CCNA v2.0 changes: sit v1.1 before February 2027, or wait?

Short answer: if you can be ready by late January 2027, sit CCNA v1.1 now. The certification is identical, the study material is mature, and v2.0 is a harder exam in one specific way: it replaces a lot of "describe" questions with "troubleshoot" and "configure" ones. Wait for v2.0 only if your realistic test date is after February 2, 2027 — and if so, start practising hands-on now, because that is where the new exam lives.

Cisco announced the CCNA refresh at Cisco Live in May 2026. The exam code stays 200-301 and the certification is still "CCNA", but the blueprint is reorganised, the balance of topics shifts, and the question style changes. Here is what is actually different, the one date that matters, and a simple rule for which version to book.

The dates that matter

The lack of an overlap is the big difference from CompTIA's refreshes. There is no seven-month window where you pick a version. If your exam date slips past February 2, you are sitting v2.0 whether you studied for it or not. Build slack into your plan.

What stays the same

• The certification. Pass either version and you hold CCNA, valid for three years, renewable the same way. Employers see "CCNA", not "v1.1".
• Exam code 200-301 and 120 minutes.
• The core. Subnetting, VLANs and trunking, EtherChannel, Rapid PVST+, static routing, single-area OSPF, ACLs, NAT, DHCP, IPsec VPN concepts, wireless fundamentals and the main security features are all still there. Most of what you learn for v1.1 carries straight over.

Six domains become five

Read the direction: half the exam is now the physical and Layer 2 side (connectivity, cabling, switching, client access), routing shrinks a little, services and security merge into one domain, and the old "programmability" domain is rebuilt around AI and network operations. REST APIs, Terraform and the controller-vs-traditional comparison are gone from the blueprint; Ansible, agentic AI and prompt writing are in.

The real change: "describe" becomes "troubleshoot"

This is the part most summaries undersell. In v1.1, almost every objective started with "describe", "explain" or "compare". In v2.0, a large share start with "troubleshoot", "configure", "diagnose" or "interpret". Examples straight from the official exam topics:

• Troubleshoot IPv4 and IPv6 addressing and subnetting (not just "describe").
• Troubleshoot DHCPv4 client, server and relay on IOS devices.
• Troubleshoot wired and wireless client connectivity.
• Troubleshoot basic Layer 2/Layer 3 connectivity using show commands, including show logs.
• Diagnose interface and cable issues: collisions, errors, duplex and speed mismatches.
• Diagnose DNS record problems (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR).
• Interpret the operational status of HSRP and VRRP.

Expect more questions that hand you command output or a small lab and ask what is wrong, and fewer that ask you to pick a definition. If you have been passing practice tests on memorised facts, that is the gap to close before v2.0.

What's new in CCNA v2.0

Infrastructure and connectivity

• Hypervisors, virtual machines and containers (role and function).
• Wireless band and channel selection, RF characteristics, and causes of interference.
• Troubleshooting client connectivity on Windows, macOS and Linux hosts.
• Edge-port configuration for IoT devices, VoIP phones, access points, virtual hosts and appliances, including PoE.
• DHCP relay troubleshooting on IOS.

Routing

• OSPFv3 for IPv6 alongside OSPFv2 (neighbour adjacencies, point-to-point and broadcast, DR/BDR, router ID).
• Reading HSRP and VRRP state.
• Floating static routes called out explicitly.

Services and security

• Local usernames and configuring a device as an AAA client (TACACS+ and RADIUS).
• Secure file transfer with SFTP and SCP for configs and IOS images (TFTP/FTP are out).
• NAT/PAT on IOS XE.
• DNS record diagnosis: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR.
• Layer 2 security adds storm control and RA guard next to DHCP snooping, DAI and port security.
• ACLs now cover standard, extended, numbered and named types.

AI, operations and management

• The role of agentic AI in network operations.
• Choosing and writing a prompt for a generative AI system (prompt components and context).
• Five network-management approaches: device-based, cloud-based, controller-based, automation-based and infrastructure-as-code.
• Using Ansible to execute commands.
• SNMP and syslog stay (facilities, severities, message content).

What's been removed

Roughly as much came out as went in. Topics no longer in the objectives include: device-role and topology-architecture comparisons, fibre-vs-copper and TCP-vs-UDP comparisons, the detailed IPv6 address-type list, MAC learning and flooding basics, WLC and AP architecture and modes, GUI-based WLAN configuration, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 detail, NTP configuration, QoS concepts, TFTP and FTP, threat and exploit definitions, password-policy elements, the AAA concept comparison, controller-based vs traditional networking, REST API concepts, Terraform, and BPDU filter.

"Removed from the objectives" means Cisco will not write a question that hinges on it. Several of these are still background knowledge you need to make sense of the topics that remain.

v1.1 or v2.0: a simple decision rule

Sit v1.1 now if…

• You can realistically test by late January 2027. Book the date now; the last-day rush will fill testing centres.
• You are already studying. Your material is right for v1.1. Switching versions mid-prep throws away momentum for no gain in the credential.
• You prefer concept questions to lab questions. v1.1 has more "describe" items; v2.0 deliberately has more hands-on ones.
• You want the most practice material. v1.1 has three years of practice tests, videos and labs behind it. v2.0 material will be thin and partly guesswork for its first few months.

Wait for v2.0 if…

• Your realistic test date is after February 2, 2027 anyway. Do not cram for a deadline you will miss.
• You are starting from zero today. Three months to a confident CCNA pass is tight for most people with a job; studying for the version you will actually sit is cleaner.
• You learn best at the command line. If you enjoy labs, v2.0 plays to your strength.

How to prepare for either version

1. Pick a version and book a date. With no overlap period, the date decides the version for you. Decide now.
2. Study from the official exam-topics PDF for your version, not a book's table of contents. Every question maps to a line in that document.
3. Lab the troubleshooting topics, whichever version you sit: a broken DHCP relay, a duplex mismatch, a wrong OSPF network statement, a missing NAT inside/outside. These are v2.0's new emphasis and still fair game on v1.1.
4. Drill subnetting until it is reflex. It is in both versions and it is the fastest place to lose easy marks.
5. Take full timed mocks until you are consistently above the pass line. 120 minutes is tight when lab items appear.

CrushCert's CCNA bank maps to v1.1 today and stays that way until February 2, 2027. We are building the v2.0 track on the official exam topics now — new questions for the added topics and new troubleshoot-style labs — with a version switch so you practise against the blueprint you will actually sit. The existing hands-on CLI labs (subnetting, VLANs, static routes, DHCP, NAT, port security, OSPF) already cover the skills v2.0 tests hardest.

Frequently asked questions