From the course: Cisco CCNP Enterprise: ENCOR v1.2 (350-401) Cert Prep

A look at the ENCOR v1.2 (350-401) exam

From the course: Cisco CCNP Enterprise: ENCOR v1.2 (350-401) Cert Prep

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A look at the ENCOR v1.2 (350-401) exam

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Most of the students taking this course are preparing for Cisco's ENCORE exam. Let's take a closer look at that ENCORE exam in this video. First of all, ENCORE, that is an abbreviation for Implementing Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies. But instead of saying all that every time, we can just say ENCORE, or many people would say Enterprise Core, because it's Core Enterprise Networking Technologies. And when you register for this exam, it's exam 350-401, and the most recent version of that exam at the time of this recording is version 1.2. And you can take this exam either in person at a Pearson VUE testing facility or online, maybe from your home or your office. And later on in this course, we'll take a look at exactly how to get registered for this exam. And Cisco tells us that the exam length is two hours, 120 minutes. And even though the price may vary over time, Cisco does change that from time to time. At the time of this recording, the cost of taking the Encore exam is $400 US. And to help prepare you for this exam, I think it's great if we download and print out the exam blueprint. And I created a shortcut link on screen that takes you directly to a PDF of the exam blueprint that you can print out. You can just go to kwtrain.com slash 350-401, the exam number. And as a tip, I recommend that you print out the exam blueprint and then look through each of the topics and rate yourself on how comfortable you are with each of those topics. If you see a topic that maybe you've configured in the real world multiple times, you feel really comfortable with it, you might put a checkmark next to that. And if there's a topic that you're not so comfortable with, you might want to put an X by that. And I think it's important to do that as you begin your training because as you go through the videos, if you identify some of your potentially weak spots now, that's going to help you better recognize those topics as they appear throughout the course. And after you pass your Encore exam, it's valid for three years. And the big question is, what do we get when we pass the Encore exam? Let's take a look at that. If you pass just the Encore exam by itself, that alone gets you a Cisco Certified Specialist Certification in Enterprise Core. And if you pass the ENCORE exam and then add on to that an Enterprise Concentration exam, that's going to get you your CC&P Enterprise, and that's the goal for most people that are preparing for the ENCORE exam. But ENCORE also plays a role in a Cisco Expert-Level Certification. Specifically, it replaces what used to be referred to as the written exam that somebody would have to take before they went to take the CCA route switch lab. Now, the Encore exam, it serves as the equivalent of the written exam for the CCIE in Enterprise Infrastructure. But as I mentioned, most students pursuing the Encore exam, they're going after that CC&P Enterprise Certification. And that's gonna require that you pass the exam based on this course, the Encore exam, plus an Enterprise Concentration exam. And Cisco does make periodic changes to their list of Enterprise Concentration exams. But here on screen, you see some examples of those Enterprise Concentration Exams that are available at the time of this recording. And one of the original and still most popular Enterprise Concentration Exams is Exam 300-410. That's Implementing Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services. Or oftentimes we refer to that as the Advanced Routing Exam, or a NRC. You could also choose to go deeper into some of the other topics that we're gonna be covering in this course, like SD-WAN, Enterprise Network Design, automation, cloud, network assurance. And as you're going through your studies in this course to get ready for the Encore exam, one thing that's really going to help you ingrain that theory is getting some hands-on practice. So join me in our next video, if you would, as we take a look at how we're going to do lab exercises throughout this course.

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