How to Pass the RHCSA EX200 Exam on RHEL 10: Study Plan and Exam-Day Tips

Key takeaways

• EX200 is a practical exam on live systems. Memorising answers does not work. Repeating tasks until they are automatic does.
• The exam is now based on RHEL 10. Practise on RHEL 10 or a close rebuild, and read the official objectives from Red Hat.
• Persistence is the classic trap. Anything that disappears after a reboot earns nothing, so reboot and verify.
• You may use man pages and the documentation provided in the exam. Learn to find answers fast with man -k, apropos and --help.
• Plan time: do the easy tasks first, flag the hard ones, and keep 15 minutes to reboot and check.

What is the RHCSA EX200 exam?

RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator) is a performance-based exam. You are given virtual machines and a list of tasks such as creating logical volumes, fixing SELinux problems or configuring networking. You score by the state of the systems at the end, not by choosing answers. EX200 is currently based on RHEL 10, which replaced RHEL 9 as the exam base. Details and objectives are on the Red Hat Training and Certification site, which is the source of truth for duration, passing score and delivery options. The commonly stated figures are three hours and 210 out of 300 points; confirm before you book.

What does the exam test?

Red Hat publishes the objectives. Always read the current RHEL 10 list. Expect these areas:

What is a sensible 8-week study plan?

1. Week 1: shell, files, permissions, ACLs, users, groups, sudo.
2. Week 2: processes, systemd, targets, logs, scheduling, tuning.
3. Week 3: storage: partitions, file systems, persistent mounts, swap.
4. Week 4: LVM in depth, extending volumes, and recovering from mistakes.
5. Week 5: networking with nmcli, firewalld, SSH, name resolution.
6. Week 6: SELinux: modes, contexts, semanage, restorecon, booleans, troubleshooting with ausearch and sealert.
7. Week 7: Podman containers and systemd integration, dnf repositories, shell scripting.
8. Week 8: timed full mock exams, root password reset practice, reboot-and-verify routines.

Which commands must be second nature?

# Storage and LVM
lsblk; fdisk /dev/vdb; pvcreate /dev/vdb1; vgcreate vgdata /dev/vdb1
lvcreate -n lvapp -L 1G vgdata; mkfs.xfs /dev/vgdata/lvapp
lvextend -r -L +500M /dev/vgdata/lvapp # -r grows the file system too
blkid; vi /etc/fstab; mount -a # test fstab before rebooting

# SELinux
semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_content_t "/web(/.*)?"
restorecon -Rv /web
setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

# Firewall
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --reload

# Networking
nmcli con mod ens3 ipv4.addresses 192.168.122.50/24 ipv4.method manual
nmcli con up ens3

# Services and containers
systemctl enable --now chronyd
podman run -d --name web -p 8080:80 -v /srv/web:/usr/share/nginx/html:Z docker.io/library/nginx

Treat these as practice examples. In the exam, use the host names, devices and settings the questions give you.

How should you practise?

• Use an RHEL 10 VM (a developer subscription from Red Hat is available at no cost for individual development use; check its terms) or a rebuild such as Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux for general practice.
• Write your own tasks from the objectives and do them without notes.
• Break and fix things on purpose: a bad fstab entry, a wrong SELinux context, a blocked port.
• Time yourself. Aim to finish with time to check.
• Use the Red Hat documentation and man pages, because those are what you will have in the exam.

Exam-day strategy

1. Read every task before starting. Some depend on others.
2. Do quick, certain tasks first. Mark hard ones and return.
3. Make each change, then check it immediately with the matching command.
4. Use persistent options: --permanent, -P, entries in fstab, systemctl enable.
5. Reboot in the last 15 to 20 minutes and verify mounts, services, firewall and SELinux.
6. Do not disable SELinux or the firewall to "make it work". Tasks usually require them on.

What are the most common mistakes?

• Changes that do not survive a reboot.
• Editing /etc/fstab wrongly and breaking boot. Test with mount -a.
• Forgetting restorecon or the right file context after moving files.
• Forgetting to open a port permanently in firewalld.
• Using the wrong user, group or permissions on a directory the task defined.
• Spending too long on one task.

What comes after RHCSA?

RHCE (EX294) covers Ansible automation. Other routes are OpenShift (EX280, EX288), containers with Podman (EX188) and, long term, the Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) programme. Check the RHEL life cycle page too: RHEL 8, 9 and 10 each carry a ten-year lifecycle, so the skills you build stay relevant for a long time. A reminder that CentOS Linux is end-of-life: use RHEL, Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux for practice, or CentOS Stream for rolling previews.

Next steps

WebAsha provides RHCSA training with lab practice. See also RHCSA course details, syllabus and exam.

Related reading

• Red Hat Certification | Cost, Courses, Career Scope, and RHCSA/RHCE Guide
• RHCSA v10 Passed First Attempt: Satyendra Pal, India First Achiever
• RHCSA RHEL 10 (EX200 v10): Complete 2026 Guide with Exam Labs