- What SISE Actually Is
- Where the Exam Fits in Cisco's Security Track
- Exam Mechanics: Fee, Format, Delivery and Retakes
- The Seven Domains in Detail
- What Changed in the v1.2 Blueprint
- Who Needs This Credential and Who Hires for It
- Sequencing Your Preparation Around the Weights
- Validity and Renewal
- Frequently Asked Questions
- SISE is Cisco exam 300-715, Implementing and Configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine, delivered as a 90-minute proctored written exam.
- Passing earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Security Identity Management Implementation and satisfies the CCNP Security concentration requirement.
- Policy Enforcement carries 25%; Web Auth and Guest Services, Profiler, and BYOD each carry 15%.
- The exam fee is USD 300 plus tax, with no mandatory prerequisites or required training course.
What SISE Actually Is
In the Cisco certification world, SISE is the short name for Implementing and Configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine, exam code 300-715. It tests whether you can deploy, configure, and operate Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), the policy platform that decides who and what is allowed onto a network, under which conditions, and with what level of access. If you have seen the acronym attached to other credentials, set those aside: this site and this article concern only the Cisco 300-715 exam. For other framings of the same question, see our explainers on what SISE stands for and what SISE certification is.
ISE is a network access control and policy engine. In practice it sits between your users and devices and your network infrastructure. A laptop plugs into a switch, a phone joins a wireless SSID, a contractor connects to a guest portal, or an administrator logs into a router. In each case, ISE evaluates identity, device type, posture, and context, then returns an authorization result. The 300-715 exam checks that you understand that whole chain, from the protocol exchange on the wire to the policy logic in the ISE console.
Passing the exam earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Security Identity Management Implementation. That is a stand-alone credential, and it also counts as the concentration exam for the CCNP Security certification.
Where the Exam Fits in Cisco's Security Track
Cisco's professional-level certifications follow a core-plus-concentration model. For CCNP Security, the core exam is 350-701 SCOR, and you then choose one concentration exam. The 300-715 SISE exam is one of the concentration options. Passing it satisfies the concentration requirement, but full CCNP Security still requires you to pass 350-701 SCOR as well.
| Item | What it means for SISE candidates |
|---|---|
| Exam code | 300-715 (SISE) |
| Credential earned on passing | Cisco Certified Specialist - Security Identity Management Implementation |
| CCNP Security role | Satisfies the concentration requirement |
| Also required for full CCNP Security | 350-701 SCOR (core exam) |
| Formal prerequisites | None |
| Mandatory training | None |
Because there is no formal prerequisite, you can take SISE before SCOR, or take SISE alone to earn the Specialist credential without pursuing the full professional certification. Details on eligibility are collected in our SISE requirements guide.
Exam Mechanics: Fee, Format, Delivery and Retakes
Fee and payment
The exam fee is USD 300 plus applicable tax. Cisco Learning Credits are accepted as payment. For a fuller breakdown of what else you might spend, including optional training, read the SISE certification cost guide.
Format and duration
SISE is a proctored, computer-delivered written exam lasting 90 minutes. It is closed book. Under the Cisco Candidate Rules Agreement, personal books and notes are excluded from the testing environment, and you must accept the confidentiality agreement as part of current Cisco exam policies.
Cisco does not publish a fixed question count for this exam, and we have not verified an official one, so treat any specific number you see quoted elsewhere with caution. Cisco's general guidance for Associate and Professional exams describes multiple-choice items, drag-and-drop items, and possible performance-based lab items. That guidance does not promise a particular item mix on every SISE delivery, so prepare for all of those styles rather than betting on one. Our difficulty guide discusses how the question styles affect the experience.
Scoring
Cisco does not publish a fixed numeric passing score for 300-715. Passing standards are determined statistically and can change over time. No official pass rate has been verified, so be wary of precise pass-rate claims. We summarize what is and is not known in the passing score article and the pass rate analysis.
Delivery options
You can sit the exam at a Pearson VUE test center or through an eligible OnVUE online appointment. Availability of online delivery depends on your location and eligibility, so confirm it when you book. Language is another detail to verify: the individual SISE exam page lists English, while the broader CCNP Security catalog also lists Japanese. Check what is offered for your specific booking before you pay. Scheduling windows and deadlines are covered in the exam dates guide.
Retake rule
If you fail, you must wait five calendar days, beginning the day after the attempt, before retaking the same exam. That short gap is useful but not a license to rebook blindly: use the score report's section feedback to target the domains where you were weakest.
The Seven Domains in Detail
The official blueprint is Implementing and Configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine v1.2 (300-715), effective August 27, 2026. It lists seven weighted domains. Cisco also cautions that related topics may appear and that objectives can change, so use the blueprint as a floor rather than a ceiling. The full walkthrough is in our SISE exam domains guide; here is the practical summary.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Architecture and Deployment | 10% |
| 2. Policy Enforcement | 25% |
| 3. Web Auth and Guest Services | 15% |
| 4. Profiler | 15% |
| 5. BYOD | 15% |
| 6. Endpoint Compliance | 10% |
| 7. Network Access Device Administration | 10% |
Domain 1: Architecture and Deployment (10%)
This domain covers how ISE is deployed and how its nodes and personas work together.
- Understand the roles ISE nodes can play and how they interact in a distributed deployment.
- Know how ISE integrates with external identity sources and the network devices it controls.
- Be able to reason about certificates and trust, since ISE depends on them heavily.
Domain 2: Policy Enforcement (25%)
The largest domain and the core of the exam. It centers on how ISE authenticates and authorizes access.
- Configure 802.1X for wired and wireless access, including host mode on wired ports.
- Differentiate authentication from authorization policy and understand policy set evaluation order.
- Understand authorization results, such as downloadable ACLs, VLAN assignment, and security group tags.
- Know how Change of Authorization (CoA) is used to alter a session after it has started.
Domain 3: Web Auth and Guest Services (15%)
This domain addresses users who authenticate through a browser portal rather than a supplicant.
- Configure and customize guest portals and sponsor workflows.
- Understand central web authentication redirection and how the network device and ISE cooperate to achieve it.
- Differentiate guest types and how their access and lifetime are managed.
Domain 4: Profiler (15%)
Profiling lets ISE classify endpoints automatically so policy can be applied to device types, not only to users.
- Understand probes and how each contributes attributes to an endpoint's profile.
- Know how profiling policies, conditions, and certainty factors lead to classification.
- Be able to use profile results as conditions inside authorization policy.
Domain 5: BYOD (15%)
Bring-your-own-device onboarding lets personal devices receive credentials and connect appropriately.
- Understand the BYOD lifecycle, including onboarding, certificate provisioning, and device management.
- Know how zero-touch provisioning fits the onboarding story.
- Be able to walk through the redirect and enrollment flow end to end.
Domain 6: Endpoint Compliance (10%)
Posture assessment checks whether a connecting device meets security requirements before granting full access.
- Understand posture policies, requirements, and remediation.
- Know how the client agent and the ISE policy cooperate during assessment.
- Be able to explain how noncompliant devices are restricted and later reassessed.
Domain 7: Network Access Device Administration (10%)
This domain covers administrative access to network devices themselves, using TACACS+.
- Configure device administration policy sets, command sets, and shell profiles.
- Understand authentication, authorization, and accounting in a TACACS+ context.
- Differentiate TACACS+ device administration from RADIUS network access.
What Changed in the v1.2 Blueprint
The v1.2 blueprint became effective on August 27, 2026, as confirmed in the CCNP Security blueprint update notes. Compared with v1.1, Cisco made several targeted changes:
- Host mode added to wired 802.1X. You should be able to explain how different host modes on a switch port affect how multiple endpoints are authenticated.
- BYOD lifecycle and posture objectives updated. Expect the wording of these objectives to differ from older study material.
- TACACS+ accounting explicitly added. Previously you might have treated accounting as implied; it is now a named objective.
- Zero-touch provisioning and CoA were already present in v1.1, so they are not new, but they remain examinable.
Cisco's training updates reference ISE versions 3.4 and 3.5. Note that software versions do not replace the v1.2 label: the exam is identified by its blueprint version, so when you evaluate study resources, check which blueprint they were written against. Out-of-date material is one of the most common traps, and our SISE study guide explains how to vet resources.
Who Needs This Credential and Who Hires for It
ISE is an enterprise platform, so the people who benefit most from SISE work in organizations that run segmented, policy-driven networks. Typical employers include large enterprises, healthcare systems, universities, government agencies, managed security service providers, and Cisco partners and integrators that deploy ISE for customers.
Roles where the credential is relevant include:
- Network security engineers who design and operate access policy.
- Network engineers responsible for 802.1X rollouts on campus switching and wireless.
- Security architects planning segmentation and zero-trust access.
- Professional services and pre-sales engineers at partners who deploy ISE.
- Operations staff who maintain guest access, BYOD onboarding, and device administration.
For a closer look at the job market, see our pages on SISE jobs and the SISE salary guide, and for a cost-benefit view, the ROI analysis. We deliberately avoid quoting specific salary numbers here because we have no verified figure for this exam.
Sequencing Your Preparation Around the Weights
The one piece of study planning worth stating here is about order, not technique. Because several domains build on each other, an efficient sequence tied to SISE content looks like this:
Architecture and Policy Foundations
- Cover Domain 1 so node roles and integrations make sense before you configure anything.
- Start Domain 2 with RADIUS flow, 802.1X, and policy set structure.
Finish Policy Enforcement, Then Profiler
- Work through authorization results and CoA, then host modes.
- Move into Domain 4, because profiling feeds the policies you just learned.
Guest and BYOD
- Study Domain 3 redirect and portal mechanics first.
- Then take Domain 5, which reuses redirection and certificate concepts.
Compliance, Device Admin, Review
- Cover Domains 6 and 7, including TACACS+ accounting.
- Spend remaining time on weak domains and timed practice.
Adjust the pacing to your own experience; someone who already administers ISE daily can compress the early weeks, while someone new to 802.1X should expand them. A printable condensed reference is available in the SISE cheat sheet. Hands-on lab time matters more than reading, so build a lab or use a sandbox wherever you can, and use timed questions from our practice test site to rehearse the 90-minute constraint.
Key Takeaway
Train on the flows, not just the settings. The exam rewards candidates who can trace a session from a port or SSID, through the RADIUS or TACACS+ exchange, to the policy rule that matched and the authorization result returned.
Validity and Renewal
The Specialist certification is valid for three years. If you want to renew through Continuing Education rather than re-testing, the route requires 40 CE credits before the credential expires. Cisco's official SISE training course awards 32 CE credits, so the course by itself is not enough to renew; you would need additional qualifying activity.
For CCNP Security, renewal requires 80 CE credits. A passed concentration exam earns 40 CE credits and a passed core exam earns 80. Keep one distinction clear: the three-year window for combining CCNP exam passes is separate from renewal of an earned certification, and renewing through CE does not extend that exam-completion window. If you are planning to pair SISE with SCOR, keep track of both timelines. The official course itself is covered on our SISE training page.
Frequently Asked Questions
SISE refers to Implementing and Configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine, exam 300-715. It validates the skills to deploy and operate Cisco ISE for network access control, guest access, profiling, BYOD, posture, and device administration. See also our page on the meaning of SISE.
No. Cisco lists no formal prerequisite qualifications and no mandatory training course. Familiarity with Cisco IOS CLI, Cisco Secure Client, Microsoft Windows, and 802.1X is recommended, but it is preparation advice rather than an entry requirement.
Not by itself. Passing 300-715 earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Security Identity Management Implementation and satisfies the CCNP Security concentration requirement, but full CCNP Security also requires passing the 350-701 SCOR core exam.
The fee is USD 300 plus tax, and Cisco Learning Credits are accepted. The exam is a 90-minute proctored, closed-book test delivered through Pearson VUE test centers or eligible OnVUE online appointments.
Cisco does not publish a fixed numeric passing score or a fixed question count for this exam, and standards are set statistically and may change. No official pass rate has been verified either, so rely on blueprint coverage and timed practice rather than a target number.
You must wait five calendar days, starting the day after the attempt, before retaking the same exam. Use that window to review the domains where you were weakest, and consider more lab time and timed practice from the main practice test site before rebooking.