- Does Cisco Publish a CCNA Cybersecurity Pass Rate?
- What the 200-201 CCNACBR Format Tells You About Difficulty
- Domain Weighting and Where Candidates Lose Points
- The v1.2 Blueprint Change and Its Effect on Preparation
- What Happens If You Fail: Retake Rules and Costs
- Factors That Correlate With Passing on the First Attempt
- A Study Timeline Built Around the Five Domains
- Why Passing Matters: Who Hires for This Certification
- FAQ
- Cisco does not publish an official pass rate for the 200-201 CCNACBR exam; treat any specific percentage you see elsewhere as unverified.
- Security Monitoring is the largest domain at 25%, now including generative-AI social engineering and predictive-AI endpoint monitoring topics.
- A failed attempt requires five full calendar days before you can retake, and the retake costs the same USD 300 as the first attempt.
- The exam moved to blueprint v1.2 on January 21, 2025, and the credential name changed to CCNA Cybersecurity (CCNACBR) on February 3, 2026.
Does Cisco Publish a CCNA Cybersecurity Pass Rate?
If you searched for "CCNA Cybersecurity pass rate 2026" hoping for a clean percentage, here's the honest answer: Cisco Systems does not release official pass/fail statistics for the 200-201 CCNACBR exam, and neither does Pearson VUE, the testing provider that administers it at authorized test centers and through OnVUE online proctoring. Any number you find quoted as "the" pass rate is either an estimate from a third party, a figure pulled from a completely different certification, or outdated data tied to the exam's earlier name.
That matters because this credential has gone through a naming transition. What many candidates still find under older search terms as "CyberOps Associate" or CBROPS is the same certification lineage now sold as CCNA Cybersecurity, with the exam acronym updated from CBROPS to CCNACBR on February 3, 2026. If a source cites a pass rate without specifying which blueprint version or which exam name it's referencing, discount it. The most reliable way to gauge your odds isn't a scraped statistic - it's understanding exactly what the exam tests and how it's structured, which is what the rest of this article breaks down.
What the 200-201 CCNACBR Format Tells You About Difficulty
Without a published pass rate, the exam's mechanics are the best proxy for difficulty. The current 200-201 CCNACBR exam, titled Understanding Cisco Cybersecurity Operations Fundamentals v1.2, is a computer-delivered, proctored written examination lasting 120 minutes, priced at USD 300, and offered in English. It is graded strictly pass/fail - there's no letter grade or percentile shown to test-takers, only a result. That result is typically available online within 48 hours of finishing.
There are no formal prerequisites and no required training before you can register, which is both an opportunity and a risk. It means motivated self-studiers can sit the exam without gatekeeping, but it also means the exam doesn't assume you've been filtered by a prior course. Everything you need has to come from deliberate preparation. For a full breakdown of eligibility mechanics, see CCNA Cybersecurity Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Because the exam is closed-book and proctored under strict identification rules, candidates should never rely on reproduced live-exam questions circulating online - not only is this against Cisco's policy, but such material is frequently inaccurate for the current v1.2 blueprint. Stick to original, blueprint-aligned practice questions instead.
Key Takeaway
Passing isn't about beating a numeric threshold you can see - it's pass/fail with no visible score breakdown, so your preparation needs to cover all five domains solidly rather than gambling on partial mastery. See CCNA Cybersecurity Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass for more on how scoring works.
Domain Weighting and Where Candidates Lose Points
The 200-201 CCNACBR blueprint splits content across five domains, and the weighting tells you exactly where to invest study time:
| Domain | Weight | Study Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Security Monitoring | 25% | Highest - largest single domain |
| Security Concepts | 20% | High - foundational terminology and models |
| Host-Based Analysis | 20% | High - endpoint evidence interpretation |
| Network Intrusion Analysis | 20% | High - traffic and alert analysis |
| Security Policies and Procedures | 15% | Moderate - governance and workflow |
Security Monitoring, at 25%, is not just the largest domain by weight - it's also the one that changed most in the v1.2 update. It now explicitly covers generative-AI social engineering techniques and predictive-AI endpoint monitoring, reflecting how security operations centers have adapted their detection tooling. Candidates preparing from older study materials that predate v1.2 will have a gap here specifically.
Security Monitoring (25%)
Candidates must understand how monitoring data is generated, correlated, and interpreted, including how AI-driven threats and defenses now factor into detection workflows.
- Generative-AI-enabled social engineering patterns and how they surface in monitored traffic
- Predictive-AI endpoint monitoring concepts and how they differ from signature-based detection
- Common data types used in security monitoring and their evidentiary value
For a domain-by-domain breakdown with specific topic lists for all five areas, review the CCNA Cybersecurity Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
The v1.2 Blueprint Change and Its Effect on Preparation
The v1.2 blueprint took effect on January 21, 2025, and it's a meaningful update, not a cosmetic one - the addition of generative-AI and predictive-AI content to Security Monitoring is a direct response to how threat actors and defenders have both adopted AI tooling. Anyone studying from materials written for the prior blueprint version needs to treat those AI-specific sections as a gap to fill separately.
There's a second wrinkle worth flagging if you're using the Cisco Press Official Cert Guide: the core text predates v1.2, so Cisco Press offers a separate v1.2 digital supplement for registered book owners. If you're using that guide, don't skip retrieving the supplement - the core chapters alone won't reflect the current blueprint.
The naming change on February 3, 2026 - from Cybersecurity Associate/CBROPS to CCNA Cybersecurity/CCNACBR - is administrative rather than technical, but it explains why search results and older forum posts reference a different exam code. If you're cross-referencing study material, confirm it aligns with the CCNACBR code and v1.2 content, not legacy CBROPS material.
What Happens If You Fail: Retake Rules and Costs
Understanding the retake structure is part of understanding your real odds, because it shapes how much a failed attempt actually costs you in time and money. If you don't pass, Cisco requires a five full calendar day waiting period, beginning the day after your attempt, before you're eligible to retake the exam. There's no cap described beyond that waiting window, but standard retakes are priced the same as the initial exam - USD 300 - so repeated attempts without targeted preparation get expensive quickly.
This waiting period is actually useful if you treat it as a diagnostic window rather than dead time. Because the exam is pass/fail with no domain-level score breakdown provided to candidates, your best move after a failed attempt is to honestly reassess which of the five domains felt weakest during the exam and concentrate the five-day gap - and beyond - on that material specifically, rather than re-reading everything indiscriminately.
For a full cost breakdown including retake economics and what else factors into your total investment, see CCNA Cybersecurity Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Factors That Correlate With Passing on the First Attempt
Since Cisco doesn't disclose pass rate data, the most useful exercise is identifying structural factors that plausibly separate candidates who clear the exam on the first try from those who need a retake. Based on the exam's actual mechanics, several stand out:
- Using current, blueprint-aligned material. Candidates studying from pre-v1.2 sources are missing an entire content update inside the largest domain.
- Practicing with original questions, not reproduced live content. Cisco's closed-book policy and confidentiality agreement exist for a reason - relying on leaked or memorized questions typically leaves gaps in conceptual understanding that the actual exam format exposes.
- Balancing time across all five domains proportionally. Because there's no visible score breakdown, uneven preparation (over-indexing on one domain while neglecting a 15-20% domain) is a common self-inflicted risk.
- Treating the exam as a 120-minute closed-book test with strict proctoring rules. Candidates unfamiliar with Pearson VUE's identification and proctoring requirements - whether at a test center or via OnVUE online proctoring - sometimes lose composure or time to avoidable logistics issues.
If you're still weighing how demanding this exam really is relative to your background, the How Hard Is the CCNA Cybersecurity Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 article walks through that in more depth.
A Study Timeline Built Around the Five Domains
Generic study techniques only help if they're mapped to this exam's specific weighting. Given that Security Monitoring carries the most weight and the most recently updated content, it deserves early and repeated attention rather than being left for the final week.
Security Concepts + Security Monitoring foundations
- Build the terminology base from Domain 1 (20%)
- Start Domain 2 (25%) early since it's the largest and most recently updated area
- Specifically study generative-AI social engineering and predictive-AI endpoint monitoring concepts added in v1.2
Host-Based Analysis and Network Intrusion Analysis
- Work through Domain 3 (20%) endpoint evidence scenarios
- Work through Domain 4 (20%) traffic and alert analysis scenarios
- Revisit Domain 2 material with fresh practice questions to reinforce retention
Security Policies and Procedures + full review
- Cover Domain 5 (15%) - the lightest-weighted but still necessary domain
- Run full-length, timed practice sessions under 120-minute closed-book conditions
- Identify any domain still feeling shaky and dedicate final days to it specifically
For a more detailed week-by-week plan with resource recommendations, the CCNA Cybersecurity Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt expands on this structure. And for quick pre-exam review, many candidates keep the CCNA Cybersecurity Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts handy during the final days.
Why Passing Matters: Who Hires for This Certification
The reason a "pass rate" question matters isn't academic - this credential is aimed squarely at entry points into security operations work, where employers use it as a signal that a candidate understands monitoring, host and network analysis, and documented security procedures well enough to function in a SOC-adjacent role. If you're evaluating whether the effort of clearing this exam is worth it relative to career outcomes, the Is the CCNA Cybersecurity Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 article and the CCNA Cybersecurity Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis cover that ground directly. For a look at the kinds of roles candidates pursue after certifying, see CCNA Cybersecurity Jobs.
Once earned, the certification stays active for three years. Renewal at the associate level requires 30 Continuing Education credits, and passing an associate-level certification exam alone satisfies that requirement - eligible training and other approved activities also count. That renewal structure is worth planning for now, since it affects the long-term value of the credential beyond the initial pass.
If you want a broader primer before diving into pass-rate mechanics, our practice test platform and the What Is CCNA Cybersecurity? overview are good starting points, and you can build your exam-day muscle memory further using realistic questions on our main practice test site.
FAQ
No. Cisco Systems does not publish official pass/fail statistics for the 200-201 CCNACBR exam. Any specific percentage circulating online should be treated as unverified or drawn from an unrelated credential.
Five full calendar days, starting the day after your attempt. The retake costs the same USD 300 as the original exam.
Yes. The v1.2 blueprint, effective January 21, 2025, added generative-AI social engineering and predictive-AI endpoint monitoring content to the Security Monitoring domain, which is the largest domain at 25%.
The credential and exam acronym changed from Cybersecurity Associate/CBROPS to CCNA Cybersecurity/CCNACBR on February 3, 2026. Older content and search results may still reference the earlier name.
Results are graded pass/fail and made available online within 48 hours of completing the 120-minute proctored exam.