1.1 Current Exam Facts

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 OpenExamPrep. Official exam objectives, policies, scheduling, and scoring remain CWNP products. OpenExamPrep does not claim CWNP approval, partnership, or exact equivalence with CWNP training. Independent OpenExamPrep 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."

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 OpenExamPrep's free practice as a substitute sitting. Practice is independent prep by OpenExamPrep 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):

1. 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.
2. 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 OpenExamPrep 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

1. Booking Pearson VUE after the August 1, 2024 Prometric move.
2. Using a practice inventory size as the official 60.
3. Inventing a pass-rate percentage CWNP has not published.
4. Treating CWSS or CWTS as mandatory gates or as a $0 voucher.
5. Recertifying after expiry instead of before.
6. Planning a CWNA-109 sitting after December 31, 2026.
7. Treating the instructor 80% bar as the candidate 70% bar, or the reverse.
8. Leaving items blank because CWNP might use unscored pretest items—CWNP does not publish an unscored-item count for this exam.
9. Booking a same-day or next-day re-sit after a failure—CWNA carries a published 10-day retake wait.