Changes to CCIE Lab and Written Exam Question Format and Scoring

Effective February 1, 2009, Cisco will introduce a new type of question format to CCIE Routing and Switching lab exams. In addition to the live configuration scenarios, candidates will be asked a series of four or five open-ended questions, drawn from a pool of questions based on the material covered on the lab blueprint. No new topics are being added. The exams are not been increased in difficulty and the well-prepared candidate should have no trouble answering the questions. The length of the exam will remain eight hours. Candidates will need to achieve a passing score on both the open-ended questions and the lab portion in order to pass the lab and become certified. Other CCIE tracks will change over the next year, with exact dates announced in advance.

Effective February 17th, 2009, candidates will also see two other changes in CCIE written exams. First, candidates will now be required to answer each question before moving on to the next question; candidates will no longer be allowed to skip a question and come back to it at a later time. Second, there will be an update to the score report. The overall exam score and the exam passing score will now be reported as a scaled score, on a scale from 300-1000. This change will not affect the difficulty of the current set of exams and will assure CCIE written exams will be consistent with Cisco’s other career certification exams.

Regarding the short-answer questions, below you'll find some interesting Q/As:

Q: Do the short answer questions affect my overall CCIE lab exam score?
A: Yes. All sections on the exam and their results are taken into account when determining the overall exam score.

Q: If I don't complete the short answer questions, can I opt out of the exam and receive a refund?
A: No, the short answer questions are now an official part of the lab exam. No refunds are given if candidates decide they are not ready to take the exam within 90 days of the exam date.

Q: Will the short answer questions also appear on CCIE mobile labs?
A: Yes, the mobile labs are the same as the traditional lab exams. The short answer questions will be part of all CCIE Routing & Switching lab exams after.

Q: Can I skip the short answer questions and go back and answer them later?
A: No, the short answer questions must be completed before the candidate moves on to the configuration scenarios.

Q: What if I don't agree with the grading on the short answer questions? Can I appeal the results of the short answer section?
A: Because short answer questions are open-ended, responses are manually graded and the grading guidelines will allow for some variation in response. If a candidate requests and pays for a Lab Exam reread, a second proctor will review the entire exam responses and issue a second opinion. There will be no option to purchase a reread of only the short answer results.

Q: Can I skip the short answer questions and still pass the Lab Exam?
A: No, candidates must achieve a passing score on the short answer questions, as well as the configurations, in order to pass the Lab Exam and achieve certification.

Q: Will there be additional time provided for the new short answer questions?
A: The length of the exam will remain eight hours. The short answer questions are intended to be answered easily and quickly by well-prepared candidates.

Q: Will the short answer questions be added to the CCIE blueprints? How can I prepare (study) for the questions?
A: The short answer questions cover material already listed on the CCIE lab exam blueprint. The questions are intended to be answered easily and quickly by well-prepared candidates.

Q: Will short answer questions be added to other CCIE Lab Exams, beside R&S? If so, when?
A: Cisco intends to add short answer questions to all CCIE lab exam tracks. We will announce the addition of the short answer questions to each track well in advance of the questions appearing.

Q: Why are you adding short answer questions to the CCIE R&S Lab Exam?
A: Including several randomly-selected short answer questions on the lab will allow Cisco to increase the validity of CCIE and ensure only qualified candidates achieve certification.

Q: How many short answer questions will be asked, and how long should candidates expect to spend on them?
A: Four or five short answer questions will be asked and candidates can expect to spend about 10-12 total minutes on them.


Regarding the written exam changes, i think to be able to skip questions on the written CCIE and answer them later was a nice advantage. Too bad it's being removed.

The short-answer open-ended questions in the CCIE lab is a welcome addition, as long as the proctor will be able to ask them in an understandable way.