Cisco CCNA 200-301 2025 Part 2 — Routing, Security &
Automation 45 Q&A Verified
Series:
CrashCourses Professional Study Series
Author:
Dr Z. Moomba, MBChB, MRCPsych | BethelWellness Ltd
Exam Target:
Cisco CCNA 200-301
Year:
2025/2026
Format:
45 Questions with Verified Answers and Rationales
>
Author's Note:
This document is an original work produced for the CrashCourses Professional Study Series.
Clinical questions and professional scenarios were composed by Dr Z. Moomba based on current
exam objectives, published guidelines, and evidence-based sources (2024–2025). All patient
names, ages, and case details are fictional. Any resemblance to existing published Q&A banks is
coincidental. For personal study use only — not for reproduction or redistribution.
SECTION A — FOUNDATIONS
1. A network engineer is configuring a single-area OSPF network on a broadcast multi-access
segment connecting four routers. Router A has an OSPF priority of 0, Router B has a priority of 1 and
router ID 10.0.0.1, Router C has a priority of 1 and router ID 10.0.0.2, and Router D has a priority of 2.
Which router will be elected as the Designated Router (DR)?
A. Router A
B. Router B
C. Router C
D. Router D
,Answer: D
Rationale:
a) OSPF DR/BDR election on broadcast networks is determined first by the highest OSPF priority,
and then by the highest Router ID if priorities are tied.
b) Router D has an OSPF priority of 2, which is higher than the default priority of 1 on Routers B
and C, making it the DR regardless of Router IDs.
c) Router C might be tempting because it has the highest Router ID among those with priority 1,
but priority takes precedence over Router ID in the election process.
d) High-Yield Fact: A router with an OSPF priority of 0 will never participate in the DR/BDR election
and will always remain a DROTHER. [Cisco OSPF Design Guide 2025]
2. While troubleshooting an OSPF adjacency issue between two routers over a point-to-point link, an
engineer notices the routers are stuck in the INIT state. A review of the configuration shows `hello-
interval 10` on Router 1 and `hello-interval 15` on Router 2. What is the impact of this configuration?
A. The routers will form an adjacency but recalculate the SPF algorithm every 15 seconds.
B. The routers will not form an OSPF adjacency because the hello timers do not match.
C. The routers will negotiate to use the lowest hello interval of 10 seconds.
D. The dead timer will automatically adjust to 40 seconds to compensate.
Answer: B
Rationale:
a) OSPF requires certain parameters to match exactly between neighbours to form an adjacency,
including Hello and Dead intervals, Area ID, Authentication, and Stub area flag.
b) The discrepancy in the hello-interval (10 vs 15) explicitly prevents the neighbour state from
progressing beyond the INIT state.
c) Attempting to guess that OSPF auto-negotiates the lowest timer is a common pitfall; unlike
some protocols, OSPF mandates strict timer agreement.
d) Examiner Pearl: The default OSPF dead interval is exactly four times the hello interval. If you
change the hello timer, the dead timer automatically adjusts, but both must match the neighbour.
[Cisco OSPF Command Reference 2025]
3. A hospital's network relies on EIGRP for routing between the core switch and the remote clinic
branches. The DUAL algorithm has calculated a route to the 192.168.10.0/24 subnet. Which condition
, must a backup route meet to be considered a Feasible Successor?
A. Its Reported Distance (RD) must be less than the Feasible Distance (FD) of the Successor route.
B. Its Feasible Distance (FD) must be less than the Reported Distance (RD) of the Successor route.
C. Its metric must be equal to the Successor route.
D. Its administrative distance must be lower than 90.
Answer: A
Rationale:
a) To become a Feasible Successor in EIGRP and be placed in the topology table as a loop-free
backup path, a route must pass the Feasibility Condition.
b) The Feasibility Condition states that the Reported Distance (RD) from the neighbour must be
strictly less than the current Feasible Distance (FD) of the best route (Successor).
c) Reversing the metric comparison (FD less than RD) is a common distraction, but it would imply
the route could loop back through the current router.
d) High-Yield Fact: EIGRP uses bandwidth and delay by default to calculate its composite metric,
scaling the values by 256. [Cisco EIGRP Fundamentals 2025]
4. To provide default gateway redundancy for a critical clinical workstation VLAN, an engineer
configures HSRP between two Layer 3 switches. The active router fails, and the standby router takes
over. What MAC address does the new active router use to respond to ARP requests for the default
gateway?
A. Its own physical burned-in MAC address.
B. A dynamically generated MAC address starting with 0000.5E00.
C. The virtual MAC address 0000.0C07.ACxx, where xx is the HSRP group number.
D. The MAC address of the previously active router.
Answer: C
Rationale:
a) HSRP utilizes a shared virtual IP address and a corresponding virtual MAC address to ensure
transparent failover for end hosts.
b) The standard HSRP version 1 virtual MAC address is `0000.0c07.acXX`, where `XX` represents
the 8-bit hex value of the HSRP group number.
c) Assuming it uses `0000.5e00.01XX` is incorrect, as that is the standard Virtual MAC address
reserved for VRRP, not HSRP.
Automation 45 Q&A Verified
Series:
CrashCourses Professional Study Series
Author:
Dr Z. Moomba, MBChB, MRCPsych | BethelWellness Ltd
Exam Target:
Cisco CCNA 200-301
Year:
2025/2026
Format:
45 Questions with Verified Answers and Rationales
>
Author's Note:
This document is an original work produced for the CrashCourses Professional Study Series.
Clinical questions and professional scenarios were composed by Dr Z. Moomba based on current
exam objectives, published guidelines, and evidence-based sources (2024–2025). All patient
names, ages, and case details are fictional. Any resemblance to existing published Q&A banks is
coincidental. For personal study use only — not for reproduction or redistribution.
SECTION A — FOUNDATIONS
1. A network engineer is configuring a single-area OSPF network on a broadcast multi-access
segment connecting four routers. Router A has an OSPF priority of 0, Router B has a priority of 1 and
router ID 10.0.0.1, Router C has a priority of 1 and router ID 10.0.0.2, and Router D has a priority of 2.
Which router will be elected as the Designated Router (DR)?
A. Router A
B. Router B
C. Router C
D. Router D
,Answer: D
Rationale:
a) OSPF DR/BDR election on broadcast networks is determined first by the highest OSPF priority,
and then by the highest Router ID if priorities are tied.
b) Router D has an OSPF priority of 2, which is higher than the default priority of 1 on Routers B
and C, making it the DR regardless of Router IDs.
c) Router C might be tempting because it has the highest Router ID among those with priority 1,
but priority takes precedence over Router ID in the election process.
d) High-Yield Fact: A router with an OSPF priority of 0 will never participate in the DR/BDR election
and will always remain a DROTHER. [Cisco OSPF Design Guide 2025]
2. While troubleshooting an OSPF adjacency issue between two routers over a point-to-point link, an
engineer notices the routers are stuck in the INIT state. A review of the configuration shows `hello-
interval 10` on Router 1 and `hello-interval 15` on Router 2. What is the impact of this configuration?
A. The routers will form an adjacency but recalculate the SPF algorithm every 15 seconds.
B. The routers will not form an OSPF adjacency because the hello timers do not match.
C. The routers will negotiate to use the lowest hello interval of 10 seconds.
D. The dead timer will automatically adjust to 40 seconds to compensate.
Answer: B
Rationale:
a) OSPF requires certain parameters to match exactly between neighbours to form an adjacency,
including Hello and Dead intervals, Area ID, Authentication, and Stub area flag.
b) The discrepancy in the hello-interval (10 vs 15) explicitly prevents the neighbour state from
progressing beyond the INIT state.
c) Attempting to guess that OSPF auto-negotiates the lowest timer is a common pitfall; unlike
some protocols, OSPF mandates strict timer agreement.
d) Examiner Pearl: The default OSPF dead interval is exactly four times the hello interval. If you
change the hello timer, the dead timer automatically adjusts, but both must match the neighbour.
[Cisco OSPF Command Reference 2025]
3. A hospital's network relies on EIGRP for routing between the core switch and the remote clinic
branches. The DUAL algorithm has calculated a route to the 192.168.10.0/24 subnet. Which condition
, must a backup route meet to be considered a Feasible Successor?
A. Its Reported Distance (RD) must be less than the Feasible Distance (FD) of the Successor route.
B. Its Feasible Distance (FD) must be less than the Reported Distance (RD) of the Successor route.
C. Its metric must be equal to the Successor route.
D. Its administrative distance must be lower than 90.
Answer: A
Rationale:
a) To become a Feasible Successor in EIGRP and be placed in the topology table as a loop-free
backup path, a route must pass the Feasibility Condition.
b) The Feasibility Condition states that the Reported Distance (RD) from the neighbour must be
strictly less than the current Feasible Distance (FD) of the best route (Successor).
c) Reversing the metric comparison (FD less than RD) is a common distraction, but it would imply
the route could loop back through the current router.
d) High-Yield Fact: EIGRP uses bandwidth and delay by default to calculate its composite metric,
scaling the values by 256. [Cisco EIGRP Fundamentals 2025]
4. To provide default gateway redundancy for a critical clinical workstation VLAN, an engineer
configures HSRP between two Layer 3 switches. The active router fails, and the standby router takes
over. What MAC address does the new active router use to respond to ARP requests for the default
gateway?
A. Its own physical burned-in MAC address.
B. A dynamically generated MAC address starting with 0000.5E00.
C. The virtual MAC address 0000.0C07.ACxx, where xx is the HSRP group number.
D. The MAC address of the previously active router.
Answer: C
Rationale:
a) HSRP utilizes a shared virtual IP address and a corresponding virtual MAC address to ensure
transparent failover for end hosts.
b) The standard HSRP version 1 virtual MAC address is `0000.0c07.acXX`, where `XX` represents
the 8-bit hex value of the HSRP group number.
c) Assuming it uses `0000.5e00.01XX` is incorrect, as that is the standard Virtual MAC address
reserved for VRRP, not HSRP.
