Cisco · Official Blueprint · Last reviewed May 2026
The official Cisco 200-301 exam covers 5 domains. Domain weights tell you exactly how much of the exam each topic represents — and where to invest your study time.
Covers the topics, concepts, and applied skills examined under the Network Infrastructure and Connectivity domain. Study the official exam objectives and practise questions in this area to build confidence and accuracy before your exam.
Practice Network Infrastructure and Connectivity questionsVLANs, 802.1Q trunking, STP (port states, BPDU, root bridge election), EtherChannel, and wireless standards.
Practice Switching and Network Access questionsCovers the topics, concepts, and applied skills examined under the IP Routing domain. Study the official exam objectives and practise questions in this area to build confidence and accuracy before your exam.
Practice IP Routing questionsCovers the topics, concepts, and applied skills examined under the Network Services and Security domain. Study the official exam objectives and practise questions in this area to build confidence and accuracy before your exam.
Practice Network Services and Security questionsCovers the topics, concepts, and applied skills examined under the AI and Network Operations domain. Study the official exam objectives and practise questions in this area to build confidence and accuracy before your exam.
Practice AI and Network Operations questionsThe heaviest domain on the 200-301 is "Network Infrastructure and Connectivity" at 25%. Start here and return to it regularly.
Allocate study time proportional to domain weight — a 25% domain deserves roughly 25% of your prep hours.
Never skip a low-weight domain. A 10% domain still represents 5–7 exam questions — enough to make the difference between pass and fail.
Use Courseiva domain analytics to track your accuracy per domain automatically. The system routes extra questions to your weak areas.
Courseiva tracks your accuracy per domain automatically and routes you toward your weakest areas — no manual configuration needed.
Spanning Tree Protocol
Plug two switches together with two cables and watch your network die.
IPv4 Subnetting
Subnetting is the skill that separates people who understand networking from people who just use it.
OSPF
Static routes break the moment a link goes down and nobody updates the config.
VLANs & Trunking
Without VLANs, every device on a switch is in the same broadcast domain.
Access Control Lists
An access control list is the gatekeeper on a router interface.
OSI & TCP/IP Models
Every time you load a webpage, seven invisible layers of technology coordinate to make it happen and most people could not name three of them.