From February 24 of next year (02/24/2020), the new Cisco certifications will now be presented in 4 skill levels (CCNA, Specialist, CCNP and CCIE) in 6 specialty areas (Enterprise, Security, Service Provider, Collaboration, Data Center, DevNet). In general, each level can be obtained by passing only one additional exam. There is no longer any prerequisite for passing these exams, they are all directly accessible.

A great novelty awaited is the new CCNA certification (200-301) which becomes unique in its kind!

While all the exams are directly accessible, the certification path progresses in 4 skill levels: “Associate” (CCNA), “Specialist”, “Professional” (CCNP) and “Expert” (CCIE). With the exception of the “Associate” level of the CCNA which affects all areas at the fundamental level, each level relates to a specific area of ​​networks. Each level is generally validated by a single additional exam.

The CCENT level and the ICND1 and ICND2 exams are disappearing in favor of a single, generic CCNA exam. This comforts us in the idea that the CCNA is aimed at people who are embracing a career in networks.

Now a “Specialist” level follows the “Associate” level and precedes the “Professional” level. It is in a way the novelty of the course. This “Specialist” level is achieved by passing any CCNP exam from the six above-mentioned specialty areas in a “Core” or “Concentration” exam catalog (which focuses on a particular subject or technology).

The CCNP “Professional” level for a domain is obtained by passing a “Core” exam and in addition a specialization exam (of “concentration”) in the same domain. Previously, you had to pass a lot more to obtain the “Professional” level like the CCNP R&S.

The Expert level is obtained upon successful completion of a “Core” exam in a specialty area and in addition with the successful completion of a “hands-on lab exam” in the same specialty area.

The Cisco certifications journey is now faster, more readable, more interesting and easier to maintain in a career.

From 02/24/2020, the new CCNA will now be organized into a single exam (code 200-301) . From that date, it will replace all the old CCNAs (Routing & Switching, Security, Wireless, etc.), the CCENT and the CCDA (Design). If you earn yourself a CCNA certification before the start date of the new CCNA 200-301 (before 23/02/2020), you will receive the title of the new certification.

The duration of the exam increases from 30 minutes from 90 minutes to 120 minutes. The validity of the title is always 3 years.

New certification goals remove topics from EIGRP, OSPFv3 and BGP, VTP, APIC-EM models, routing, and WAN topics like PPP, PPPoE or GRE as automation and network programmability becomes a new area of purely theoretical knowledge. The new program adds practical objectives of configuring DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection (DAI) or even a WLAN client with GUI (!). Theoretical knowledge objectives on WLAN networks and on secure architectures have also been added. The verb “Troubleshoot” has completely disappeared from the objectives.

the new CCNA 200-301 exam is 25% less dense than its predecessor CCNA 200-125

In short, the new CCNA 200-301 is less “practical” but requires broader theoretical knowledge (WLAN, security, automation). However, in the new CCNA 200-301 there is a mathematical balance between practical and theoretical objectives. According to Wendell Odom, the author of numerous CCNA prep books at Cisco Press, the new CCNA 200-301 exam is 25% less dense than its predecessor CCNA 200-125.

The new CCNA 200-301 exam assesses knowledge and skills on the following six topics:

Network fundamentals 20%

Network access 20%

IP connectivity 25%

Services (IP services) 10%

Security fundamentals 15%

Automation and programmability 10%

The title “Specialist” is obtained by passing one of the examinations below in a field (“Track”).

The CCNP title is obtained by passing one of the “Core” exams in a field and another concentration exam in the same field.

The “CORE” exams are as follows:

Enterprise Core: 350-401 ENCOR

Service Provider Core: 300-501 SPCOR

Data Center Core: 300-601 DCCOR

Security Core: 300-701 SCOR

Collaboration Core: 300-801 CLCOR

DevNet Core 300-901 DEVCOR

In addition, each “concentration” exam focuses on a specific technology, which makes access to the titles more flexible and more interesting for the candidate.