You could think of CCIE written Exam as the equivalent of taking your driving test theory part before you would be allowed to get behind the wheel with a DMV employee. Likewise, CCIE Written Exam is a qualification exam as well as a prerequisite to CCIE Lab. However, there would be a few questions about the CCIE Written and Lab exams that you might need to know, so here I decided to put them all together in one place. CCIE has multiple tracks and each track has its own written and lab exams. So, you need to have some good prep courses, like that offered at the SPOTO Club, to ease up your study process.

Do I have to choose a track?

Yes, you would be needed to choose a track before planning your exam take. CCIE program is going to require that you clear the corresponding CCIE written exam before you’re being allowed to register for your CCIE lab. Once you are CCIE certified, you could take and clear any CCIE written exam to keep your certification active.

What CCIE Exam tracks are available today?

There are six tracks from which you could choose:

1. Collaboration
2. Data Center
3. Routing and Switching
4. Security
5. Service Provider
6. Wireless

Which track should I choose?

I have been come across this question a lot. You could utilize multiple factors to come to this conclusion. Broadly speaking, for most network engineers, it would be making sense to start with the Routing and Switching track.

How much would I have to pay to register for CCIE Exams?

CCIE Written and Lab exams would be costing you about $450 and $1,600 respectively.

How about going for Multiple CCIEs?

Regardless of the many reasons, your first CCIE certification would come with the biggest return on investment, after that it would be considered as incremental. Multiple CCIEs are believed to be good to have if there is a reason to do so, for example when learning new domain of knowledge would help you to advance in your job or career, even better if your employer would be paying boot camps as well as lab exam fee. If you are a Cisco employee, you could attempt each track about three times and all free of cost.

Who creates CCIE Written and Lab exams?

CCIE exams are almost entirely written by Cisco employees or outside SME expert who would be accepted and into the program. As far as Cisco employees are concerned, those are either working in the Cisco TAC or CCIE program department. All approved questions would be mapped to the blueprint and added to item bank for utilizing on exam forms. The passing score for each exam is determined using scaling methodologies and psychometric standards.

How CCIE exams are graded?

CCIE written exams would be graded on an overall scaled score, i.e. 300 to 1000. Lab exams would be graded by each section as well as report a Pass or Fail depending on the individual section scores, which are calculated on all or none basis except for CCDE.

How about CCIE Exam Passing Scores?

Well, that would be depending on the exam you’re taking; however, it is considered about 80% in all cases. Passing scores are going to set based on something Cisco calls MQC (Minimally Qualified Candidate).

So, now you have known to the passing score, you would be understanding that how much you have to study, and if you want guaranteed results, you should check out the courses, which you could gain it through the prep courses, offered by the SPOTO Club.