The Very Minor Cisco 200-301 Exam Update. What you need to know.
As we suspected, the Cisco CCNA 200-301 exam is getting what we like to call a “refresh” this year. This is a really minor update and nothing to worry about if you are already studying for the 200-301 CCNA Exam. In short, if you are already studying you are just ahead of the game and there will be a few things removed and a few small new topics.
The full list of exam topics can be found here: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/ccna-v1-1-exam-topics
So, what is changing? Let’s go through it:
Removals:
Describe, Identify, Explain, Recognize – These are all in the “describe/identify/explain/recognize question type” which indicates that this is theory based questioning and no additional lab work is assigned.
Version 1.0: Controllers (Cisco DNA Center and WLC)
Version 1.1: This is changed to just Controllers
This is more of a language change than an actual change. You still need to know the same material from the v1.0 version. Part of this seems to be due Cisco’s rebranding their Cisco DNA center to Cisco Catalyst centers, so once again the language is just a little different. If you are studying this in the v1.0 version, you’re still very much on target.
Version 1.0: Compare traditional campus device management with Cisco DNA Center enabled device management.
Version 1.1: This is simply removed for v1.1.. Deleted
So, if you are studying this version v1.0, you can skip this now.
Version 1.0: Recognize the capabilities of configuration management mechanisms Puppet, Chef, and Ansible
Version 1.1: This is now just Ansible and adds Terraform.
Cisco is phasing out learning for Puppet and Chef, which are rarely used anymore and now focusing on Ansible with the newly added update of learning about Terraform.
Version 1.0: Describe the use of syslog features including facilities and levels
Version 1.1: Describe the use of syslog features including facilities and severity levels.
This seems to be a “wash” of a change. This means the same thing and this once again just a language change where the word severity is inserted to clean up the meaning of the topic.
Newly Added:
Once again, we see Describe, Identify, Explain, Recognize – These are all in the “describe/identify/explain/recognize question type” which indicates that this is theory based questioning and no additional lab work is assigned.
Version 1.0: None
Version 1.1: Root Guard, loop guard, BPDU filter, and BPDU guard
This is the largest new section on the Version 1.1 200-301 CCNA Exam. This is where they use the word, “Identify”. So, once again on the theory side of things where you may see some information or a sample config and need to identify something about one of the following. Our CCNA Security / Network Security 1.0 Lab eWorkbook actually has some lab work that would supplement the BPDU Guard material if you wanted to dive deeper than the theory levels to get a higher level of understanding.
Version 1.0: Describe AP and WLC management access connections (Telnet, SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, console, and TACACS+/RADIUS)
Version 1.1: Describe network device management access (Telnet, SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, console, TACACS+/RADIUS, and cloud management)
What we are seeing here is once again a language change. The same materials are still there. So, the real, small, new addition is the cloud management portion which will talk about accessing a cloud managed device and possibly devices that are managed in the cloud.
Version 1.0: None
Version 1.1: Explain AI (generative and predicative) and machine learning in network operations.
This will be another very small section that will be at the just the very basic surface level and won’t go into any significant depth.
Version 1.0: Describe characteristics of REST-based APIs (CRUD, HTTP verbs, and data encoding)
Version 1.1: Describe characteristics of REST-based APIs (authentication types, CRUD, HTTP verbs, and data encoding)
This is simply adding one small element to this, asking you to describe authentication and the different authentication types for REST APIs.
Now that we’ve gone through the changes, let’s cover a few more things:
When does this go into effect? When is the late date to take the current CCNA 200-301 V1.0 exam?
The last day to test for the Cisco CCNA 200-301 Exam is August 19, 2024.
The Cisco CCNA 200-301 V1.1 Exam goes live on August 20th, 2024.
Have anything changed for hardware recommendations in our labs?
Cisco very recently (before this announcement) did a significant hardware recommendation update and we have already optimized our lab kits across the board inline with that. Usually when Cisco does this on that scale, we don’t see a hardware recommendation update for many years to come.
In addition to that, as we suspected, this was a very minor refresh and all of the topics are encompassed in theory based sections -describe, identify, explain, recognize, etc. So, none of the lab work has changed and if you are working on the current labs for CCNA 200-301 V1.0 you are doing great and won’t see any changes on that end of things.
Your current lab kits and the offerings at https://shop.certificationkits.com/ are still going to work great for you to get through everything you need to enrich your learning and have the real hardware edge crush the CCNA exam!
Will you be updating the current CertificationKits CCNA Study materials?
All of the kits are now what we call, CCNA 200-301 V1.1 Primed and Ready. This means that, once again, the hardware is good to go! As you have seen in the information you just read, the changes are very small. So, what we will be doing going forward is offering a free copy of the new supplemental theory book we will be releasing closer to the exam update to go over the changes and go along perfectly with your current study materials. We will keep a list and that will be sent out digitally as soon as it is available. The labs will stay the same, as there are not any changes there to be concerned with. We already go above and beyond the lab work on the exam.