200-901 Network Fundamentals Practice Question
An application requires reliable, ordered delivery of data with error checking. Which transport protocol should be used, and what is a key characteristic of this protocol?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that TCP has lower overhead than UDP, or that UDP provides reliability or flow control, leading candidates to confuse the characteristics of connection-oriented vs. connectionless protocols.
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
✓
TCP, because it uses a 3-way handshake to establish a connection
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is the correct choice because it provides reliable, ordered delivery of data with error checking. Its key characteristic is the 3-way handshake (SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK) used to establish a connection before data transfer, ensuring both endpoints are synchronized and ready for reliable communication.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
TCP, because it uses a 3-way handshake to establish a connection
Why this is correct
TCP satisfies the ordered, error-checked delivery requirement through sequence numbers, acknowledgements and retransmission of lost segments. The three-way handshake (SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK) establishes that reliable connection before data flows, directly meeting the stem's demand for dependable, in-order transport rather than best-effort delivery.
- ✗
TCP, because it has lower overhead than UDP
Why it's wrong here
TCP's 20-byte header plus handshake, acknowledgement and window-management traffic exceeds UDP's 8-byte header, so lower overhead is factually wrong. TCP is the right protocol here because its sequence numbers, acknowledgements and checksums deliver the required ordering, reliability and error checking.
- ✗
UDP, because it is connectionless and low-overhead
Why it's wrong here
UDP lacks sequencing, acknowledgement and retransmission, so it cannot guarantee ordered, error-checked delivery as the stem demands. Its connectionless, low-overhead design suits latency-sensitive streaming, DNS or VoIP traffic, where occasional loss is tolerable and TCP's handshaking and retransmission overhead would add unacceptable delay.
- ✗
UDP, because it provides flow control
Why it's wrong here
UDP provides no flow control, ordering or retransmission; its checksum is optional in IPv4. Sliding-window flow control belongs to TCP, which the scenario's reliability and ordering requirements demand. UDP is tempting for latency-sensitive streaming, but it cannot satisfy error checking with ordered delivery.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This 200-901 question is part of Courseiva's 975-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 200-901 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 200-901 exam.