hardMultiple Choice
300-410 Practice Question: Which statement about administrative distance is…
Which statement about administrative distance is true regarding the selection of routes in a routing table?
⚠ Common exam trap
300-410 often tests... the difference between administrative distance and metric, and candidates might incorrectly think AD is used within the same protocol or that higher AD is preferred.
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
✓
The route with the lowest administrative distance is installed in the routing table.
The route with the lowest administrative distance is installed in the routing table when multiple routing protocols provide a route to the same destination. Administrative distance is a measure of trustworthiness; lower values are preferred. This is a fundamental principle in Cisco routing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Routes with higher administrative distance are always preferred.
Why it's wrong here
Lower administrative distance is preferred, so higher values are rejected rather than chosen. It is tempting because distance numbers do rank routes, but the ordering is inverse; higher distance is the correct choice only when deliberately configuring a floating static route as a backup.
- ✗
Administrative distance is only considered when metrics are equal.
Why it's wrong here
Administrative distance is evaluated before metrics, so it decides between routes from different protocols regardless of whether their metrics match. It is tempting because metric comparison does occur, but that happens only after distance has already filtered the candidate routes to a single source.
- ✓
The route with the lowest administrative distance is installed in the routing table.
Why this is correct
Administrative distance ranks route sources by trustworthiness; when multiple sources offer a path to the same prefix, the lowest value wins and is installed in the routing table. This directly satisfies the stem's selection criterion, with static routes at 1 and eBGP at 20 as examples.
- ✗
Administrative distance is used to select the best path within the same routing protocol.
Why it's wrong here
Administrative distance ranks routes from different sources; selecting the best path within one protocol uses that protocol's metric instead. It is tempting because distance does order candidate routes, but it is the correct mechanism only when comparing routes learned from separate routing protocols.
Quick reference
Routing Protocol Comparison
| Protocol | Metric | Max Hops | Algorithm | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIP v2 | Hop count | 15 | Bellman-Ford | Distance vector |
| OSPF | Cost (bandwidth) | Unlimited | Dijkstra (SPF) | Link state |
| EIGRP | Composite metric | Unlimited | DUAL | Hybrid |
| IS-IS | Cost | Unlimited | Dijkstra | Link state |
| BGP | Policy / attributes | Unlimited | Path vector | Path vector |
RIP's 15-hop limit makes it unsuitable for large networks. OSPF and EIGRP dominate modern enterprise deployments.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
ACL-Based Traffic Filtering and Policy-Based Routing
Key term
Administrative Distance Manipulation
Administrative distance manipulation is the practice of changing the trustworthiness value that a router uses to choose between different routing protocols when more than one provides a route to the same destination.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
This 300-410 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 300-410 exam.