Cisco CCDE® Written Exam tests a candidate's combined knowledge of routing protocols, internetworking theory and design principles. It assesses a candidate's understanding of network design in the areas of routing, tunneling, Quality of Service, Management, Cost, Capacity, and Security. This exam combines in-depth technical concepts with Network Design principles. Product-specific knowledge including version of code, implementation and operations specific concepts are not tested on the CCDE exam. The exam is closed book and no outside reference materials are allowed.

An Evolving Technologies section is included in the Written exam only. It will enable candidates to bridge their core technology expertise with knowledge of the evolving technologies that are being adopted at an accelerated pace, such as cloud, IoT, and network programmability.

It has been recalibrated and will consist of three subdomains and a total of five tasks for which the expected depth of knowledge will be focused on conceptual comprehension. The Evolving Technologies section will account for 10 percent of the total score while the remaining core technologies will account for 90 percent.

The following topics are general guidelines for the content likely to be included on the exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any specific delivery of the exam. In order to better reflect the contents of the exam and for clarity purposes, the guidelines below may change at any time without notice.

1.0 Layer 2 Control Plane 24%

2.0 Layer 3 Control Plane 33%

3.0 Network Virtualization 15%

4.0 Design Considerations 18%

5.0 Evolving Technologies v1.1 10%