Blueprint changes, with the weightings before and after

When a vendor revises an exam, the useful question is not that it changed but what moved: which domains, by how much, and from when. Every entry here names a published vendor date and links the page it came from.

Announced, not yet in force

Changes to plan around

The current version is still the one to study for and the one to sit. What these dates change is how long that stays true.

CCNA 200-301 moves to v2.0

3 February 2027

Cisco CCNA · Cisco

Cisco has published a v2.0 blueprint for 200-301 and it goes live on 3 February 2027, with 2 February the last day to sit v1.1. Six domains become five, the weightings move, and the language of the objectives shifts from describing and configuring toward troubleshooting and diagnosing.

  • Six domains become five. Automation and Programmability, 10 percent of v1.1 on its own, is folded into a broader domain covering AI, network operations and management.
  • The verbs change more than the topics do. v1.1 leads with Explain, Describe and Configure and verify; v2.0 leads with Troubleshoot and Diagnose, including diagnosing interface and cable issues and troubleshooting IPv4 and IPv6 static routing.
  • The exam description states candidates may be required to evaluate output and recommendations from agentic AI and digital network assistants.
  • Most of the technical content survives. VLANs, trunks, EtherChannel, Rapid PVST+, OSPF, static routing, ACLs, NAT, DHCP, syslog and wireless security all appear in both versions; what changes is which domain they sit in and what share of the exam that domain carries.
  • Duration is 120 minutes in both. Cisco publishes no question count and no passing score for either version, so anyone quoting one for CCNA is quoting something Cisco has not said.
Published domain weightings before and after the change
DomainBeforeAfter
Network Fundamentals (v1.1)20%gone
Network Access (v1.1)20%gone
IP Connectivity (v1.1)25%gone
IP Services (v1.1)10%gone
Security Fundamentals (v1.1)15%gone
Automation and Programmability (v1.1)10%gone
Network Infrastructure and Connectivity (v2.0)new25%
Switching and Network Access (v2.0)new25%
IP Routing (v2.0)new20%
Network Services and Security (v2.0)new20%
AI, and Network Operations and Management (v2.0)new10%

Cisco, 200-301 v2.0 exam topics

Already in force

Changes that already happened

Listed because material written for the previous version is still sold, and a practice set built on an old domain structure is a practice set for an exam nobody sits.

AI-900 becomes AI-901, and the exam gets harder

15 April 2026

Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals · Microsoft Azure

Microsoft replaced Azure AI Fundamentals with AI-901 on a skills outline published 15 April 2026. It is not a rename: the exam moved from describing AI workloads to implementing them, and it expects Python familiarity that AI-900 did not.

  • The focus moves from describing AI workloads and Azure AI services to implementing them.
  • Python familiarity is expected, which the fundamentals exam it succeeds did not assume.
  • AI-900 itself was retired on 30 June 2026, so there is no overlap period left: the older exam cannot be booked.

Microsoft Learn, AI-901 exam page

Security+ SY0-701 replaced SY0-601

31 July 2024

CompTIA Security+ · CompTIA

SY0-701 has been the current Security+ exam since SY0-601 retired on 31 July 2024. It is listed here because study material written for SY0-601 is still sold, and the domain structure is not the same.

  • Five domains rather than six, with Governance, Risk and Compliance appearing as a domain in its own right.
  • Material written against SY0-601's domain numbering maps onto SY0-701 imperfectly, so a practice set that still names six domains is a practice set for a retired exam.

CompTIA, Security+ certification page

Version successions

Which exam replaces which

A vendor has named a successor for each of these. No domain-by-domain diff is published here, because none has been read yet: a succession is a fact, and a diff is work.

Written for the version you are sitting.

Every question is tagged to a sub-objective of the current blueprint, which is what makes a version change a re-map rather than a rewrite, and what stops a retired structure being sold as current.