350-401 ENCOR Exam Objectives (2026): Every Domain, Weight and What Gets Asked
The 350-401 ENCOR blueprint has 6 domains and they are nowhere near equal. Here is the exact weighting, roughly how many questions each is worth, and the kind of question each domain actually produces.
The 350-401 ENCOR blueprint at a glance
Every block below is sized to its share of the exam. The point of drawing it this way is simple: most candidates spread their study time evenly across domains, and the blueprint is not even. Infrastructure alone is 30% of your score.
Block size is proportional to domain weight. Cisco publishes these as average weights, so individual exam forms vary slightly.
Domain by domain: what actually gets asked
Weights tell you how much a domain matters. They do not tell you what the questions feel like. This is the part most objective lists leave out.
Infrastructure
30%~30 questionsThe biggest slice by far and where the exam is won or lost. Layer 2 and 3 in depth — STP, EtherChannel, OSPF, EIGRP, eBGP — plus wireless and IP services.
Security
20%~20 questionsDevice hardening and access control, AAA, ACLs, CoPP, wireless security and REST API security. Broader than most people expect for a "core" exam.
Architecture
15%~15 questionsDesign judgement: enterprise campus and WAN topologies, high availability, SD-WAN and SD-Access components, and QoS design.
Automation & AI
15%~15 questionsThe domain that trips traditional engineers. Python basics, JSON, YANG, REST APIs, NETCONF/RESTCONF, EEM applets and tools like Ansible.
Virtualization
10%~10 questionsHypervisors and virtual machines, VRFs, GRE and IPsec tunnelling, plus overlay technologies LISP and VXLAN at a conceptual level.
Network Assurance
10%~10 questionsDiagnostics and telemetry: SNMP, syslog, NetFlow, SPAN, IP SLA, and Catalyst Center for monitoring and troubleshooting.
The study order the weights imply
Sequencing by weight is not the only valid approach — but it is the one that protects your score if you run out of time.
Do first · 50% of the exam
- Infrastructure (30%)
- Security (20%)
Then · 30%
- Architecture (15%)
- Automation & AI (15%)
Last · 20%
- Virtualization (10%)
- Network Assurance (10%)
One caveat worth stating: a low-weight domain you know nothing about is still a guaranteed loss of those marks. Aim for competence everywhere and depth in the heavy domains, rather than ignoring the tail entirely.
Practise ENCOR the way it is actually asked
Exam-style questions weighted to the real blueprint, with an explanation on every answer.
Estimated question counts
Based on a 100-question form. Use it to set a target for how many practice questions per domain you should be getting right.
| Domain | Weight | Approx. questions | Miss all of it and you lose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | 30% | ~30 | 30 points |
| Security | 20% | ~20 | 20 points |
| Architecture | 15% | ~15 | 15 points |
| Automation & AI | 15% | ~15 | 15 points |
| Virtualization | 10% | ~10 | 10 points |
| Network Assurance | 10% | ~10 | 10 points |
FAQ
How many domains are on the ENCOR exam?
6. The heaviest is Infrastructure at 30% and the lightest is Network Assurance at 10%. Weights are averages, so the exact split shifts a little between exam forms.
How many questions come from each ENCOR domain?
On a 100-question form, multiply the weight by the total: Infrastructure at 30% is roughly 30 questions. Treat these as planning estimates, not guarantees.
Which ENCOR domain should I study first?
Start with Infrastructure and Security. Together they are about 50% of the exam, so early progress there moves your score more than anything else.
Do the ENCOR objectives change?
Yes. Cisco revises the blueprint periodically and weights move with it. Always download the current exam outline from Cisco before you build a study plan, and check the version date against any course you buy.
ExamCert Team — we build exam-style practice banks for 90+ certifications. Domain weights here come from the current Cisco exam outline; question-count figures are estimates derived from those weights.
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