What does the CCNP Security complexity score measure?

It measures how structurally demanding the questions are, not the official pass rate. We score every question in our CCNP Security bank on four measurable signals and combine them into a 1-10 score. Higher means more multi-select items, longer scenario questions, more interactive code items and deeper explanations — that is, questions that require reasoning rather than recall.

Which CCNP Security domain is the hardest?

By our measurement, Automation and Programmability is the hardest domain in the CCNP Security bank, scoring 2.5 out of 10. The most approachable domain is Cloud and Content Security at 1.8.

How many questions were analysed?

We analysed 100 Foundation questions for the CCNP Security, split across 6 exam domains. The figures on this page are recomputed from the live bank on every crawl, so they never drift from what you actually get in a practice session.

Is this the official pass rate?

No, and we do not publish one, because vendors do not release reliable per-domain pass rates. This is our own measurement of the bank. Treat it as a map of where the demanding questions sit in the blueprint, not as a prediction of your score.

Measured data

CCNP Security

Name: CCNP Security exam question complexity by domain
Creator: CERTILUM

350-701

We scored 100 real CCNP Security exam questions 1-10 on question complexity and broke the result down by exam domain.

100 questions scored

6 domains

2.3/10 overall complexity

certilum

Complexity by exam domain

Higher scores mean more demanding question formats. The exam score is computed over the whole bank, not averaged across domains.

Exam complexity score2.3/10Gentle · measured across 100 bank questions

Automation and Programmability15 questions · complexity 2.5/10 · Gentle
40% multi-select · 7% scenario · 33% interactive
Cloud and Content Security10 questions · complexity 1.8/10 · Gentle
30% multi-select · 0% scenario · 30% interactive
Endpoint Security and Forensics15 questions · complexity 2.5/10 · Gentle
47% multi-select · 0% scenario · 33% interactive
Network Security20 questions · complexity 2.3/10 · Gentle
35% multi-select · 10% scenario · 30% interactive
Security Concepts25 questions · complexity 2.5/10 · Gentle
44% multi-select · 4% scenario · 32% interactive
Security Services15 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle
33% multi-select · 0% scenario · 33% interactive

Full per-domain breakdown

Blueprint weight, bank size and question format mix for every domain of the exam.

Domain	Blueprint	Questions	Single	Multi	Interactive	Complexity
Automation and Programmability	15%	15	5	5	5	2.5/10Gentle
Cloud and Content Security	10%	10	4	3	3	1.8/10Gentle
Endpoint Security and Forensics	15%	15	5	5	5	2.5/10Gentle
Network Security	20%	20	7	7	6	2.3/10Gentle
Security Concepts	25%	25	9	8	8	2.5/10Gentle
Security Services	15%	15	5	5	5	2.0/10Gentle

How the score is calculated

The formula is fixed and public, so anyone can reproduce these numbers from the same bank.

Every question in the CCNP Security bank is measured on four signals that can be read directly from the database. Each signal is expressed as a share of the questions in the domain, and the four shares are combined with fixed weights:

Multi-select questions (40% weight). Items with more than one correct answer. The candidate has to find all of them, which is the single hardest format in the bank.
Scenario questions (30% weight). Questions longer than 150 characters, which describe a situation instead of a definition and therefore test reasoning rather than recall.
Interactive questions (20% weight). Items that require reading code or a configuration snippet.
Deep explanations (10% weight). Questions whose explanation runs past 300 characters, which signals a concept with real nuance behind it.

The combined share is multiplied by ten to produce a 1-10 score. The exam-level score is computed over the whole bank rather than averaged across domains, so a small domain cannot distort the total. Figures on this page are recomputed from the live bank on every crawl.

Data set: Certilum CCNP Security Foundation question bank, 100 questions, 6 domains. Published by CERTILUM. This is Certilum’s own measurement of its own question bank and is not an official Cisco statistic.

Questions analysed: 100
Exam domains: 6
Hardest domain: Automation and Programmability (2.5)
Most approachable domain: Cloud and Content Security (1.8)
Question mix: 35 single · 33 multi · 32 interactive
Measured on: Foundation

Back to the CCNP Security practice page Read the questions

Frequently asked questions

What our CCNP Security complexity numbers mean and how they are produced.