Free Cisco 300-745 SDSI Practice Test | 2026 Edurely

Cisco 300-745 SDSI Practice Test

Preparing for the Cisco 300-745 SDSI: Designing Cisco Security Infrastructure exam requires more than memorizing security terms. The exam focuses on how security technologies, architecture decisions, risk management, applications, automation, artificial intelligence, and DevSecOps work together in realistic environments. A structured Cisco 300-745 SDSI practice test can help you identify weak areas before moving deeper into your study plan. You can Assess your skills with targeted questions to check how well you understand each objective and where additional review may be needed.

Cisco describes 300-745 SDSI as a security architecture design exam covering secure infrastructure, applications, risk, events, requirements, artificial intelligence, automation, and DevSecOps. Passing it earns the Cisco Certified Specialist – Designing Cisco Security Infrastructure certification, and it can also satisfy the concentration exam requirement for CCNP Security.

For students, the important point is that SDSI is not simply about recognizing security products. You need to understand why one security approach fits a business requirement better than another. This makes practice testing especially useful because scenario-based questions can train you to connect technical requirements with appropriate security designs.

What Does the Cisco 300-745 SDSI Practice Test Cover?

The official Cisco 300-745 SDSI v1.0 blueprint divides preparation into four major areas.

These percentages come directly from Cisco’s published SDSI blueprint. Cisco also notes that its listed objectives are general guidelines and related topics may appear as the exam evolves.

A strong 300-745 SDSI practice test should therefore spread questions across all four areas instead of concentrating only on traditional network security.

1. Secure Infrastructure — 30%

Secure Infrastructure is one of the two largest sections of the Cisco 300-745 SDSI blueprint. It covers how organizations protect endpoints, users, networks, infrastructure, applications, and communications while supporting changing business requirements.

Students should approach this domain by asking a simple question:

What security architecture would best protect this environment while still meeting the stated business requirements?

Protecting Endpoint and Client Devices

Cisco expects candidates to understand security approaches for different types of endpoints and client devices, including:

• Devices operating on the corporate network
• Off-network devices
• Remote endpoints
• Hybrid-work environments

A design that works well for an office desktop may not provide the same protection for a remote employee connecting from an unmanaged network.

Practice questions can help you recognize how location, device trust, identity, access method, and business requirements influence the security solution.

Identity Security

Identity is another important area within Secure Infrastructure. Cisco’s blueprint specifically includes:

• Multi-factor authentication
• Passwordless authentication
• Continuous trust
• Identity intelligence

These topics reflect an architectural approach in which access decisions are not based only on whether someone knows a password.

When working through practice questions, focus on the purpose of each identity control. For example, consider what problem MFA is intended to reduce and why continuous evaluation of trust can be useful when users and devices operate from different environments.

Email Threat Protection

The official blueprint specifically identifies several email-related threats:

• Phishing
• Ransomware
• Business email compromise
• Malware
• Spoofing

Students should understand these as business risks rather than isolated definitions. A practice scenario may describe how employees receive malicious messages and ask which security approach would most appropriately reduce the risk.

This is where understanding the threat, user behavior, identity controls, endpoint protection, and email security together becomes more useful than memorizing a definition.

Hybrid Workers, IoT, SaaS, and Multi-Cloud

The SDSI blueprint also asks candidates to understand how security architecture changes when technical requirements involve:

• Hybrid workers
• Internet of Things devices
• SaaS applications
• Applications across data centers and multiple clouds

Modern security architectures rarely exist inside a single traditional data center. Your preparation should therefore include scenarios where users, devices, applications, and information are distributed across different environments.

Cisco’s Security Reference Architecture similarly describes security across areas such as user/device security, cloud and on-premises networks, security operations, and workload/application security.

2. Applications — 25%

Application security accounts for 25% of the official SDSI blueprint, making it an important part of any Cisco 300-745 practice test.

This section moves security architecture closer to applications, workloads, data flows, cloud-native systems, and emerging technology.

Protecting Applications Using Security and Flow Information

Cisco lists several technologies that may be selected according to application and flow data:

• Firewalls
• SSL offloading
• SSL decryption
• Data Loss Prevention
• Endpoint security

Do not study these only as definitions.

Instead, understand the security requirement each technology addresses.

For example, Data Loss Prevention is relevant when protecting sensitive information is a central concern. SSL-related technologies require understanding of encrypted traffic and where security inspection fits into the architecture.

The practice-test mindset should be:

What does the scenario need to protect, and which control addresses that need most directly?

3. Risk, Events, and Requirements — 30%

This is another 30% domain, making it equally important as Secure Infrastructure.

Cisco expects candidates to understand how security designs respond to incidents, risks, business requirements, security frameworks, and compliance needs.

Security Operations and Incident Response

The official objectives ask candidates to understand how a Security Operations Center uses incident-handling and incident-response tools.

A SOC may collect information from multiple security systems, investigate suspicious activity, coordinate responses, and use security information to improve future protection.

The important SDSI connection is design improvement.

An incident is not simply something to investigate and close. Information learned during an incident can lead to changes in the security architecture.

Cisco therefore separately identifies the ability to:

• Modify a design to reduce risk
• Modify a security design following an incident

This is an excellent area for scenario-based practice.

A question might describe what happened during a security event and then ask which architectural change best reduces the chance or impact of a similar event.

4. Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and DevSecOps — 15%

The final official SDSI domain accounts for 15% of the blueprint and brings automation directly into security architecture.

Cisco expects candidates to understand the role of AI in securing network infrastructure and to recognize technologies that support automated security.

The blueprint identifies examples including:

• API tooling
• Infrastructure as Code
• Monitoring
• Container scanning
• Security telemetry
• Alerting
• SOAR

It also expects students to understand the next steps that DevSecOps engineers might take within workflows and pipelines to reduce the risk created by automated deployments.

Why Automation Matters for SDSI Preparation

Automation allows security controls and processes to operate consistently at scale.

However, automation can also reproduce mistakes quickly if security is not built into the process.

That is why students should understand both sides:

Automation can improve security operations, but automated processes also need security controls.

A useful practice scenario might ask where a security check should be introduced into an automated deployment workflow or which capability can help detect a problem before deployment.

How to Use a Cisco 300-745 SDSI Practice Test Effectively

Simply answering hundreds of questions is not the best preparation method.

Use practice tests as a feedback system.

A student-friendly preparation cycle can look like this:

Step 1: Study one blueprint domain

Read the official objectives and understand the basic concepts before attempting large question sets.

Step 2: Complete a focused practice set

Answer questions related only to the domain you just studied.

Step 3: Review incorrect answers

Do not simply memorize the correct option. Determine why your choice was wrong.

Step 4: Record weak objectives

For example:

• VPN selection
• Application segmentation
• NIST RMF
• DevSecOps workflows

This gives you a clear revision list.

Step 5: Return to trusted learning resources

Review Cisco documentation, official training, framework documentation, and your notes.

Step 6: Try mixed-domain practice

Once the individual sections are stronger, combine questions from different blueprint areas.

Step 7: Repeat weak areas

Your improvement should be based on understanding, not on remembering the position of an answer.

Students who need additional material alongside their Cisco studies can Access learning resources for technology exams and combine those resources with the official Cisco blueprint.

What Your 300-745 SDSI Preparation Should Include

A useful preparation resource should help you turn the official objectives into practical study tasks.

For Cisco 300-745 SDSI, your preparation should include:

• Blueprint-aligned coverage: Practice should reflect all four official domains.
• Domain-focused question sets: This makes it easier to identify weak areas.
• Scenario-based practice: SDSI frequently requires you to choose an architecture based on requirements rather than simply recognize terminology.
• Clear explanations: An explanation should show why an answer fits the scenario.
• Mixed-topic reviews: These help you move from isolated learning to full-exam preparation.
• Progress checking: Track subjects where you repeatedly make mistakes.
• Regular revision: Revisit concepts instead of completing a topic once and forgetting it.
• Official-source verification: Use Cisco documentation whenever you are uncertain about an objective.

The goal of practice is not to memorize question wording. It is to improve the reasoning process that helps you determine which security design best fits a situation.

A Simple Study Structure for Cisco 300-745 SDSI

Because the blueprint weighting is uneven, your study time should also reflect the importance of each domain.

A practical sequence is:

Phase 1 — Secure Infrastructure

Begin with endpoints, identity, email threats, hybrid environments, VPNs, infrastructure protection, and firewall architectures.

This section creates the foundation for much of the rest of SDSI.

Phase 2 — Application Security

Move into application protection, encrypted traffic, DLP, cloud-native architectures, containers, microservices, and segmentation.

Phase 3 — Risk and Security Architecture

Study incident response, risk mitigation, post-incident architecture changes, CAPEC, NIST SP 800-37, Cisco SAFE, and compliance.

Phase 4 — AI, Automation, and DevSecOps

Finish your first learning cycle with AI, APIs, Infrastructure as Code, security monitoring, container scanning, telemetry, SOAR, and secure deployment workflows.

Phase 5 — Mixed Practice

Combine questions from all four domains.

At this stage, avoid relying on obvious keywords. Read every scenario carefully and determine what the organization actually needs.

Common Mistakes Students Should Avoid

One common mistake is preparing for SDSI as though it were only a network-security technology exam.

The official objectives repeatedly use terms such as select, modify, describe, and match. That indicates candidates need a mixture of understanding, comparison, and architectural reasoning.

Another mistake is spending most of the study period on firewalls and VPNs while ignoring areas such as:

• Cloud-native applications
• Microsegmentation
• Risk frameworks
• Incident-driven design changes
• Artificial intelligence
• Infrastructure as Code
• SOAR
• DevSecOps workflows

These are explicitly included in the current blueprint.

Students should also avoid relying entirely on practice questions. Practice testing works best when used with Cisco’s official blueprint, training material, documentation, and hands-on or architecture-based study.

Cisco itself provides an SDSI learning path and describes the associated training as covering security architecture design, infrastructure, applications, risk, events, requirements, AI, automation, and DevSecOps.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Cisco 300-745 SDSI?

Cisco 300-745 SDSI is Designing Cisco Security Infrastructure. It focuses on security architecture design across infrastructure, applications, risk, incidents, requirements, AI, automation, and DevSecOps.

What are the main Cisco 300-745 SDSI domains?

The official v1.0 blueprint contains four domains: Secure Infrastructure (30%), Applications (25%), Risk, Events, and Requirements (30%), and Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and DevSecOps (15%).

Does 300-745 SDSI include AI?

Yes. Cisco includes AI both in the application-security objectives and in the dedicated Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and DevSecOps domain. The blueprint specifically references generative AI, machine learning, and the role of AI in securing network infrastructure.

Does SDSI cover DevSecOps?

Yes. Candidates are expected to understand security automation and the steps DevSecOps engineers may use in workflows and pipelines to reduce risks associated with automated deployments.

Does SDSI include cloud security topics?

Yes. The blueprint references SaaS, multi-cloud environments, public-cloud tunnel options, cloud-native applications, microservices, containers, and serverless architectures.

Are security frameworks important for 300-745?

Yes. Cisco explicitly lists MITRE CAPEC, NIST SP 800-37, and SAFE in the Risk, Events, and Requirements domain. Candidates should understand how such frameworks contribute to the security-design lifecycle.

How should I review wrong practice-test answers?

Identify the exact blueprint objective behind the question, determine why your selected answer was unsuitable, study the underlying concept from an authoritative source, and then attempt a different question covering the same objective. This approach develops understanding rather than answer memorization.

Can practice tests replace Cisco training?

They should be treated as a supplement rather than a replacement. Cisco provides an official SDSI learning path and training course, while practice questions are most useful for checking understanding, identifying weaknesses, and applying what you have studied.