed successfully, and the third pod is still running. What is the expected behavior when the third pod completes?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The Job will be marked as Complete
Option A is correct because a Job with `completions=3` and `parallelism=2` is considered complete when the required number of successful pod completions (3) is reached. Since two pods have already completed and the third is still running, once it finishes successfully, the total successful completions will equal the `completions` value, and the Job controller will mark the Job as Complete. The Job does not require all pods to run concurrently or finish simultaneously.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
The Job will be marked as Complete
Why this is correct
Correct. Once the required number of completions is reached, the Job completes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The Job will restart the completed pods
Why it's wrong here
Completed pods are not restarted; only failed ones are restarted if backoffLimit allows.
✗
The Job will continue to run new pods indefinitely
Why it's wrong here
No, completions=3 specifies a finite count.
✗
The Job will be marked as Failed because parallelism is not fully utilized
Why it's wrong here
Parallelism is a limit, not a requirement.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse `parallelism` with a requirement for all parallel pods to finish, or think that a Job must have all pods running concurrently to succeed, leading them to incorrectly select Option D.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the Kubernetes Job controller uses a work queue and a pod tracker to count successful completions. The `completions` field defines the desired number of successful pod completions, while `parallelism` sets the maximum number of pods that can run simultaneously. The controller does not require all parallel pods to finish; it only cares about the cumulative count of successes. A real-world scenario is batch processing where tasks are distributed across workers; if one worker finishes early, the Job can still complete as long as the total number of successful tasks reaches the target.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the CKA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CKA question in full detail.
Workloads and Scheduling — This question tests Workloads and Scheduling — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The Job will be marked as Complete — Option A is correct because a Job with `completions=3` and `parallelism=2` is considered complete when the required number of successful pod completions (3) is reached. Since two pods have already completed and the third is still running, once it finishes successfully, the total successful completions will equal the `completions` value, and the Job controller will mark the Job as Complete. The Job does not require all pods to run concurrently or finish simultaneously.
What should I do if I get this CKA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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