The Cisco CCIE Wireless certification assesses and validates wireless expertise. Candidates who pass the CCIE Wireless certification exams demonstrate broad theoretical knowledge of wireless networking and a solid understanding of wireless local area networking (WLAN) technologies from Cisco, the market leader in WLAN technology.
Benefits of CCIE Certified Wireless Certification
- Greater opportunity for salary increase and job advancement in wireless networking industry
- Validates expertise in major aspects of WLAN technology
- Provides next step for individuals interested in a career in managing or working with Cisco wireless technologies
Requirements for Certification
There are no formal prerequisites for CCIE certification. Other professional certifications or training courses are not required. Instead, candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then the corresponding hands-on lab exam. You are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification. You can review the exam preparation materials included on this page for more information.
Step One: CCIE Wireless Written Exam
You must pass the two-hour, written qualification exam covering concepts and equipment commands before you are eligible to schedule the lab exam.
Duration: 120 minutes (90-110 questions)
350-050 CCIE Wireless Exam
Exam DescriptionThe written exam is a two-hour, multiple choice test with 90-110 questions that will validate that professionals have the expertise to plan, design, implement, operate and troubleshoot Enterprise WLAN networks. The exam is closed book and no outside reference materials are allowed.
Exam Format
- The written exam is a two-hour, multiple choice exam with 90-110 questions.
- The exam is closed book and no outside reference materials are allowed.
- Candidates will be required to answer each question before moving on to the next question. In other words, candidates will not be allowed to skip a question and come back to it at a later time.
- The overall exam score and the exam passing score will be reported on a scale from 300-1000.
Step Two: CCIE Wireless Lab Exam
The eight-hour lab exam confirms that you have the job skills and technical knowledge required of a wireless expert-level network professional. You must make an initial attempt of the CCIE lab exam within 18 months of passing the CCIE written exam. If you do not pass the lab exam within three years of passing the written exam, you must retake the written exam before being allowed to attempt the lab exam again.
CCIE Wireless Lab Exam Overview
Configuring a Network to Given Specifications
The CCIE lab exam is an eight-hour, hands-on exam which requires you to configure a series of networks to given specifications. The lab focuses on implementing Enterprise WLAN solutions, such as implementing the Autonomous infrastructure, Unified infrastructure, Unified Controllers and AP’s, Unified WCS and Location and implementing Voice over Wireless.
Candidates are expected to demonstrate expert level wireless skills as well as troubleshooting skills to diagnose and solve issues as part of the CCIE lab exam.
More detail is found on the Wireless Lab Exam Blueprint and list of Lab Equipment and IOS Versions.
Lab Environment
Access to the The online Cisco documentation pages is provided in the lab room, but the exam assumes knowledge of the more common protocols and technologies. As of Sept 24 2008 CCIE labs do no longer support using the UniversCD documentation for the lab exam. All labs are migrating to Cisco Documentation only. The Cisco Documentation pages have the same information that currently resides on UniversCD, please refer to the links on the CCIE web pages to view these pages and become familiar with the new format.
No outside reference materials are permitted in the lab room. You must report any suspected equipment issues to the proctor during the exam; adjustments cannot be made once the exam is over.
Lab Exam Grading
Each question on the lab has specific criterion. The labs are graded by proctors who ensure all the criterion are met and points are awarded accordingly. The proctors use automatic tools to gather information from the routers to perform some preliminary evaluations, but the final determination of a correct or incorrect configuration is done by a trained proctor.
Results
You can review your lab exam results online (login required), usually within 48 hours. Results are Pass/Fail and failing score reports indicate major topic areas where additional study and preparation may be useful.
You can review your lab exam results online (login required), usually within 48 hours. Results are Pass/Fail and failing score reports indicate major topic areas where additional study and preparation may be useful.
Why CCIE Wireless?
The Cisco CCIE Wireless certification validates that a professional has the expertise to design and manage wireless networks and to make mission-critical and business-critical wireless network decisions.
By passing the Cisco CCIE Wireless certification exams, individuals demonstrate broad theoretical knowledge of wireless networking and a solid understanding of Cisco wireless LAN technologies.