CCNA 200-301 CERTIFICATION
EXAM - LATEST 2026 TOPIC TEST
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
WITH RATIONALES/GRADED
A+/2026 UPDATE/100% CORRECT
/INSTANT DOWNLOAD
Section 1: Network Fundamentals (20%)
1. A network engineer needs to deploy a new switch stack that supports high
availability. Which two roles are used specifically by the Rapid PVST+ protocol
to prevent Layer 2 loops? (Choose two)
• A. Designated Router
• B. Root Port
• C. Backup Designated Router (BDR)
• D. Root Bridge
• E. Autonomous System Number (ASN)
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answers: B and D**
• Rationale: Rapid PVST+ is a Cisco enhancement of the Spanning Tree
Protocol (STP). It uses a Root Bridge as the logical center of the network
topology. Root Ports are the ports on non-root switches that provide the best
path (lowest cost) to reach that Root Bridge. Designated Router (A) and BDR
(C) are OSPF concepts, not STP. ASN (E) is used in routing (BGP).
</details>
,2. Which type of IPv6 address is analogous to a private IPv4 address (RFC 1918)
and cannot be routed over the public internet?
• A. Global Unicast
• B. Unique Local
• C. Link-Local
• D. Multicast
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: B**
• Rationale: Unique Local Addresses (ULAs) (Range FC00::/7) are used for
local communications within a private site. They are not routable on the global
internet, making them the direct equivalent of IPv4 private addresses. Global
Unicast (A) is public. Link-Local (C) is only for the local segment. Multicast (D)
is one-to-many.
</details>
3. A network administrator issues the show interfaces command and notices a
significant number of "Runts" and "Giants" counters incrementing. What is the
most likely cause of these errors?
• A. Duplex mismatch between the two connected devices
• B. An IP address conflict on the subnet
• C. Excessive VLAN hopping attacks
• D. The cable exceeding the maximum segment length
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: A**
• Rationale: Runts (frames smaller than 64 bytes) and Giants (frames larger
than MTU) are typically caused by collisions. A duplex mismatch (one side
full-duplex, one side half-duplex) is a common cause of late collisions, leading
to these specific frame errors. Excessive cable length (D) causes signal
degradation (CRC errors), not necessarily runts/giants.
</details>
4. Which three of the following are characteristics of UDP as compared to TCP?
(Choose three)
• A. Windowing and flow control
• B. No sequence numbers
• C. Connectionless
• D. Higher header overhead
• E. Lower latency
• F. Three-way handshake
, <details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answers: B, C, E**
• Rationale: UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is connectionless (C) (no
handshake), has no sequence numbers (B) (can't reorder), and has very low
overhead, resulting in lower latency (E). Windowing (A) and Three-way
handshake (F) are TCP features. UDP headers are smaller (8 bytes vs 20+), not
higher (D).
</details>
5. (2026 Update) An engineer is designing a modern data center network
requiring low latency and non-blocking performance. Which architecture is
designed specifically to reduce east-west traffic latency by connecting every
leaf to every spine?
• A. Three-tier (Core-Distribution-Access)
• B. Spine-Leaf
• C. Collapsed Core
• D. Point-to-Point
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: B**
• Rationale: The Spine-Leaf topology is the standard for modern data centers.
Unlike the three-tier model (A) which forces traffic up through the distribution
layer, Spine-Leaf ensures every leaf switch is exactly one hop away from any
other leaf (via the spine), optimizing for east-west traffic (server-to-server
communication).
</details>
6. Which technology allows multiple virtual network interfaces to share a single
physical network interface on a server hypervisor?
• A. VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding)
• B. Trunking with 802.1Q
• C. OSPF
• D. Subinterfaces
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: B**
• Rationale: In virtualization, the hypervisor creates virtual switches. Trunking
(802.1Q) allows the virtual switch to tag traffic for different VLANs (Virtual
Machines) and send them over a single physical cable (the trunk) to the
physical network switch. VRF (A) is for routing table isolation.
</details>
EXAM - LATEST 2026 TOPIC TEST
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
WITH RATIONALES/GRADED
A+/2026 UPDATE/100% CORRECT
/INSTANT DOWNLOAD
Section 1: Network Fundamentals (20%)
1. A network engineer needs to deploy a new switch stack that supports high
availability. Which two roles are used specifically by the Rapid PVST+ protocol
to prevent Layer 2 loops? (Choose two)
• A. Designated Router
• B. Root Port
• C. Backup Designated Router (BDR)
• D. Root Bridge
• E. Autonomous System Number (ASN)
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answers: B and D**
• Rationale: Rapid PVST+ is a Cisco enhancement of the Spanning Tree
Protocol (STP). It uses a Root Bridge as the logical center of the network
topology. Root Ports are the ports on non-root switches that provide the best
path (lowest cost) to reach that Root Bridge. Designated Router (A) and BDR
(C) are OSPF concepts, not STP. ASN (E) is used in routing (BGP).
</details>
,2. Which type of IPv6 address is analogous to a private IPv4 address (RFC 1918)
and cannot be routed over the public internet?
• A. Global Unicast
• B. Unique Local
• C. Link-Local
• D. Multicast
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: B**
• Rationale: Unique Local Addresses (ULAs) (Range FC00::/7) are used for
local communications within a private site. They are not routable on the global
internet, making them the direct equivalent of IPv4 private addresses. Global
Unicast (A) is public. Link-Local (C) is only for the local segment. Multicast (D)
is one-to-many.
</details>
3. A network administrator issues the show interfaces command and notices a
significant number of "Runts" and "Giants" counters incrementing. What is the
most likely cause of these errors?
• A. Duplex mismatch between the two connected devices
• B. An IP address conflict on the subnet
• C. Excessive VLAN hopping attacks
• D. The cable exceeding the maximum segment length
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: A**
• Rationale: Runts (frames smaller than 64 bytes) and Giants (frames larger
than MTU) are typically caused by collisions. A duplex mismatch (one side
full-duplex, one side half-duplex) is a common cause of late collisions, leading
to these specific frame errors. Excessive cable length (D) causes signal
degradation (CRC errors), not necessarily runts/giants.
</details>
4. Which three of the following are characteristics of UDP as compared to TCP?
(Choose three)
• A. Windowing and flow control
• B. No sequence numbers
• C. Connectionless
• D. Higher header overhead
• E. Lower latency
• F. Three-way handshake
, <details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answers: B, C, E**
• Rationale: UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is connectionless (C) (no
handshake), has no sequence numbers (B) (can't reorder), and has very low
overhead, resulting in lower latency (E). Windowing (A) and Three-way
handshake (F) are TCP features. UDP headers are smaller (8 bytes vs 20+), not
higher (D).
</details>
5. (2026 Update) An engineer is designing a modern data center network
requiring low latency and non-blocking performance. Which architecture is
designed specifically to reduce east-west traffic latency by connecting every
leaf to every spine?
• A. Three-tier (Core-Distribution-Access)
• B. Spine-Leaf
• C. Collapsed Core
• D. Point-to-Point
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: B**
• Rationale: The Spine-Leaf topology is the standard for modern data centers.
Unlike the three-tier model (A) which forces traffic up through the distribution
layer, Spine-Leaf ensures every leaf switch is exactly one hop away from any
other leaf (via the spine), optimizing for east-west traffic (server-to-server
communication).
</details>
6. Which technology allows multiple virtual network interfaces to share a single
physical network interface on a server hypervisor?
• A. VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding)
• B. Trunking with 802.1Q
• C. OSPF
• D. Subinterfaces
<details> <summary><strong>Answer & Rationale</strong></summary>
**Correct Answer: B**
• Rationale: In virtualization, the hypervisor creates virtual switches. Trunking
(802.1Q) allows the virtual switch to tag traffic for different VLANs (Virtual
Machines) and send them over a single physical cable (the trunk) to the
physical network switch. VRF (A) is for routing table isolation.
</details>
