New Cisco CCNA R&S Certification: Forget 640-802, 640-816 and 640-822 Exams

Hello peeps!

We kick off this blog with something that (… surprise!) many of you already know. Yet, it never hurts to take a closer look, right? Or, in case you’ve been living in a cave with no Internet access studying for 640-802, 640-816 and 640-822 exams for your CCNA recently (has anyone ever done it in a cave?), this will come as a news. STOP. Now. You can’t take them anymore.

As the network technology and possibilities it brings grow, so does the demand for professional skills that employers are looking for these days. You know it. We know it. Cisco knows it. To keep up with this demand, the company has upgraded their popular CCNA program earlier this year. It is now called CCNA Routing and Switching and, according to Cisco, incorporates and reflects all latest networking trends.

CCNA R&S Certification proves your ability expertise in medium-size routed and switched networks. It covers candidates’ expanded skill set, including but not limited to the understanding of network infrastructure (mainly routing and switching), as well as wireless access, security and connectivity using WAN. It also puts a higher emphasis on the IP technology.

The new CCNA R&S Certification targets entry level network professionals with 1-3 years of experience and has no prerequisites.

As Cisco updated this certification program, required CCNA exams have been updated, too (which is not a surprise actually as Cisco tend to update their exam tracks every few years or so). On 30 September 2013, the following exams have expired: 640-802, 640-816, 640-822. You can no longer take them to achieve the CCNA certification.

Effective October, the new CCNA Routing and Switching Program requires candidates to earn a passing score on Cisco 200-120 CCNA exam (Cisco Certified Network Associate Exam) or combined passing scores on 100-101 ICND1 and 200-101 ICND2 exams (Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices, Parts 1 and 2). By the way, passing the ICND1 exam also grants the CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician) certification.

Exam descriptions and candidates’ experience shows that exams tend to focus on the following topics, however, other related topics may also appear. So, this is for general guidance only, with more details available from Cisco and other sources:

• Operation of IP Data Networks
• LAN Switching Technologies
• IP addressing (IPv4 / IPv6)
• IP Routing Technologies
• IP Services
• Network Device Security
• Troubleshooting
• WAN Technologies

Of course we aren’t done with Cisco news yet. Cisco certification tracks and programs have undergone lots of changes this year (those of you keeping an eye on the CCENT now will be saddened to find out that this certification has actually become a lot harder than it used to be back in the day). Yet, we’ll have a separate post about each and every stage of Cisco IT Certification stage soon.

• Category: cisco
• Tags: ccna, certification, cisco, exam, exams, it certification, it certification exam, it certification exams, it certifications, routing and switching