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.
You have a PriorityClass 'high-priority' with value 1000 and 'low-priority' with value 100. A pod A with 'high-priority' is pending because the node has no resources. A pod B with 'low-priority' is running on that node. What will happen if preemption is enabled?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Pod B will be preempted (evicted) to allow pod A to be scheduled on the node
When preemption is enabled, the Kubernetes scheduler can evict lower-priority pods to free resources for pending higher-priority pods. In this scenario, Pod A (priority 1000) is pending due to insufficient resources, while Pod B (priority 100) is running on the node. The scheduler will preempt (evict) Pod B to allow Pod A to be scheduled, as the priority difference is significant and preemption is enabled by default in Kubernetes (via the 'PrioritySort' and 'Preemption' plugins).
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.
✗
Pod A will be scheduled only after pod B completes its work
Why it's wrong here
Preemption evicts lower-priority pods to schedule higher-priority ones.
✗
Pod A will remain pending because preemption is not enabled by default
Why it's wrong here
Preemption is enabled by default in the kube-scheduler.
✗
The cluster administrator must manually delete pod B to allow pod A to schedule
Why it's wrong here
Preemption automates this process.
✓
Pod B will be preempted (evicted) to allow pod A to be scheduled on the node
Why this is correct
Higher priority pods can preempt lower priority pods to get resources.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume preemption requires manual configuration or is disabled by default, but Kubernetes enables preemption by default in the scheduler, and the scheduler automatically handles eviction without administrator intervention.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the Kubernetes scheduler's 'Preemption' plugin evaluates pending pods against running pods on nodes, selecting the lowest-priority pod(s) to evict that free enough resources for the pending pod. The preemption process respects PodDisruptionBudgets (PDBs) and will not evict pods if it would violate a PDB, but in this simple case without PDBs, Pod B is evicted immediately. A real-world scenario where this matters is in multi-tenant clusters where critical workloads (e.g., with priority 1000000) must preempt batch jobs (e.g., priority 100) to meet SLAs.
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: Pod B will be preempted (evicted) to allow pod A to be scheduled on the node — When preemption is enabled, the Kubernetes scheduler can evict lower-priority pods to free resources for pending higher-priority pods. In this scenario, Pod A (priority 1000) is pending due to insufficient resources, while Pod B (priority 100) is running on the node. The scheduler will preempt (evict) Pod B to allow Pod A to be scheduled, as the priority difference is significant and preemption is enabled by default in Kubernetes (via the 'PrioritySort' and 'Preemption' plugins).
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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