Study guide
1.1 Current Exam Facts
CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator CWNA-109
Track your progress as you read
Finished sections get a check mark.
1 Introduction & Exam Overview
1.1 Current Exam Facts 1.2 CWNA-109 Knowledge Domains and Study Strategy
2 RF Fundamentals
2.1 RF Waves, Propagation, Gain and Loss 2.2 Reflection, Multipath, VSWR and Free-Space Path Loss 2.3 RF Units and the Rule of 10s and 3s
3 RF Measurement and Antenna Systems
3.1 Noise Floor, SNR, RSSI and EIRP 3.2 Line of Sight, Fresnel Zone, Polarization and MIMO 3.3 Antenna Types, Charts, Cables and Lightning Protection
4 Industry Bodies and Legacy PHY
4.1 Industry Organizations and OSI Layers 4.2 Legacy 802.11 PHY Standards 4.3 Spread Spectrum, Modulation and MCS
5 Modern 802.11 PHY and Channel Concepts
5.1 Wi-Fi 4 HT and Wi-Fi 5 VHT 5.2 Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E High Efficiency 5.3 Primary Channels, OBSS, Throughput and Guard Interval
6 Spectrum Rules and WLAN Use Cases
6.1 Frequency Bands, DFS and Transmit Power Control 6.2 WLAN, Bridging, Peer-to-Peer and Mesh
7 802.11 Service Sets and Framing
7.1 Stations, BSS, ESS and the Distribution System 7.2 MSDU, MPDU, PSDU, PPDU and Aggregation 7.3 MAC Frame Format and Addressing
8 Frame Types, Discovery, and Association
8.1 Management, Control and Data Frames 8.2 Scanning, Authentication and Association
9 Channel Access, MAC Operations, and Devices
9.1 DCF, EDCA, RTS/CTS and Interframe Spaces 9.2 Roaming, Power Save and Protection Mechanisms 9.3 Access Points, Controllers and Client Devices
10 PoE, Architectures, and Proprietary Features
10.1 Power over Ethernet, PSE and Power Budgets 10.2 Centralized vs Distributed Forwarding and Network Planes 10.3 Airtime Fairness, Band Steering and RRM
11 WLAN Design and Supporting Services
11.1 Data, Voice, Video and Legacy Client Design 11.2 High-Density, Location Services and Guest Access 11.3 DHCP, DNS, Time, VLANs and AAA
12 WLAN Security
12.1 Weak and Deprecated WLAN Security 12.2 AES, WPA2-Personal and WPA2-Enterprise 12.3 WPA3, SAE and Opportunistic Wireless Encryption 12.4 PMF, Fast Roaming, WIPS and Secure Management
13 RF Validation Surveys and Tools
13.1 Post-Implementation Validation Surveys 13.2 Application and Performance Testing 13.3 Validation Tools: Survey, Protocol and Spectrum
14 Interference, Troubleshooting, and Common Faults
14.1 Co-Channel Contention vs Adjacent Channel Interference 14.2 Protocol Analyzers, Spectrum Analyzers and Monitoring 14.3 Common WLAN Faults and Hidden Nodes
1.1 Current Exam Facts
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
CWNA-109 is the CWNP Certified Wireless Network Administrator exam; the official page is https://www.cwnp.com/certifications/cwna (checked 2026-09-20).
The sitting is 60 multiple-choice or multiple-answer questions in 90 minutes in English; candidates pass at 70% or higher and instructors at 80% or higher; the fee is $274.99 USD per attempt, a failed attempt carries a published 10-day retake wait, and the credential is valid 3 years.
Delivery is Prometric in-person (CWNP moved from Pearson VUE effective August 1, 2024) and CWNP Remote Proctored Exams (launched November 2025); schedule at https://www.prometric.com/test-takers/search/cwnp and https://www.cwnp.com/exam-update/ .
CWNA-109 released in September 2023; the last day to take it is December 31, 2026; CWNA-110 is scheduled for September 2026; CWNP does not publish official pass rates or a raw cut score.
There are no required prerequisites; CWNP recommends basic networking, TCP/IP, and about one year of WLAN experience, and lists CWSS and CWTS as recommended rather than required.
Last updated: September 2026
Why exam facts come first
The Certified Wireless Network Administrator ( CWNA ) exam with current series code CWNA-109 is the foundational Certified Wireless Network Professionals ( CWNP ) credential for enterprise wireless local area network ( WLAN ) work. Scored items will not ask you to recite the voucher price. They will ask you to convert milliwatts to decibel-milliwatts ( dBm ), pick a Physical Layer ( PHY ) behavior, or diagnose co-channel contention ( CCC ). Those items only make sense if you first lock the official identity , logistics , and version window so you study the exam you will actually sit.
Consider Harborline Logistics , a regional freight company with distribution floors, handheld scanners, and voice-over-WLAN headsets. Maya is the WLAN administrator. Leadership wants a vendor-neutral wireless credential on the infrastructure team before a warehouse expansion. If Maya studies a retired CWNA-108 outline, she will miss Wi-Fi 6E and other CWNA-109 topics. If she books a Pearson VUE center from a 2023 blog post, she will arrive at a delivery partner CWNP no longer uses for this program. If she treats a third-party practice inventory as the official exam size, she will misread time management. This section teaches the facts CWNP publishes so those mistakes stay off the calendar.
This chapter is independent CWNA-109 study material by ExamFinch . Official exam objectives, policies, scheduling, and scoring remain CWNP products. ExamFinch does not claim CWNP approval, partnership, or exact equivalence with CWNP training. Independent ExamFinch practice questions exist for exam id cwna ; never substitute that practice inventory for the official 60 presented items.
Official identity: CWNA-109
CWNP names the current administrator exam CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator , exam number CWNA-109 . The official product page is https://www.cwnp.com/certifications/cwna (checked 2026-09-20 ). CWNP describes CWNA as the base certification for enterprise Wi-Fi within the CWNP family and a springboard toward security, design, analysis, and expert credentials. When you pass the CWNA exam, you earn the CWNA certification and credit toward Certified Wireless Security Professional ( CWSP ), Certified Wireless Design Professional ( CWDP ), Certified Wireless Analysis Professional ( CWAP ), and Certified Wireless Network Expert ( CWNE ).
The official presented item count is 60 questions. Question types are multiple choice and multiple answer . Language is English . Duration is 90 minutes . Never replace that count with the size of any practice set. CWNP also does not publish official pass-rate percentages and does not publish a raw cut score or an unscored-item count. Ignore forum figures such as an invented "about 55 percent."
- Fact Official value (re-check on CWNP before you pay or schedule)
- Full name CWNP Certified Wireless Network Administrator ( CWNA-109 )
- Official page https://www.cwnp.com/certifications/cwna (checked 2026-09-20)
- Questions 60 multiple-choice / multiple-answer
- Duration 90 minutes
- Language English
- Passing score 70% or higher ( instructors 80% or higher)
- Fee $274.99 USD per attempt
- Validity 3 years
- Delivery Prometric in-person and CWNP Remote Proctored Exams
- Last CWNA-109 day December 31, 2026
- Retake wait 10 days between attempts (CWSS/CWTS are 24 hours); weekends count
- Passing score math you can actually use
CWNP states you must pass with 70% or higher . Instructors must pass with 80% or higher . Those percentages are the published bars. Because CWNP does not publish a raw cut score, you cannot treat a specific item count as official. You can do planning arithmetic if you assume every presented item counted equally—then state the assumption out loud so you do not memorize a fake official number.
Worked planning math for Harborline's Maya:
Clock: 90 minutes for 60 items is 1.5 minutes per item if she spends time evenly (90 ÷ 60 = 1.5).
Candidate bar heuristic: 0.70 × 60 = 42 items if every item counted equally.
Instructor bar heuristic: 0.80 × 60 = 48 items if every item counted equally.
Below the candidate heuristic: 41 ÷ 60 ≈ 0.683 , which is under 70% in that equal-weight thought experiment.
Trap: reporting "you must get 42 right" as if CWNP published a 42-item cut. CWNP published 70% , not a raw item count. Multiple-answer items may require every correct selection. Unanswered items are not a published CWNP gift; do not leave blanks on a hope that they might not count.
A workable clock for Maya: first pass on items she can decide in about a minute, flag long radio frequency ( RF ) math and multi-select stems, then spend remaining time on flagged items. Last minutes: ensure no blank . That discipline is study advice, not a CWNP rule.
Fee, voucher, and each attempt
CWNP lists the exam cost as $274.99 USD . A new voucher is required for each attempt. CWNP does publish a retake waiting period, but on its program FAQ page rather than on the CWNA product page: CWSS and CWTS have a 24-hour wait , and all other certification exams, including CWNA, have a 10-day waiting period before a retake, with Saturdays and Sundays counted inside those 10 days ( https://www.cwnp.com/cwnp-program-faqs/ , checked 2026-09-20 ). A same-afternoon re-sit is therefore not merely unwise; it is not permitted. If Maya fails on a Tuesday, her earliest retake is 10 days later, and she still needs a new paid voucher and a new appointment.
Trap: assuming Certified Wireless Specialist ( CWSS ) or Certified Wireless Technician ( CWTS ) waives the fee. Those credentials are recommended learning, not a discount code. Another trap: treating ExamFinch's free practice as a substitute sitting. Practice is independent prep by ExamFinch for CWNA-109 topics. It does not replace the proctored CWNP exam.
Prerequisites versus recommended experience
The CWNA exam has no required prerequisites . The CWNA-109 objectives PDF (January 2023 Job Task Analysis ( JTA ) table) still recommends knowledge and experience before you attempt the sitting:
- Basic knowledge of networking (routers, switches, cabling, and related fundamentals)
- Basic knowledge of Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol ( TCP/IP )
- At least one year of work experience with WLAN technologies
CWNP's product page also states that CWSS and CWTS are not a required prerequisite but are highly recommended . Maya can register without those badges. She should still be honest about gaps: if she has never configured a switch virtual local area network ( VLAN ) or read an IP address, RF math will not be her only cliff. Recommended experience is not a registration lockout and not a fee waiver.
Where you sit: Prometric and CWNP Remote Proctored Exams
Two live delivery paths exist for CWNA-109 (checked 2026-09-20):
Prometric in-person testing centers. CWNP transitioned CWNP Certification Program exams from Pearson VUE to Prometric effective August 1, 2024 . Schedule at https://www.prometric.com/test-takers/search/cwnp .
CWNP Remote Proctored Exams , launched November 2025 . CWNP's exam-update page lists CWNA among the exams available on that in-house remote option. Read https://www.cwnp.com/exam-update/ before you pick a path.
Trap: walking into a Pearson VUE site because an old blog still says VUE. That delivery change is older than 2025; it is not optional trivia.
CWNP's public exam guide is useful logistics , not a scored knowledge domain:
Total exam time is 90 minutes unless CWNP approved an accommodation.
The clock does not stop during breaks.
Notify the proctor and wait for acknowledgment before leaving camera view.
Present one piece of valid, unexpired government-issued photo identification; the name must match the CWNP account.
Reschedule or cancel with at least two full business days (CWNP describes a 48-hour notice rule) before the appointment; a $30.00 USD fee applies for missed, late-canceled, or no-show appointments as published in that guide.
Remote sessions use a combination of Google Meet and the CWNP Learning Center secured platform.
Close unrelated tabs and applications; use one screen; keep phones and smart devices out of reach.
Accommodations (CWNP's example includes additional 30 minutes ) must be requested and approved by CWNP before you schedule. Email support@cwnp.com with details and supporting documentation. Do not book first and ask later.
Harborline's Maya might sit at Prometric if her home network cannot meet the remote checklist, or sit remote if the nearest Prometric site is a four-hour drive. The scored content is the same either way. A no-show still costs money.
Version window: CWNA-109 versus CWNA-110
CWNP publishes this version calendar (exam-update table and CWNA product page, checked 2026-09-20):
Current version: CWNA-109 , released September 2023 (the product page also notes the exam released September 30, 2023 ).
Last day to take CWNA-109 : December 31, 2026 .
Next scheduled update: CWNA-110 releasing in September 2026 .
If Maya needs the credential on the CWNA-109 objectives, she must sit on or before December 31, 2026 . After that date, CWNA-109 is not the live exam. This ExamFinch chapter teaches CWNA-109. Studying Wi-Fi 7 / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE ) 802.11be as if it were a CWNA-109 objective is a mismatch; that PHY cutoff is a Domain 2 fact in the next section.
CWNP states certification exams are updated about every three years. Use materials for the version you will sit. Do not mix CWNA-108 channel lists with CWNA-109 Wi-Fi 6E expectations.
Validity and recertification
The CWNA certification is valid for three (3) years . To recertify, CWNP says: pass one of the professional-level certification exams ( CWSP , CWDP , or CWAP ) BEFORE your CWNA expires. Doing so renews CWNA for another three years. Or retake the current version of the CWNA exam.
Trap: waiting until the credential is already expired, then expecting a professional exam to back-date the renewal. CWNP's published rule is before expiry. Another trap: treating continuing-education hours from some other vendor program as a CWNP recertification path. CWNP's CWNA page lists the professional exams or a current CWNA retake—not a generic CE-hour ledger.
If Maya passes CWNA-109 on October 1, 2026, she should calendar a recertification action before October 1, 2029. Passing CWSP in 2028 while CWNA is still active is the published professional path. Letting CWNA lapse and then hoping CWDP will restore it is not the rule CWNP printed.
Facts traps
Booking Pearson VUE after the August 1, 2024 Prometric move.
Using a practice inventory size as the official 60 .
Inventing a pass-rate percentage CWNP has not published.
Treating CWSS or CWTS as mandatory gates or as a $0 voucher.
Recertifying after expiry instead of before .
Planning a CWNA-109 sitting after December 31, 2026 .
Treating the instructor 80% bar as the candidate 70% bar, or the reverse.
Leaving items blank because CWNP might use unscored pretest items—CWNP does not publish an unscored-item count for this exam.
Booking a same-day or next-day re-sit after a failure—CWNA carries a published 10-day retake wait.