350-501 BGP Best Path Selection Practice Question
A network engineer is troubleshooting a BGP route selection issue on a router that receives the same prefix from two different peers. Which THREE BGP attributes are considered in the route selection process before the 'prefer the route with the lowest metric' step?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often forget that AS_PATH and Origin are evaluated after local preference and locally originated routes but before metric. The trap is thinking only weight, local pref, and local origin are before metric, but the full order includes AS_PATH and origin as well.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Highest weight
The BGP best-path selection algorithm considers attributes in a specific order before using the metric (MED). The sequence is: highest Weight, highest Local Preference, prefer locally originated routes, shortest AS_PATH, lowest Origin type, and then lowest metric. Therefore, all five options A, B, C, D, and E are evaluated before the metric step.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Highest weight
Why this is correct
Correct. Highest weight is checked first in the BGP path selection process, before any other attribute including metric.
- ✓
Shortest AS_PATH
Why this is correct
Correct. Shortest AS_PATH is considered fourth, after locally originated routes but before metric.
- ✓
Prefer locally originated routes (network or aggregate)
Why this is correct
Correct. Prefer locally originated routes is considered third, after weight and local preference, before AS_PATH and metric.
- ✓
Highest local preference
Why this is correct
Correct. Highest local preference is considered second, after weight, before locally originated routes and metric.
- ✓
Lowest origin type (IGP < EGP < incomplete)
Why this is correct
Correct. Lowest origin type is considered fifth, after AS_PATH, before metric.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This 350-501 question is part of Courseiva's 971-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 350-501 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-501 exam.