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CCDE Exams and Training

CCDE

Exams and training

Overview Exams and training Community Resources

How the CCDE exams work

Pass a written exam and a practical exam with an elective of your choice

  • To earn your CCDE certification, you will need to pass two exams: a written exam and a practical exam.
  • At the beginning of your practical exam, you will be asked to choose one of four electives. The exam will test you on core concepts, as well as your selected elective.

Earn a specialist certification for every exam and elective you pass

  • First, pass the written exam to earn your CCDE Specialist certification.
  • Next, pass the practical exam and earn a specialist certification for each elective you choose.
Learn about specialist certifications

CCDE written exam v3.1

This is a 2-hour, multiple-choice test with 90-110 questions. This exam validates that you have expert-level knowledge in the topics and skills integral to designing even the most complex network solutions. Be ready to gather and clarify network functional requirements, design networks to meet these requirements, develop implementation plans, and convey design decisions and their rationale.

Exam cost: US$450, or redeem Cisco Learning Credits
Exam duration: 120 minutes

View exam details

CCDE practical exam v3.1: Core and electives

This 8-hour scenario-based exam focuses on the core Enterprise network architectures and technologies, as well as on your selected elective. This exam costs US$1,600, or redeem Cisco Learning Credits.

Cisco Certified Design Expert Specialist - AI Infrastructure

The CCDE AI Infrastructure elective is an expert specialist certification that showcases your ability to design, provision and optimize networks and compute power for today’s AI workloads. Be ready to demonstrate knowledge of AI, machine learning, network, security, hardware and environment considerations.

Cisco Certified Design Expert Specialist - Large Scale Networks

The CCDE AI Infrastructure elective is an expert specialist certification that demonstrates your knowledge and skills for integrating transport technologies, layers 2 and 3 control plane mechanisms and models, as well as network virtualization, security, and automation capabilities.

Cisco Certified Design Expert Specialist - On-Prem and Cloud Services

The CCDE On-Prem and Cloud Services elective is an expert specialist certification that validates your ability to integrate and deploy transport technologies, layer 3 control plane connectivity, network virtualization, and automation. Also apply your knowledge of data center application, network, storage, and compute considerations.

Cisco Certified Design Expert Specialist - Workforce Mobility

The CCDE Workforce Mobility elective is an expert specialist certification that applies your knowledge of network security, like identify management, as well as wireless and campus networks design considerations.
View unified CCDE practical exam topics

Prepare for your exams with community resources

The Cisco Learning Network has all the resources you’ll need to prepare for your CCDE exam. Download the learning matrix to help you study, access a full list of core technologies, and more.
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