Two routes to the same network. Which one wins?
Administrative distance is the tiebreaker before metric ever gets a look in.
The question
A router learns the same network via OSPF and via a static route. Which is installed?
The answer
A The static route
A static route has an administrative distance of one, O-S-P-F has a hundred and ten, and lower always wins. Metric never even gets considered here.
Why it trips people up
Administrative distance is about trust in the source, not quality of the path. It is compared before metric ever enters the picture, and metrics are never compared across protocols because they measure different things — OSPF counts bandwidth, RIP counts hops. Two routes from different protocols are settled entirely on AD.
Exam tip
Read what the question is actually asking before looking at the options. The wrong answers here are ones candidates genuinely pick — each is true of something adjacent, just not of what was asked.