Confluent · CCAC
Validates the ability to operate and manage Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud, covering core cloud concepts, Kafka operations, streaming pipelines, data governance, and cloud resilience.
Practice Questions
630
≈ 10 practice exams
Duration
90 minutes
Passing Score
70%
Difficulty
AssociateLast Updated
Feb 2026
Use this CCAC practice exam to prepare for Confluent Cloud Certified Operator (CCAC) with realistic questions, detailed explanations, and focused study modes. The practice bank includes 630 questions for Confluent CCAC, so you can review the exam steadily instead of relying on one long cram session.
As you practice, pay extra attention to patterns in your missed answers. Start with short sessions to identify weak areas, then move into timed quizzes once your accuracy is consistent.
The explanations are especially useful when you want to connect exam wording to the responsibilities and scenarios described in the official certification guidance. Use the free preview first, then unlock the full question bank when you are ready to build a complete study routine.
The Confluent Cloud Certified Operator (CCAC) certification validates a candidate's ability to operate and manage Apache Kafka workloads on Confluent Cloud. It covers the full operational lifecycle of cloud-native Kafka deployments, including cluster provisioning, configuration, monitoring, security, stream processing, and data governance. The certification is specifically oriented toward Confluent Cloud's managed service offerings—such as fully managed connectors, Cluster Linking, Schema Registry, and ksqlDB—rather than self-managed or on-premises deployments.
The exam is structured around seven weighted domains that span core cloud concepts through resilience and disaster recovery. With 60 multiple-choice questions delivered in 90 minutes and a passing threshold of 70%, the CCAC is positioned at the associate difficulty level, making it accessible to professionals with foundational Kafka knowledge who are transitioning into or actively working within Confluent Cloud environments. The certification is valid for two years, after which recertification is required.
This certification is best suited for cloud engineers, DevOps engineers, site reliability engineers (SREs), platform engineers, and Kafka administrators who are responsible for day-to-day operations of Confluent Cloud deployments. It is particularly relevant for professionals who manage topics, partitions, connectors, access controls, and streaming pipelines within Confluent Cloud rather than self-managed Kafka clusters.
Candidates should have hands-on experience deploying and managing Confluent Cloud clusters, working with the Confluent Cloud Console and CLI, and operating streaming data infrastructure in production environments. It is also appropriate for infrastructure engineers moving from traditional Kafka administration (CCAAK) toward fully managed cloud operations.
There are no formal prerequisites required to register for the CCAC exam. However, Confluent strongly recommends that candidates have practical experience operating Kafka clusters within Confluent Cloud before attempting the exam. Familiarity with core Apache Kafka concepts—such as topics, partitions, consumer groups, producers, offsets, and replication—is assumed and will not be taught as part of exam preparation.
Candidates are encouraged to complete Confluent's official training courses available through training.confluent.io, particularly those covering Confluent Cloud administration, Stream Governance, and connector management. Hands-on practice using Confluent Cloud's free tier or a trial environment is highly recommended to reinforce operational knowledge across all seven exam domains.
The CCAC exam consists of 60 multiple-choice questions to be completed within a 90-minute time limit. The exam is proctored and can be taken either remotely (from any location meeting internet, security, and privacy requirements) or at an authorized testing center worldwide. Remote delivery requires a webcam, as a proctor monitors the candidate throughout the session. All exams are administered in English.
Candidates receive their pass/fail results immediately upon completing the exam on the testing screen. The passing score is 70%. The exam costs $150 USD. Upon passing, candidates receive a Confluent digital badge and certificate, which can be shared directly to LinkedIn. The certification remains valid for two years from the date of passing.
Earning the CCAC certification demonstrates verified expertise in operating Confluent Cloud, which is increasingly adopted by enterprises building real-time data platforms and event-driven architectures. Roles that commonly list Confluent Cloud experience as a requirement or differentiator include Senior Data Engineer, Kafka Platform Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, and SRE. The certification complements existing cloud certifications (AWS, GCP, Azure) by validating streaming data infrastructure skills that are not covered by general cloud provider exams.
The CCAC is positioned at the associate level and serves as a natural entry point before pursuing more advanced Confluent certifications such as the Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka (CCDAK) or the Confluent Certified Administrator for Apache Kafka (CCAAK). The digital badge issued upon passing can be added to LinkedIn profiles and email signatures, providing visible credentialing for job searches and salary negotiations in a market where real-time data expertise commands a premium.
5 sample questions with answers and explanations. The full bank has 630 questions, enough for 10 full-length practice exams.
Preview — answers shown1. An IoT platform team configures min.insync.replicas for critical sensor data topics on a Confluent Cloud cluster. What are the valid configuration values? (Select one!)
Explanation
Confluent Cloud restricts min.insync.replicas to only two valid values: 1 or 2. This constraint exists because all Confluent Cloud topics have a fixed replication factor of 3 that cannot be changed. Setting min.insync.replicas to 1 allows writes with only the leader acknowledging, while setting it to 2 requires the leader plus one replica. A value of 3 is not permitted even though the replication factor is 3, as this would make the topic unavailable if any single replica becomes unavailable. Standard Kafka allows values up to the replication factor, but Confluent Cloud enforces the 1 or 2 limitation.
2. An organization with invoice-based billing plans to deploy a mission-critical Dedicated cluster requiring 28 CKUs. What is the maximum number of CKUs they can provision per cluster without requiring special approval? (Select one!)
Explanation
For organizations with integrated cloud provider billing or payment using an invoice, the upper limit is 24 CKUs per Dedicated cluster without special approval. The organization would need to request approval from Confluent to provision 28 CKUs. Organizations with credit card billing are limited to 4 CKUs per cluster. Clusters up to 152 CKUs are available by request through Confluent support. The 12 CKU option is not a standard limit threshold.
3. A data architect provisions a new ksqlDB cluster for real-time analytics. The application requires high availability with automatic failover. What is the minimum CSU configuration that provides automatic standby replication? (Select one!)
Explanation
ksqlDB clusters with 8 or more CSUs automatically enable multi-node deployment with standby replication, providing high availability. Below 8 CSUs, clusters run in single-node mode without automatic failover capabilities. A 4 CSU cluster is the minimum size but lacks HA features. While 12 and 16 CSU clusters provide HA, they exceed the minimum requirement and incur unnecessary costs.
4. A Kafka Streams application uses Schema Registry for Avro serialization. The development team wants to upgrade producers with a new schema version. Which compatibility mode is specifically supported for Kafka Streams applications? (Select one!)
Explanation
Kafka Streams only supports BACKWARD compatibility because Streams applications must read from multiple sources simultaneously, including state stores and changelog topics that may contain data serialized with older schema versions. BACKWARD compatibility ensures new schema versions can deserialize data written with previous versions, which is essential for Streams state management. FORWARD compatibility allows old schemas to read new data but does not guarantee new schemas can read old data. FULL compatibility provides both directions but is not specifically required or recommended for Streams. NONE disables compatibility checking entirely, risking deserialization failures in stateful processing.
5. A financial services company requires mTLS authentication for their Kafka cluster. They are choosing between cluster types. Which cluster types support mTLS authentication? (Select two!)
Multiple correct answersExplanation
Only Enterprise and Dedicated cluster types support mTLS (mutual TLS) authentication in Confluent Cloud. mTLS provides certificate-based authentication where both client and server verify each other's identity using X.509 certificates. Basic and Standard clusters only support API key authentication and OAuth. Freight clusters, while supporting private networking, do not offer mTLS capabilities. For organizations requiring certificate-based authentication for compliance or security policies, Enterprise or Dedicated clusters are mandatory.
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