This CCNA cheat sheet strips the Cisco 200-301 blueprint down to the facts examiners hammer, from the subnetting block-size trick to the administrative-distance ladder. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free CCNA toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CCNA exam at a glance
- Exam code: 200-301 (current version v1.1)
- Questions: About 100–120 (Cisco does not publish a fixed count)
- Time: 120 minutes
- Passing score: Scaled to 1000, commonly cited near 825 — Cisco does not publish the exact cut score
- Cost: About $300 USD (plus tax; varies by region)
- Certifying body: Cisco
- Validity: 3 years (renew via Continuing Education, retake, or a higher Cisco cert)
What’s on the CCNA cheat sheet
- Network Fundamentals (20%) — the OSI and TCP/IP models, IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, the subnetting block-size shortcut, and network components and cabling.
- Network Access (20%) — VLANs and 802.1Q trunking, Spanning Tree and the root-bridge election, EtherChannel, and wireless (WLC and lightweight APs).
- IP Connectivity (25%) — the routing decision order, administrative-distance values, static and default routes, and single-area OSPFv2 with FHRP — the heaviest domain.
- IP Services (10%) — NAT and PAT, plus the key port numbers for DHCP, DNS, NTP, SNMP, and syslog.
- Security Fundamentals (15%) — AAA, ACL logic and the implicit deny, port security, DHCP snooping, and WPA2/WPA3.
- Automation & Programmability (10%) — SDN and the control-vs-data plane split, REST APIs and CRUD verbs, and JSON structure.
How to use it in your final week
- Drill the subnetting block-size trick until it's reflex: block size = 256 − the mask's interesting octet, then find which block the host falls in. Aim to subnet any /25–/30 in under 15 seconds without binary.
- Front-load IP Connectivity (25%) plus the two 20% domains — Network Fundamentals and Network Access. Those three are 65% of the exam, so master them before touching automation.
- Memorize the admin-distance ladder and key port numbers cold: connected 0, static 1, EIGRP 90, OSPF 110, RIP 120; SSH 22, DNS 53, DHCP 67/68, NTP 123, SNMP 161/162, syslog 514.
- Read the sheet the morning of the test, then pair each review pass with a short timed practice set to keep your pacing sharp for the simulation questions.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CCNA practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
CCNA cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CCNA 200-301 cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It sits alongside Career Employer's free CCNA practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your entire prep stack costs nothing.
It condenses the highest-yield facts from all six official domains onto a quick-reference sheet: the OSI layers, the subnetting block-size shortcut, administrative-distance values, VLAN and trunk behavior, OSPF election rules, ACL logic, and the key port numbers you're expected to recall on sight.
It's built to Cisco's current 200-301 v1.1 exam topics and we review it against the published blueprint regularly, so the domain weights and objectives match what you'll actually be tested on.
No — the sheet is a memory-lock and final-week cram aid, not a substitute for hands-on lab work and simulation practice. Cisco does not publish an exact cut score (scaled to 1000, commonly cited near 825), so pair the sheet with our practice test to confirm you're ready across every domain.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull the sheet back up the morning of your exam for one last pass over subnetting and admin distance.
References
- 1.Cisco. “CCNA 200-301 Exam Topics (v1.1).” learningnetwork.cisco.com, 2026. ↑
- 2.Cisco. “CCNA Certification Overview.” cisco.com, 2026. ↑
- 3.Internet Engineering Task Force. “RFC 1918 — Address Allocation for Private Internets.” rfc-editor.org. ↑
- 4.Internet Engineering Task Force. “RFC 2328 — OSPF Version 2.” rfc-editor.org. ↑
- 5.Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. “IEEE 802.1Q — Bridges and Bridged Networks (VLANs).” standards.ieee.org. ↑
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