- What EX288 Is and How the Exam Works
- Fees, Booking and Retake Mechanics
- The OpenShift Version Trap
- The 11 Objective Headings at a Glance
- Hands-On Skills to Have in Your Fingers
- Scoring, Results and What Is Not Published
- Sequencing Your Prep by Domain
- Validity, Renewal and Where the Credential Fits
- FAQ
- EX288 is a 4-hour, hands-on exam on a live Red Hat OpenShift environment, not a multiple-choice test.
- The current exam page specifies OpenShift Container Platform 4.22; confirm the version on your own booking.
- Red Hat lists 11 top-level objective headings but publishes no percentage weights.
- Standard list price is USD 500, with one free second attempt on an initially purchased paid exam.
What EX288 Is and How the Exam Works
EX288 is the Red Hat Certified Advanced Developer in Cloud-native Applications exam, issued by Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat's May 11, 2026 framework update renamed the former Specialist in OpenShift Application Development credential to this current title. If you want the longer background on the name and what it certifies, see What Is EX288 Certification? and What Does EX288 Stand For?.
One point of confusion is worth clearing up early. Red Hat also describes a separate Engineer in Cloud-native Applications path that requires both EX188 and EX288. That combined credential is a different thing. This cheat sheet covers EX288 only.
| Item | EX288 fact |
|---|---|
| Issuer | Red Hat, Inc. |
| Format | Performance-based tasks on a live Red Hat OpenShift environment |
| Duration | 4 hours (current EX288 exam page) |
| Question style | Hands-on tasks; no multiple-choice question bank |
| Task count | Not publicly specified |
| Scored vs. unscored breakdown | Not publicly specified |
| Reference material | Relevant product documentation is supplied; outside assistance is prohibited |
| Validity | 3 years |
Because the exam is performance-based, you are graded on the end state of what you build. A correct mental model is not enough; the application, build, route or pipeline has to actually work when assessed. For a candid view of the difficulty this creates, read How Hard Is the EX288 Exam?
Fees, Booking and Retake Mechanics
The Red Hat Certification program guide lists a standard certification-exam list price of USD 500. Regional pricing and the actual EX288 checkout may differ, and that figure was not independently confirmed at checkout, so treat it as a planning number and check the price when you book. No member versus non-member price differential is published in the reviewed issuer material. A fuller breakdown lives in EX288 Certification Cost 2026.
- Retake policy: One free second attempt is available for an initially purchased paid exam under the current program policy.
- Delivery: Red Hat administers its own proctored remote, individual testing-station and classroom examinations, subject to exact-exam booking availability. No Pearson VUE or PSI appointment is verified for this exam.
- Remote requirements: Remote delivery needs compatible equipment and proctoring under the booked examination's technical rules. Read those rules before exam day, not during check-in.
- Prerequisites: The current page recommends DO180, DO188 and DO288 and a review of the objectives. No mandatory degree, fixed experience or training hours, reference count, or EX188 prerequisite for sitting EX288 was verified. Recommended training is not a mandatory eligibility requirement.
For scheduling specifics see EX288 Exam Dates 2026, and for eligibility detail see EX288 Requirements 2026.
The OpenShift Version Trap
The current public exam page specifies OpenShift Container Platform 4.22. No separately dated blueprint year is published, and multiple versions can coexist. The linked version-specific objectives were not retrieved, so no one can honestly claim this scope covers every bookable version.
| Source | Version or duration stated | How to treat it |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat EX288 exam page | OpenShift 4.22; 4 hours | Authoritative for the exam |
| Red Hat DO288 course page | 4.22 | Preparation curriculum, not an exam blueprint |
| Red Hat DO289 (course with exam) page | Still states 4.18 | Course versions do not override the booked exam version |
| Public Udemy listing (updated August 2026) | States 4.18 and 3 hours | Conflicting third-party metadata; not exam authority |
| Third-party instructor course listing | Describes training-session hours | Training duration is not exam duration |
Key Takeaway
Confirm the exact OpenShift version on your own booking confirmation, then practice on that version. If a course, video or practice lab says 4.18 or "3 hours," do not let it reset your expectations. The 4-hour figure comes from the current Red Hat EX288 page.
The 11 Objective Headings at a Glance
Red Hat's page lists 11 top-level objective headings. These are objective headings, not percentage-weighted domains, and no official weights or "highest-weighted" objective are published. Anyone quoting a weight breakdown is guessing. The full walkthrough is in EX288 Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 11 Content Areas; here is the quick reference.
| # | Objective heading | What it signals in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Work with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform | CLI and console fluency, projects, resources, day-to-day cluster interaction |
| 2 | Deploy multi-container applications | Wiring components together so the whole application runs |
| 3 | Work with container images in OpenShift Container Platform | Sourcing, referencing and running images in the cluster |
| 4 | Troubleshoot application builds and deployment issues | Reading logs, events and status to find why something failed |
| 5 | Work with image streams | Tracking images through image stream objects |
| 6 | Work with configuration maps and secrets | Externalizing configuration and sensitive data from images |
| 7 | Work with the source-to-image (S2I) framework | Building application images directly from source |
| 8 | Work with build hooks and build triggers | Automating and gating builds |
| 9 | Work with templates | Parameterized, repeatable application definitions |
| 10 | Work with OpenShift Pipelines | CI/CD pipelines running on the cluster |
| 11 | Work with Operators accessible for users to run in their applications | Consuming Operator-provided services from application projects |
The "what it signals" column is interpretation to guide practice, not issuer-published detail. Do not infer extra sub-objectives from course outlines: the DO288 and DO289 pages describe preparation curriculum, not the exam blueprint.
Hands-On Skills to Have in Your Fingers
Since the exam is graded on working end states, the best use of cheat-sheet space is a checklist of tasks you should be able to perform without hunting. Each block below maps to the objective headings above.
Domains 1-3: Platform, Multi-Container Apps and Images
Be fast and accurate at the basics so they never eat your clock.
- Create and switch projects, then confirm which project you are in before every change.
- Deploy an application from an existing image and expose it so it is reachable.
- Bring up an application made of more than one container and confirm the pieces can talk to each other.
- Know how the cluster pulls and references container images, including from other registries.
Domains 4-5: Troubleshooting and Image Streams
Troubleshooting is its own objective heading, and it also underpins every other task.
- Read pod status, events and logs to separate build failures from deployment failures.
- Recognize common causes: wrong image reference, missing configuration, permission problems, unreachable dependencies.
- Understand what an image stream tracks and how workloads and builds consume it.
Domains 6-8: Config, S2I, Hooks and Triggers
- Create configuration maps and secrets, and inject them into a workload as environment variables or mounted files.
- Run a source-to-image build from a Git repository and confirm the resulting image deploys.
- Configure build triggers and build hooks, then prove they fire by causing the event that should start or gate a build.
Domains 9-11: Templates, Pipelines and Operators
- Instantiate a template with parameters, and be comfortable reading a template to see what it will create.
- Work with OpenShift Pipelines: understand how tasks and pipelines are defined, run, and inspected for results.
- Consume Operator-provided capabilities from an application project, using the cluster's available Operators rather than installing your own cluster-wide components.
Scoring, Results and What Is Not Published
Successful final configurations are assessed against objective criteria. A numeric passing threshold was not verified on the current exam page or program guide, and third-party "210/300" or "300/500" claims are not issuer-confirmed. Do not plan around a magic cut score; plan around getting each task fully working. More on this topic is in EX288 Passing Score 2026.
- Results timing: The exam page says results are usually available within 3 US business days and reported as total scores. The general program guide says within 5 business days with objective-area feedback. This inconsistency in Red Hat's own material is unresolved, so allow for the longer window.
- Feedback: Neither source provides individual exam-item feedback.
- Pass rate: No aggregate pass rate is published. Guarantees and individual pass or fail anecdotes do not establish one. See EX288 Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows for how to read the claims you will encounter.
Sequencing Your Prep by Domain
One structure worth using, tied directly to how the objectives depend on each other: get the platform basics fluent first, then build upward, and reserve troubleshooting for constant use rather than a single week. Adjust the pacing to your own background; this is a template, not an official plan. For a deeper plan, see the EX288 Study Guide 2026 and the EX288 training overview.
Platform and images (Domains 1, 3)
- Daily CLI work until project, resource and image tasks are automatic.
- Everything later depends on this speed.
Multi-container apps, config maps and secrets (Domains 2, 6)
- Deploy multi-component applications and externalize their configuration.
Builds: image streams, S2I, hooks and triggers (Domains 5, 7, 8)
- These objectives interlock, so practice them as one build workflow.
Templates, Pipelines, Operators (Domains 9, 10, 11)
- Automation-heavy topics that reward repetition on a real cluster.
Timed full-environment practice (all domains, Domain 4 throughout)
- Run complete practice sessions against the 4-hour limit, deliberately breaking and fixing deployments.
Add timed drills with our EX288 practice tests to check that you can finish under pressure, and revisit weak objective areas before booking.
Validity, Renewal and Where the Credential Fits
The credential is current for 3 years. Red Hat's explicitly updated May 2026 FAQ describes renewal by retaking the highest-level exam, adding a certification at the same level, or advancing to a higher level within its framework. The program guide also supports retaking the original exam. Retaking EX288 is the common verified route.
On the career side, EX288 targets people who build and ship applications on OpenShift: developers, DevOps-minded engineers and platform-adjacent roles. Concrete earnings figures are not published by the issuer and are not quoted here; for context on roles and value, see EX288 jobs, the EX288 salary guide and Is the EX288 Certification Worth It?
FAQ
No. It consists of hands-on performance tasks on a live Red Hat OpenShift environment. The exact task count and scored versus unscored breakdown are not publicly specified.
The current EX288 exam page lists 4 hours. Some third-party listings state 3 hours, but those are conflicting preparation metadata, not issuer authority.
The current public exam page specifies OpenShift Container Platform 4.22. Multiple versions can coexist, so confirm the exact version on your booking, since course page versions do not override the booked exam version.
No EX188 prerequisite for sitting EX288 was verified. The current page recommends DO180, DO188 and DO288, but recommended training is not a mandatory eligibility requirement.
Red Hat assesses final configurations against objective criteria, and a numeric passing threshold was not verified. No aggregate pass rate is published, so treat any specific figure you see online with caution.