- The CCDE written exam is Cisco's 400-007 (v3.1), 90-110 questions, 120 minutes, USD 450.
- Network Design is the heaviest domain at 30%; the other four domains split the remaining 70%.
- Passing 400-007 only earns the qualifying written credential - the full CCDE also requires the 8-hour practical exam (USD 1,600).
- A failed written attempt requires a five calendar day wait, starting the day after the attempt, before retesting.
CCDE 400-007 Exam Snapshot
If you need the entire Cisco Certified Design Expert program compressed into a single glance before test day, this is it. Every figure below comes directly from Cisco's own published exam facts - no rounding, no guessing.
For a deeper walkthrough of how these facts translate into a study plan, see the CCDE Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. If you're still deciding whether the whole program is worth pursuing, the Is the CCDE Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 article breaks down the return on the investment described here.
Registration, Delivery & Fees
Cisco Certified Design Expert candidates register and sit the written exam through Pearson VUE testing centers only - this exam is specifically excluded from Cisco's online proctoring option, so plan for travel or a local center booking rather than a remote sitting.
- Delivery method: Pearson VUE testing center (no online proctoring for 400-007)
- Standard written-exam fee: USD 450
- Prerequisites: None
- Exam language: English
- Reference material: Closed book
For a full cost breakdown that includes the practical exam, training materials, and renewal costs, read CCDE Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you want to confirm eligibility details before you pay the fee, check CCDE Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
The Five CCDE Domains at a Glance
The 400-007 blueprint is organized around five weighted domains. Memorizing these weights is one of the highest-leverage things you can do before building a study calendar, because it tells you exactly where your review hours should go.
| Domain | Weight | Core Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Network Design | 30% | End-to-end architecture, scalability, resiliency trade-offs |
| Control, Data, Management Plane & Operational Design | 25% | Plane separation, operational visibility, automation touchpoints |
| Business Strategy Design | 15% | Aligning technical design with business drivers and constraints |
| Service Design | 15% | Application, cloud, and service-delivery architecture decisions |
| Security Design | 15% | Threat-aware design principles woven across the network lifecycle |
Network Design (30%)
This is the single largest domain on the exam, so it deserves the most rehearsal time. Expect scenario questions that force trade-off decisions rather than single "textbook correct" answers.
- IPv4 and IPv6 coexistence and migration design
- Scalability, modularity, and failure-domain isolation
- Design impact of AI-related workloads and traffic patterns, per the v3.1 topic list
Control, Data, Management Plane, and Operational Design (25%)
The second-largest domain tests how well you can reason about separating and securing the planes that keep a network operational at scale.
- Control-plane scaling and convergence trade-offs
- Management-plane visibility and operational tooling design
- Operational design decisions that affect day-2 supportability
For an item-by-item breakdown of all five domains, including the smaller 15% domains that are easy to under-study, read CCDE Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
Question Format & Timing Rules
Cisco specifies a range, not a fixed count: 90-110 multiple-choice questions inside a 120-minute window. That range matters for pacing - because the question count can shift, don't lock yourself into a rigid "X minutes per question" formula. Instead, budget time in blocks tied to domain weight, spending proportionally more time on Network Design scenarios and the Control/Data/Management Plane domain than on the three 15%-weighted domains.
Key Takeaway
Because the written exam is closed book with no reference material, memorize design trade-off logic rather than command syntax - 400-007 tests architectural reasoning, not configuration recall.
Candidates frequently underestimate how demanding the scenario-based question style is compared to other Cisco exams. If you're weighing how much preparation time to allocate, How Hard Is the CCDE Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and CCDE Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows both dig into that difficulty question in more depth. It also helps to understand exactly what "passing" means before you sit down - see CCDE Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Written Exam vs. the Practical Exam
This is the fact that trips up the most candidates: passing 400-007 alone does not make you a full Cisco Certified Design Expert. The written exam is a qualifying step. The full certification requires also passing the separate, eight-hour practical examination.
| Component | 400-007 Written | Practical Exam |
|---|---|---|
| Format | 90-110 multiple-choice, closed book | Eight-hour scenario-based practical |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE testing center only | Separate practical delivery |
| Fee | USD 450 | USD 1,600 |
| Result | Qualifies you to attempt the practical | Completes full CCDE certification |
To see this two-part path mapped against real timelines and prerequisites, review CCDE Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify. And if the practical exam's price tag has you calculating total spend, revisit the CCDE Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown article for the full picture.
Retake Waiting Period & Recertification
Two timing rules matter once you've sat the exam:
- Retake wait: If you fail the written exam, you must wait five calendar days, starting the day after the failed attempt, before you can retest.
- Written validity: The written qualifying exam result is valid for three years - you need to complete the practical within that window to use it toward full certification.
- Certification validity: Once earned, the full CCDE certification is also valid for three years.
- Recertification: Cisco lists 120 Continuing Education credits as the requirement for expert-level CCDE recertification, earned through eligible exams and training activities.
Scheduling around these windows matters more than most candidates realize - a missed deadline can mean retaking the written exam from scratch. The CCDE Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling article walks through how to plan your testing calendar around these rules.
One-Week Domain Priority Plan
Generic study techniques only matter when they're pointed at the right material. Here's a one-week priority sequence built specifically around the 400-007 domain weights, useful as a final-review cheat sheet in the days before your test date.
Network Design (30%)
- Review IPv4/IPv6 migration scenarios
- Practice trade-off reasoning for scalability vs. simplicity
- Walk through AI-workload design implications from the v3.1 topic list
Control, Data, Management Plane & Operational Design (25%)
- Compare plane-separation design patterns
- Review operational visibility and automation touchpoints
Business Strategy Design (15%)
- Practice mapping business constraints to technical design decisions
Service Design (15%)
- Review cloud and service-delivery architecture scenarios
Security Design (15%) + Full Review
- Review threat-aware design principles across the lifecycle
- Run a full mixed-domain practice set under timed conditions
This sequence deliberately front-loads the two largest domains, which together account for 55% of the exam, before touching the three smaller domains. For a longer-horizon version of this plan spread across several weeks, see the CCDE Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
What Topics and Employers to Expect
Cisco Certified Design Expert holders are typically the people brought in to make architecture-level decisions, not just implement them - network architects, principal design engineers, and infrastructure consultants working on large, multi-domain networks. Because the exam blueprint explicitly folds in AI-related design topics alongside traditional IPv4/IPv6 coverage, current candidates should expect scenario questions that blend classic routing and plane-separation design with newer workload and automation considerations.
Curious how this credential translates into compensation and job titles? The CCDE Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and CCDE Jobs pages cover that ground. And if you're still clarifying basic terminology before diving into domain study, start with What Is CCDE?, CCDE Meaning, or What Does CCDE Stand For? for foundational context.
Once the terminology and domain weights feel familiar, the fastest way to convert this cheat sheet into exam readiness is repeated exposure to scenario-style questions. You can drill that exact question format on our CCDE practice test platform before booking your Pearson VUE session. Reviewing full-length simulations on the practice test site also helps you internalize the 120-minute pacing this cheat sheet describes.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The 400-007 CCDE written exam is specifically excluded from online proctoring and must be taken at a Pearson VUE testing center.
No. Passing the written exam only qualifies you for the practical stage. The full CCDE certification requires also passing the separate eight-hour practical exam, priced at USD 1,600.
Cisco specifies 90-110 multiple-choice questions to be completed within 120 minutes, delivered in English on a closed-book basis.
The written qualifying exam is valid for three years. If you fail, you must wait five calendar days, counted from the day after your attempt, before retesting.
Network Design is the largest domain at 30% of the exam, followed by Control, Data, Management Plane, and Operational Design at 25%.
Ready to pass your CCDE exam?
Put this into practice with free CCDE questions across every exam domain.