CCNA exam topics: What’s on the 200-301 exam

The Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam starts from one document: Cisco’s official list of exam topics. It names each skill the exam can test, groups those skills into domains, and gives each domain a weight, so it tells you both what to learn and how much each area counts.

That list is about to change. The exam, Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (200-301 CCNA), moves to version 2.0 on February 3, 2027, which Cisco calls the most significant update to the certification and its first redesign since 2020. Version 1.1 can be taken through February 2, 2027.

This article goes through the v2.0 domains one by one, sets out the v1.1 domains for anyone testing before the switch, and explains what changes between them. It also covers the exam format and how scoring works. To turn the topics into a week-by-week plan, see our CCNA study guide.

CCNA 200-301 exam topics (v2.0)

Version 2.0 of the CCNA has 29 topics in five domains. You can download the full list from Cisco’s CCNA v2.0 exam topics page. Cisco notes that the list is “a general guide” and that related topics may also appear.

Here’s how the five domains break down by weight and number of topics:

1.0 Network Infrastructure and Connectivity (25%)

This domain covers the physical network and addressing. You’ll diagnose cable and interface problems on copper and fiber, such as duplex and speed mismatches, and troubleshoot IPv4 addressing and subnetting as well as IPv6 addressing and prefix sizes. It also includes wireless principles (bands, channels, RF, security protocols, and interference), client connectivity on Windows, macOS, and Linux, DHCPv4 troubleshooting, and the role of hypervisors, virtual machines, and containers. Five of its seven topics ask you to troubleshoot or diagnose.

2.0 Switching and Network Access (25%)

This domain is about connecting switches, routers, and end devices:

• Switch-to-switch and switch-to-router links: Physical interfaces, 802.1Q trunks, EtherChannel with LACP, and switch virtual interfaces (SVIs).
• Edge ports: VLANs and Power over Ethernet (PoE) for desktops, printers, IoT devices, access points, VoIP phones, virtualized hosts, and network appliances.
• Documentation and troubleshooting: Checking network documentation with CDP and LLDP, and finding faults with show commands, ping, traceroute, and packet captures.
• Spanning Tree: Rapid PVST+, including root bridges, port roles, PortFast, and BPDU guard.

These skills are the backbone of how your network’s devices connect, so they’re worth practicing until they feel familiar.

3.0 IP Routing (20%)

Here you’ll read a routing table to find the next hop for a packet, troubleshoot IPv4 and IPv6 static routes (default, network, host, and floating), and configure single-area OSPF: OSPFv2 for IPv4 and OSPFv3 for IPv6. You’ll also interpret the status of the first hop redundancy protocols HSRP and VRRP. RIP and EIGRP aren’t on the list.

4.0 Network Services and Security (20%)

This domain combines the services a network runs with the controls that protect it: local usernames and AAA with TACACS+ and RADIUS, secure file transfers with SFTP and SCP, NAT and PAT on IOS XE routers, and DNS records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, and PTR). It also covers IPsec VPNs, IPv4 access control lists, and Layer 2 security features such as DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection, storm control, RA guard, and port security.

5.0 AI, and Network Operations and Management (10%)

The smallest domain covers how networks are run day to day:

• AI: The role of agentic AI in network operations, and choosing an effective prompt for a generative AI system, considering data classification, output format, persona, and instructions.
• Management approaches: Device-based, cloud-based, controller-based, and automation-based management, and infrastructure as code.
• Tools: SNMP, running commands with Ansible, and reading syslog messages and their severity levels.

It’s the smallest domain, but it’s still worth your time, since these topics shape how you’ll run a network day to day.

CCNA exam objectives for v1.1

If your exam date is on or before February 2, 2027, you’ll test on version 1.1. It has 53 topics in six domains:

Most of the core content is the same: addressing and subnetting, VLANs and trunks, EtherChannel, Rapid PVST+, static routes, single-area OSPFv2, NAT, access control lists, and Layer 2 security. Cisco’s own advice to anyone studying for v1.1 is to “finish it.”

What changes from v1.1 to v2.0

The two versions test much of the same networking, but they ask you to do different things with it.

• Fewer, broader topics: The list shrinks from 53 topics to 29, and from six domains to five.
• Troubleshooting moves to the center: Most v1.1 topics ask you to describe a concept (17 topics) or configure and verify a feature (16). Only one, identifying cable and interface issues, asks you to find a fault. In v2.0, eight topics ask you to troubleshoot or diagnose a problem. Cisco’s announcement calls troubleshooting and problem solving “the core skills, not add-ons.”
• Security joins services: v1.1’s Security Fundamentals (15%) and IP Services (10%) become one Network Services and Security domain (20%). v1.1’s concept topics, such as security program elements and password policies, aren’t named in v2.0.
• AI becomes hands-on: v1.1 asks you to explain generative and predictive AI and machine learning (topic 6.4). v2.0 asks you to describe agentic AI (5.1) and select a prompt for a generative AI system (5.2), and its description says you may have to evaluate output and recommendations from AI assistants.
• Routing adds IPv6 OSPF: OSPFv3 joins OSPFv2, and the first hop redundancy topic now names HSRP and VRRP.
• New named items: DNS record types, AAA client setup with TACACS+ and RADIUS, SFTP and SCP, storm control, RA guard, packet capture, and infrastructure as code.
• No longer named: QoS, NTP, TFTP and FTP, REST APIs, JSON, Terraform, wireless LAN setup in the controller’s GUI, and TCP compared with UDP.

If you’ve already started studying for v1.1, much of what you’ve learned still applies, so you can build on it rather than start over.

CCNA exam format: Time, questions, and delivery

Here’s what to expect on test day:

• Length: 120 minutes.
• Cost: $300.
• Delivery: At a Pearson VUE test center, or online through OnVUE with a live proctor watching through your webcam.
• Languages: English and Japanese.
• Question types: Multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and performance-based questions that have you work through a network scenario.
• Results: Pass/fail, typically available online within 48 hours.

Cisco doesn’t publish how many questions are on the CCNA exam. Test-takers and prep sites commonly report about 100-120, but that’s an unofficial estimate. Cisco’s exam tutorial shows each question format, so you can learn the interface before test day.

CCNA passing score

Cisco doesn’t publish a passing score for the CCNA or any of its exams. Its exam policies say passing scores “are set by using statistical analysis and are subject to change,” and that they “may vary exam to exam, without notice.”

The figure you’ll see most often online is about 825 on a scale of 300-1,000. It comes from test-takers and prep sites, not from Cisco, so treat it as a rough guide rather than a target.

What Cisco does give you is a score report at the end of the exam, with your performance in each section. If you don’t pass, that breakdown shows which domains to review, and you can retake the exam after five calendar days.

Final thoughts

The exam topics are the most reliable guide to what the CCNA tests. Version 2.0 keeps the core of v1.1, from subnetting to OSPF, but asks you to troubleshoot what you build and to work alongside AI tools. Download the list for the version you’ll take, and weight your study time by its domains.

When you’re ready to choose study materials, our comparison of the best CCNA prep courses can help you find one that covers the topics for your exam version.