Passed CPTS — 90 points, 235-page report, and an emotional rollercoaster I wasn't expecting Just re-read my…
Min T. — HTB Certified Penetration Testing Specialist
Passed CPTS — 90 points, 235-page report, and an emotional rollercoaster I wasn't expecting
Just re-read my exam report and the feedback, and figured I'd share the honest version of what those 10 days looked like from someone with no prior work experience in the field — just the CPTS learning path, eJPT, and PT1 under my belt.
First flag: "This is brutally hard. The community respect for this cert makes complete sense."
A few flags in: "Hang on — this feels manageable. Is this really mid-level?"
Active Directory phase: Brain empty. "No one is finishing this."
Flag 9: "Okay. I'm fine. I've got this."
Then repeat. Multiple times.
Funny in hindsight. Not funny at 2am on day 6.
Examiner feedback (sharing because it validated something important):
"Your remediation recommendations were actionable and did not break the line of independence that we must maintain as pentesters by recommending specific technologies or attempting to rewrite the customer's code."
That part hit me. As a pentester, we're not there to fix things — we're there to find them, document them, and point the customer in the right direction. I didn't fully appreciate that boundary until I saw it called out in the feedback.
My actual report writing workflow:
Write the full attack chain narrative first (host discovery → foothold → lateral movement → domain compromise)
Then go back and extract each finding individually
Then write remediation per finding
The walkthrough-first approach keeps your findings grounded in real attack context rather than reading like a disconnected vuln list. Helps with chaining too — once you've written the full story, you can see which findings combine for higher impact.
Stats: 10 days, 90/100, 235 pages.
If you're mid-exam and questioning everything — that's normal. Stay in the chair.
One last thing for people preparing:
HTB prohibits sharing exam specifics — and that's fair. But here's what I can say:
The community writeups and blogs surrounding the CPTS modules and CPTS prep Track aren't just noise. If you study how people approach the labs, the methodology required for the exam becomes clear. The signal is there if you're paying attention.
And go check the CPTS credential page on Credly. Scroll to the Skills section. Read it carefully. That list isn't decoration — it's a roadmap. HTB put it there publicly for a reason.
Decode both of those, do the work in the learning path, and you'll walk in prepared.
5 reactions · 3 comments
Comments
Laurent H.: Huge respect, that’s a seriously tough cert, especially with no prior experience. The part about remediation vs. independence is gold.
Min T.: Laurent Halimi, thank you. I studied 8 hours a day for 6 months, and 3 months on CTF and methodology refining, I can only pass after second attempt though.
Malek A.: Well as far as i am personally concerned, i am trying to build as much cybersec knowledge before passing any certification. even if it means 5 years of work to climb just a simple cert, this is my personal approach .😁as i can see it alligns a little with you Mr. Min Thu a huge respect for every individual who have such a cert under his belt.