Lab and Practical Exams: Lab Facility Surveillance
Expert-level certifications are becoming increasingly valuable and desired. To maintain the value of these certifications and ensure the integrity of the results of our exams, Cisco uses CCTV cameras in the lab environment during testing to prevent, identify, and address misconduct and cheating.
All surveillance cameras will be on and recording the personal item storage area as well as the lab testing room before, during, and after your entire 8-hour exam. The CCTV cameras enable lab staff to view live and archived images of the lab during this time period.
Cisco stores camera footage within the Meraki Camera System following each exam. If misconduct, or cheating is reported after the fact, Exam Security will review the footage and determine whether an individual may have cheated on an exam.
Surveillance footage is only shared with Exam Security in the case of a security-related incident (i.e., misconduct, cheating, or causing a disturbance while testing). Please reference the Cisco Certification and Confidentiality Agreement.
Cameras cannot be disabled during testing. If you are not willing to be recorded during your exam, you will not be allowed to test.
Lab and Practical Exams: Payment
Prices are subject to change until full payment is made. Once you book a lab, you are responsible for paying for it.
Payment Methods:
Credit cards and Expert-level exam vouchers are the only accepted payment methods for all Cisco Expert-level practical and lab exams. Candidates are responsible for paying all Expert-level practical or lab exam fees and applicable taxes (as per local laws) on time.
Thirty-day Payment Window:
Payments are not mandatory until 30 days to the scheduled Cisco Expert-level practical or lab exam date, but full payment must be received at least 30 days before the exam date. Full payment includes all exam fees and taxes. If the payment mode is an Expert-level exam voucher, any difference in the exam fee and taxes must be paid with a credit card. You will be charged immediately, as soon as you provide your payment information, even if you are paying for an exam date more than 30 days away. Once a payment method is chosen, it cannot be reverted to a different one for the same exam date. So, for example, once the exam is paid with a credit card, the payment method cannot change to a voucher. Payments can take up to three business days to process, so be sure to initiate payment well in advance of the due date and ensure your credit card limit allows for the payment.
Non-payment:
If full payment is not received 30 days before the scheduled date, your Cisco Expert-level practical or lab exam will be dropped for non-payment. Full payment includes the Expert-level practical or lab exam fee and taxes. If your exam was dropped for non-payment, you need to schedule it again. There is no guarantee that your original date will still be available once your original exam date has been dropped for non-payment.
Payment Reminder:
One email notification is sent as a payment reminder. Candidates are ultimately responsible for making the lab payment on time and in full. Cisco will not be held liable for any candidates automatically dropped due to non-payment. Make sure that your email address is current on your profile on the Cisco Expert Level Certifications Tracker portal.
Payment Process:
Payments should be made on the Cisco Expert Level Certifications Tracker portal. If you are paying with a credit card, your credit card will be charged for the exam fee and any other charges immediately as the credit card information is provided, regardless of your exam date. If your credit card is declined, you should work with your credit card company to determine the reason, clear it, and make full payment before the 30-day payment window.
If you are paying with an Expert-level exam voucher, the voucher will be redeemed immediately once the voucher code is provided. Any other charges must be paid with a credit card to avoid your exam being dropped for non-payment.
Once full payment is received, an invoice will be issued in the credit card holder’s name within three business days. Be sure the company name, invoicing address, and email address are complete and accurate. Once the invoice is issued, the invoice cannot be changed, the Drop feature will be disabled, and refunds will not be allowed. However, you will be able to reschedule your Cisco Expert-level practical or lab exam in accordance with the Lab and Practical Exams: Reschedule, Cancelation, and No-show Policies.
Expert-level Lab and Practical Exam Voucher Validity:
Expert-level lab and practical exam vouchers are tied to a candidate ID and are non-transferable. The Expert-level lab and practical exam voucher can be redeemed up until its expiration date to schedule or reschedule an Expert-level exam. After the voucher expiration date, it cannot be used for rescheduling.
Lab and Practical Exams: Reschedule, Cancellation, and No-show Policies
Rescheduling in more than 30 days to the lab or practical exam date:
Changes to the original exam date or location can be made free of charge if completed 30 days or more before the scheduled Expert-level lab or practical exam.
If you have not yet paid for the Expert-level lab or practical exam, to make any changes, you must drop your scheduled Expert-level lab or practical exam using the Drop button. Once you’ve dropped the exam, you have the option to schedule your exam to another available date and/or location.
If you have already paid for the Expert-level lab or practical exam, to make any changes, you must reschedule your scheduled Expert-level lab or practical exam using the Reschedule button.
- If you have already paid for the Expert-level lab or practical exam with a credit card, as part of the rescheduling, you will be refunded the exam fee and any taxes that might have incurred in the original location and immediately charged the exam fee and any taxes for the newly scheduled location. Please observe that the exam fees and taxes vary from country to country. The refund can take 3 to 5 business days to show up on your account.
- If you have already paid for the Expert-level lab or practical exam with a voucher, and it has not passed the expiration date, as part of the rescheduling, your voucher will be applied to the newly booked exam date and location. You will be refunded the taxes you might have incurred in the original location and immediately charged any taxes for the newly scheduled location. Please observe that the exam fee and taxes vary from country to country. The taxes refund can take 3 to 5 business days to show up on your account.
Rescheduling in 30 days or less to your paid lab or practical exam:
Changes to the original exam date or location within the 30-day payment window come with a USD $500.00 rescheduling fee.
To make any changes to your paid Expert-level lab or practical exam date and/or location, you must reschedule it with the Reschedule button.
- If you paid for the Expert-level lab or practical exam with a credit card, as part of the rescheduling, you will be refunded the exam fee and any taxes you might have incurred in the original location and immediately charged the USD $500 rescheduling fee plus its taxes as well as the exam fee plus any taxes for the newly scheduled location. Please observe that the lab fees and taxes vary from country to country. The refund can take 3 to 5 business days to show up on your account.
- If you paid for the Expert-level lab or practical exam with a voucher, and it has not passed the expiration date, as part of the rescheduling, your voucher will be applied to the newly booked exam date and location as soon as you pay the USD $500 rescheduling fee and any taxes associated with it with a credit card. You will be refunded the taxes you might have incurred in the original location and immediately charged any difference in lab fee and taxes for the newly scheduled location. Please observe that the exam fee and taxes vary from country to country. The refund of taxes can take 3 to 5 business days to show up on your account.
The Reschedule button becomes unavailable three calendar days before your Expert-level lab or practical exam date, and it cannot be rescheduled.
Please observe that the rescheduling fee and the charges associated with it are non-refundable.
Cancellations:
If you cancel an Expert-level exam, you forfeit full payment. Refunds are not allowed, even outside the 30-day payment window.
No-show:
If you do not show up for your lab exam, you will be marked as “No-show,” will not be able to schedule another lab exam within the next 30 days, and will forfeit full payment. Refunds are not allowed.
Candidates Requiring Visas:
If you require a Visa to attend your Cisco Expert-level lab or practical exam, it is strongly recommended that you apply at least 10 to 12 weeks before your exam date. Visa requirements may vary on a country-by-country basis. Therefore, it is the candidate’s responsibility to research and understand their country’s Visa requirements before booking their exam. Cisco cannot assist with any required Visa documentation other than the Visa invite letter and is not responsible for any changes to a country's Visa policies. Scheduled candidates can download their Visa invite letter by selecting the Visa Invite tab on the Cisco Expert Level Certifications Tracker tool and fill out all the required information. Candidates who do not obtain the required Visa to take a paid Expert-level lab or practical exam are still bound by the cancelation policy and should reschedule their exam. Once the payment is made and an invoice is generated, no refunds are allowed.
Lab and Practical Exams: Double Bookings
Candidates are allowed to schedule only one Expert lab or practical exam at a time for a given track. Double bookings for the same exam, at either the same location or different locations are not permitted. Candidates are allowed to simultaneously schedule exams for different tracks.
Lab and Practical Exams: Mobile Labs
For candidates taking the Mobile Lab exam option, choose a site with either Cisco Kit or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and visit CCIE BYOD Mobile Labs for exam details.
Lab and Practical Exams: Exam Start Time and Address
Exam start times may vary, depending on the location. Location addresses are indicated in your confirmation email and can also be found on the web page associated with each Lab Exam Location. Please verify your email address in your candidate profile on the Cisco Expert Level Certifications Tracker so we can notify you of any changes. If you arrive less than two hours after the exam start time, you will be allowed to start, but you must finish with the rest of the group. If you arrive more than two hours after the start of your exam, you will not be allowed to start.
Lab and Practical Exams: Candidate Identification and Authentication
The Expert-level test center admission process requires that each candidate provide two types of personal identification. Both types of identification must have the candidate's signature, and one must be a government-issued photo identification.
Lab and Practical Exams: Cisco Candidate Rules Agreement
All Cisco candidates will have to read and sign the Cisco Certification and Confidentiality Agreement document as part of the scheduling process. The scheduling will not be complete if the candidate does not accept the Agreement.
Lab and Practical Exams: Unavoidable Casualties During the Exam
Candidates who experience any problem during an exam must work with the lab exam proctor during their test event. Candidates who experience issues with the provided test equipment are instructed to spend no more than 10 minutes troubleshooting the problem prior to reporting it to their lab exam proctor. As a best practice, we recommend that candidates frequently save their configurations. Under no circ*mstance is it the responsibility of the lab exam proctor to save candidate configurations.
For unavoidable casualties that prevent candidates from proceeding during a test event whose root cause was in the lab environment and not because of the candidate’s missing, incomplete or incorrect configuration or setup, the following applies:
- If the anticipated time to resolve the problem is less than two hours, the lab exam proctor will extend the lab session to compensate for the loss of time. The compensated time will always be equal to the time lost.
- If the anticipated time to resolve the problem is greater than two hours, the lab exam will need to be canceled, and the lab exam proctor will instruct the candidate to submit a case through certification online support.
Note: Proctors do not troubleshoot candidate configurations, and if the proctor is unable to identify the actual cause of the problem, an investigation into the root cause will be launched.
Lab and Practical Exams: Unavoidable Casualties Remediation
In case of one of two unavoidable casualty event types described at Lab and Practical Exams: Unavoidable Casualties During the Exam that prevent a candidate from taking or completing their Expert-level exam, either the candidate will be rescheduled for free, or a voucher will be issued. Refunds are not allowed. The situations are:
- A system failure that prevents candidates from either starting or proceeding with the exam for longer than two hours. All three conditions below must be met:
- The resulting investigation determines that the candidate was not the source of the issue and did not create or influence the issue.
- The lab equipment is rendered inoperable, and a candidate cannot proceed with the exam within two hours, as determined by the lab operations team.
- The candidate must have passed all completed modules within the exam that were unrelated to the problem being addressed.
- A well-documented unavoidable event that impacts the start or progress of the Expert-level exam
Lab and Practical Exams: In-lab Policies
Failure to act in accordance with the in-lab policies could lead to invalidation and possible enforcement actions.
- All personal items (passports, wallets, pens, paper, notebooks, etc.) and electronic devices, which must be turned off, must be stored in the designated area and can only be accessed once the lab exam is completed.
- The Expert-level lab and practical exams are written in English, and the proctor will communicate with the candidates either in English or in the local language. One paper dictionary is permitted after the proctor has inspected it.
- Candidates must remain inside the lab for the exam duration.
- Short breaks, such as restroom or Cisco-provided refreshments, are permitted if the proctor is notified and can locate you. You must justify breaks longer than 10 minutes.
- You must notify the proctor if you decide to end the exam early.
- Candidates must keep all Cisco-provided items (scratch paper and other stationery) on the lab exam station. These items are inventoried at the end of the exam.
- The Expert-level lab and practical exams take up to eight hours. Each exam module has a maximum duration, which varies between exam tracks. The exam will take less than eight hours if the candidate takes less than the total time on any module.
Lab and Practical Exams: Exam Scoring
You can view your lab exam results online (login required), usually within 48 hours. Results are recorded as Pass/Fail; no further information is provided. Failing score reports indicate major topic areas where additional study and preparation may be useful.
Lab and Practical Exams: Re-read of Exam Results
A re-read involves having a second proctor load your configurations into a rack to re-create the test and rescore the entire exam. Re-reads are available for all CCIE tracks and DevNet Expert, but not for the CCDE practical exam.
Re-read requests must be made within 14 days following your exam date by using the "Request for reread" link next to your lab record. A re-read costs $1,000.00 USD plus taxes. Payment is made online via credit card, and your re-read will be initiated upon successful payment. You may not cancel the re-read request once the process has been initiated. Refunds are given only when results change from Fail to Pass, which can take between three to five business days.
The re-read process takes up to three weeks after receipt of payment. Only one re-read per lab attempt is permitted. Only exams with potential to change from Fail to Pass will give you the option to request a re-read. The result of the re-read is a confirmation of the existing Fail mark or an update to a Pass. No further information is provided.
