NRS I Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling

Why the 4A0-100 Has No Fixed Exam Calendar

Searches for "NRS I exam dates" usually assume a fixed calendar of test days, the way some certifications publish a quarterly schedule. For Nokia Network Routing Specialist I, the practical picture is different. The qualifying assessment is a single mandatory exam, 4A0-100 IP Networks and Services Fundamentals, and the sources reviewed for this article (the Nokia exam page, the NRS I certification page and the related course page, checked October 11, 2026) do not describe a published list of annual testing windows. What they do describe is the exam's format, its fee, and the dates on which the exam version changes.

That means the most useful "dates" for a 2026 candidate are not a calendar of sittings. They are the boundaries that govern when your preparation stays aligned with the exam you will actually face. The firm, issuer-announced dates are tied to the exam revision covered later in this article. Everything else is a matter of when you book your appointment and how much runway you give yourself to prepare.

What Your Appointment Actually Looks Like

Before choosing a date, it helps to understand how long the appointment takes and what happens inside it. The numbers matter for planning a day around the exam.

The 20-minute introductory survey is the detail candidates most often overlook. It sits inside the 110-minute appointment but is not part of the examination clock. When you block time on your calendar, block the full 110 minutes plus whatever buffer you need for check-in and settling in. When you practice pacing, use the 90-minute figure: 40 questions in 90 minutes works out to a little over two minutes per question on average, which is generous for single-answer multiple choice but tight if you linger on subnetting arithmetic.

This article does not cite a pass threshold, a scored versus unscored question split, or a pass rate, because none is established in the sources reviewed. If you want to understand what is and is not known about scoring, see our breakdown of the NRS I passing score and the discussion of the NRS I pass rate.

Registration Steps and the Deadlines That Matter

Because NRS I is a single-exam credential with no listed mandatory prerequisite exam, registration is comparatively simple. The decisions that carry real deadline pressure are about your own readiness and the exam-version boundary, not about clearing a gating requirement.

A practical registration sequence

1. Confirm eligibility. No mandatory exam prerequisite is listed, but check the current NRS I requirements before you assume nothing applies to your situation.
2. Budget the fee. The published exam fee is USD 125. Training is priced separately, and the course purchase price is a training fact rather than an exam cost. Our NRS I certification cost breakdown separates the two.
3. Pick a target window. Choose a booking date that leaves a full pass through all six modules plus time for practice questions.
4. Book and recheck. Confirm the exam version and any announced transition dates on the official page before you finalize.

The March 2027 Exam Revision

This is the one set of hard dates in the NRS I picture, and it deserves careful attention if your plans extend into early 2027. The issuer announces a revised exam on 2027-03-09, with the exam unavailable from 2027-02-09 through 2027-03-08. In plain terms: there is a roughly one-month gap during which you cannot sit the current exam, and after it a revised version takes over.

The scope in this article reflects the October 2026 state of the exam. If you book after the transition, treat any module list or topic breakdown here as a starting point, not as a guarantee of what the revised exam will cover. Check the official exam page for the updated outline before you invest in a new round of study.

Choosing a Date Based on Your Preparation

Without a fixed calendar forcing your hand, the question becomes how to choose a date that is neither premature nor endlessly deferred. The honest answer is that your background determines it.

• Coming from a general IT or helpdesk role: The Ethernet and Internet Layer modules will feel new at the depth required, and the Nokia-specific CLI work in Domain 2 is unfamiliar territory. Give yourself the longest runway.
• Coming from another vendor's networking background: Protocol-layer concepts, VLANs and subnetting may be familiar, but SR OS conventions and the 7750SR hardware discussion are not. Focus extra time on Domain 2 and the service constructs in Domain 6.
• Already working with Nokia platforms: You may need the least time, but the services material (VPWS, VPLS and VPRN) can still be the weakest point if your day-to-day work is narrower.

For a candid look at how demanding the content is relative to your starting point, read how hard the NRS I exam really is. For the full preparation approach, see the NRS I study guide.

Scheduling Your Study Weeks Around the Six Modules

The six issuer-designated modules are an unweighted preparation outline, not a weighted examination blueprint, so there is no official percentage to tell you which module deserves the most hours. What you can do is sequence them logically, because later modules lean on earlier ones. Services depend on routing, routing depends on the Internet layer, and the Internet layer depends on Ethernet. A booking date works best when it sits at the end of a sequence like the one below. The module list itself is covered in more depth in our guide to the NRS I exam domains.

Six weeks is an illustration, not a rule. Compress it if you already know Ethernet and IP well, and stretch it if the SR OS material is new to you. The point is the ordering: finish the Internet Layer before routing protocols, and finish routing before attempting the services module, then book your appointment for shortly after the final review.

Where each module tends to cause trouble

What NRS I Dates Do and Don't Involve

One reason "exam dates" is such a common search is that candidates expect a certification path to involve staged sittings, lab days or composite scoring. For NRS I, the structure is leaner. The table below summarizes what the date question does and does not hinge on.

Understanding this structure also clarifies whether the credential suits your goals. If you are weighing the time and money, our ROI analysis of the NRS I certification walks through the trade-offs, and the NRS I certification overview explains how the credential is positioned.

Who Typically Books This Exam

NRS I is a fundamentals-level credential built around IP networking and Nokia service-router concepts. It is aimed at people who need a recognized baseline in IP networks and services and in operating Nokia service routers. That includes engineers and technicians joining teams that run Nokia equipment, people moving from other networking backgrounds into Nokia environments, and those building toward more advanced Nokia routing credentials.

The employers most likely to value it are service providers, network operators and integrators that deploy Nokia routing platforms, where familiarity with SR OS, MPLS transport and VPN services is directly relevant. For a view of the roles in this space, see our page on NRS I jobs, and for compensation context, the NRS I salary guide. This article avoids quoting salary figures because none is established in the sources reviewed.

If you are still orienting yourself to the acronym, what NRS I is and what NRS I stands for cover the basics. When you are ready to test yourself against realistic multiple-choice items, the original supplemental practice questions on the NRS I practice test site are designed to mirror the style and scope of the six modules. They are independent study material, not actual exam questions, and they do not imply issuer endorsement or guarantee a result.

Frequently Asked Questions