Comments on: How to fail the Offensive Security 101 Exam

By: Robert Gabriel

Robert Gabriel — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:40:49 +0000

Thanks, great write-up. Open, honest. I’m feeling the same.

By: B!n@ry

B!n@ry — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:31:11 +0000

Hi,

I’ve passed the OSCP exam recently, and I really want to thank you for your greatest OSCP exam encouragement post you have here. I read lots of exam reviews before I took the exam, but no one talked about the way you did. Its 100% unique

Thanks again Chris, and wish you good luck on your InfoSec career.

By: Smidgen

Smidgen — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:20:36 +0000

Chris,

I love your review! I am scheduled to take the live class in April and I will heed your advice when I opt to take the exam. From everything I can find online this is THE pen testing course. Of course BT has been a staple for hackers since it was … if I remember correctly Whoppix and knoppix (sp?)

Thanks for your candor and reminder to breath, and believe in yourself.

Success to you and yours.

By: junkh3ap

junkh3ap — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:32:50 +0000

I found the time constraint to be the biggest hurdle, as I had gotten a 5-hour late start. I work pretty well without a schedule, so I just pummeled through until I couldn’t see straight, took a 2 1/2 hour nap and then continued until the time ran out.

I agree that the class material gives you all of the “tools” (i.e. skills) to be successful on the test and that it’s the creative application of those skills/tools that allow you to succeed. I was sure I failed my first time, but got a nice “present” on Christmas Eve in the form of an email saying that I had passed – so hang in and Good luck!

By: Chris Mohan

Chris Mohan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:24:29 +0000

Hello 7son7son,

Annoyingly enough, as long as you’ve worked through the labs, had a good go at the extra mile challenges and feel you understand and can apply the skills learnt from the training videos and pdf; you can pass the exam.

The exam test the ability to put those skills together use them creatively while under a time pressure.
One of the biggest mistakes I made was believing the hype of how hard this was going to be and got locked in to a tunnel vision mode of thinking. If I’d gone into it with an open mind (and re-read my notes) I feel I would have done much better the first time.

Good luck and don’t forget to log in the the IRC channel – the folks in there are really supportive and that does make a difference during the exam.

By: 7son7son

7son7son — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:43:39 +0000

I will be taking this exam this month thanks for sharing your experience. I am not sure if I will ever feel prepared for this exam.

later

By: security.crudtastic.com » Blog Archive » OSCP – Offensive Security Pentesting with BackTrack Exam

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:04:46 +0000

[...] another pair of pants, washed that pair of pants, and then lent said pants to a friend! My friend Chris has done an awesome write up of this event! Now, I did manage to get a root on a couple of servers, [...]

By: Ash

Ash — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:21:13 +0000

hahah .. I spent the whole 24 hours of the first exam and came up with the better part of nothing! We were both very undercooked going into that exam, and those last few weeks is where it all came together I believe.

All I’ll say is that this is a massive body of work, and my head still hurts from it, but this has been the best course/exam I have done to date.

It was awesome doing it with you Chris, now lets smash this WiFu one and move onto CTP!