About Taking CCIE Certification Exam

Many people want to take the CCIE certification exam, but they are not clear about the exam and other situations. I want to talk about my views here.

It can be seen from the name CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) that CCIE certificate should be of high value. The number of people who have passed CCIE certification is uncertain because there may be several people obtaining the certificate every day all over the world. According to the basic growth situation, there should be about 3,700 to 3,800 holders of CCIE certificate in the world now, and the number in China should have exceeded 60. It is said that Cisco wants to limit the number of people passing CCIE certification. And it seems that there are such signs from the changes of the exam. Here I want to talk about a very important concept: the active and inactive status of CCIE certificate. The number of CCIE is growing. The number mentioned above is the total number of people who have passed CCIE certification. However, in order to ensure the quality of CCIE certificate, Cisco must re-certify holders every two years. Otherwise, though your CCIE number is still retained, your status is inactive. In addition to the reputation, you can't get other privileges of the active status.

CCIE certification include three categories:

1. Routing & Switching 

2. ISP & dial 

3. Wan Switching 

If you want to take the exam in China, you can only take the exam of Routing & Switching. Now 99.9% of CCIEs in the world are Routing & switching. The other two categories have just opened.

CCIE certification exam is divided into two parts, the written exam and the laboratory exam. As for the difficulty, the written exam can only account for 10%. The written exam can be taken in all exam centers registered with sylvan exam center, and the cost is 200 US dollars, which is more expensive and harder than MCSE.

What need you be familiar with in order to pass the written exam? You can see the chapter on SPOTO CCIE certification. You must feel it tough after reading the scope listed above. Of course, the actual situation is difficult to determine. Because the exam questions are given by computer at random, the exam may be simple or difficult. However, if you really want to pass the CCIE certification exam, please read through each part carefully. If you have a fluke, you possibly have to take the exam again.

In addition, candidates must pass the written exam before they can take the experimental exam of CCIE certification.

CCIE written exam takes 3 hours and includes 100 objective questions. Among which about 30-40% are multi-choice. The topic covers a wide range (although it is impossible to cover all the contents mentioned on Cisco's home page, it is almost the same). The passing score is 70 points, compared with 65 points last year. Does this change mean that Cisco wants to limit the number of CCIE personnel. The content increases while the passing score becomes higher. What textbooks do candidates usually read in order to pass the written exam? If you take the courses in Cisco training center, each course costs about 1,538 US dollars. The following courses are recommended:

1. ICRC (if you are not familiar with network and Cisco routers)

2. ACRC

3. SNAM (this one is important for the exam)

If you need to read books, several classic Cisco books are first recommended (there are Chinese versions or photocopies recently). In addition, if you can buy foreign books, you are recommended to buy them. They are not only rich in content and depth, but also have more than 2000 multiple-choice questions. But don't take the questions inside as CCIE exam questions. Cisco strictly prohibits publishing the official exam questions. And compared with the real CCIE exam questions, the 2000 questions are too simple and basic

If you finally pass the Cisco written exam, you have finish 50% of the whole process. But in terms of difficulty, you only finish 10%. The following experimental exam is the real test. This is also the characteristic of CCIE certification exam and the reason why CCIE certification has always been the highest level certification in the network industry. When you have finished the written exam, what will you do next? You can make an appointment for your experimental exam. In China, only in Beijing Cisco Company (floor 18-19, No. 65, Nanlishi Road) can you take the laboratory exam.

You need to have a CCO account (so generally, the people who want to take part in CCIE certification program are the personnel of a Cisco agent. Otherwise, they can't get a contract number. Of course, there may be exceptions). Then, take your written exam result and call or fax to confirm the time of your laboratory exam. Most importantly, remember to pay for the Cisco lab exam which costs 1000 US dollars. Of course, it is impossible for most people to pass the lab exam once. Then you have to prepare your experimental environment. The standard environment of CCIE lab exam should generally have (as of August this year, there are changes after August) five 25xx routers, one Cisco 4xxx series, at least four serial and two Ethernet ports (for FR backbone and Ethernet Backbone).