Please Help!! CCSA R77.30 exam.

GMac89

Hi all,

I've recently got a new job in IT Security from my previous 2nd line post. In my new role I assist in management of a Checkpoint environment. A few months back I attended a 5 day fast track course funded by my employer for Checkpoint ccsa/ccse.

Upon Completion of the course and some reading and the Keith Barker cbt nuggets videos I took the exam.... and failed! 64% the pass mark being 70%.

The 2nd attempt about a month later I brushed up on areas I was weakest on and booked my 2nd exam.

Again.. I failed! this time 66%!! Here are my scores...

1st Exam:
SECTION NAME SECTION SCORE:
Introduction to Check Point Technology - Objectives 1-2 100
Introduction to Check Point Technology - Objective 3 100
Deployment Platforms - Objective 1 33
Deployment Platforms - Objective 2 100
Deployment Platforms - Objective 3 100
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objecitves 1-2 70
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objective 3 100
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objective 5 66
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objective 5 66
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objecitve 4 40
Monitoring Traffic and Connections - Objective 1 50
Monitoring Traffic and Connections - Objective 2 50
Monitoring Traffic and Connections - Objective 3 80
Using SmartUpdate - Objectives 1-3 50
User Management and Authentication - Objective 1 40
User Management and Authentication - Objective 2 40
Identity Awareness - Objective 1 71
Identity Awareness - Objective 2 100
Identity Awareness - Objective 3 50
Identity Awareness - Objective 4 66
Introduction to Check Point VPNs - Objective 1 60
Introduction to Check Point VPNs - Objective 2-3 100
SmartLog 50

2nd exam:

SECTION NAME SECTION SCORE:
Introduction to Check Point Technology - Objectives 1-2 100
Introduction to Check Point Technology - Objective 3 100
Deployment Platforms - Objective 1 50
Deployment Platforms - Objective 2 100
Deployment Platforms - Objective 3 100
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objecitves 1-2 80
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objective 3 66
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objective 5 33
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objective 5 66
Introduction to the Security Policy - Objecitve 4 100
Monitoring Traffic and Connections - Objective 1 100
Monitoring Traffic and Connections - Objective 2 100
Monitoring Traffic and Connections - Objective 3 80
Using SmartUpdate - Objectives 1-3 50
User Management and Authentication - Objective 1 60
User Management and Authentication - Objective 2 60
Identity Awareness - Objective 1 57
Identity Awareness - Objective 2 50
Identity Awareness - Objective 3 50
Identity Awareness - Objective 4 100
Introduction to Check Point VPNs - Objective 1 20
Introduction to Check Point VPNs - Objective 2-3 33
SmartLog 50

After attending the 5 day course,
watching the CBT nuggets, albeit the R76 videos
making notes from the book I received on the course
I still just miss the pass mark by a few %!

Someone mentioned Admin guides as the key to passing this exam? is it true? where can I find them?

Any Help and advice would be greatly appreciated as I just can't understand where i'm going wrong! I can't fail a 3rd time. PLEASE!!

Many Thanks

Grant

TechGromit

I took this training, but haven't taken the exam yet. My company paid for a guy to come in and train us. He was going on and on about other products that checkpoint has, I stopped him, and asked why do I care? He told me it was on the exam... I'm like huh? I don't take a Microsoft Windows 7 exam and have to know about all the other Microsoft products they sell.

bharath917

Hi,

I am also preparing for CCSA exam,you can find admin guide in below link.

http://dl3.checkpoint.com/paid/79/7916511f80908c3056af526bae304602/CP_R77_Firewall_AdminGuide.pdf?HashKey=1469345219_58e20e1920564bc0c5698bae3e656b62&xtn=.pdf

Regards,
Bharath

GMac89

Thank you.

Doing some more searching there is loads of admin guides? firewall, gaia, vpn all sorts.

Are these also required?

bharath917

Hi,

As of now i am reading only one admin guide, i am not sure whether is sufficient or not as i have not taken exam yet.

Need to check with people who are already certified.

Regards,
Bharath

GMac89

Ah Ok, Be nice if someone certified was around to ask..?

You can see the exam topics in my post. I think VPN and ID Awareness would come in useful as those are both key topics of the exam.

I just looked through the command line guide and I can defiantly tell you that commands like cp_merge appear on the exam.

You can find the command line guide here:

http://dl3.checkpoint.com/paid/bd/bd29dacf6dae86df65e81a83336c2060/CP_R77_CLI_ReferenceGuide.pdf?HashKey=1469474876_72a8aae1d799ee389a1eab63888c7b93&xtn=.pdf

GMac89

Hopefully there is someone who has passed this cert around who could help?

I can tell you having sat the exam twice there is questions on commands which the command line guide would help with. VPN and ID Awareness are also key topics in the exam and I have managed to find some guides for these!

bharath917

Thanks for the information....:) will let you know if i find any other books.

Regards,
Bharath

bharath917

Hi,

Is Command guide a paid book, i am not able to see the book, getting below error.

"Our apologies, you are not authorized to access the file you are attempting to download.
If you believe this is in error please contact customer service"

Regards,
Bharath

GMac89

You're welcome.

When do you plan on taking the exam?

I'm on Holiday next week for 2 weeks and will be booking the exam upon my return.

Good Luck in your quest for certification!

GMac89

Here:
http://dl3.checkpoint.com/paid/bd/bd29dacf6dae86df65e81a83336c2060/CP_R77_CLI_ReferenceGuide.pdf?HashKey=1469533629_268fac153aca20d3a4fcb343e7211a66&xtn=.pdf

I wouldnt say you need to know much just just a few commands for trouble shooting and for backup and restore.

bharath917

Planning to take exam on August 3rd week.What abt command guide, if you have please share it.

Good luck for you too, don't miss this time at any cost

GMac89

Ah ok, Keep me posted.

I have posted a link to the cmd line guide but it was marked as spam and went to admin to approve.

Google - Checkpoint command line guide

it should come up.

Fingers crossed its 3rd time lucky!

moyondizvo

Hi Guys,

I would have loved to have responded to this post earlier but I was away on vacation, I hope it's not too late to assist you with some of your queries.

I used the CBT Nuggets Keith Barker videos, these are real gold. I went through all the videos and labbed them out. Have you downloaded the R77.30 iso and labbed what Keith goes through? I found it EXTREMELY useful to follow what he was going through, Keith is really good. You have 15 days with the trial license and all features are accessible. I found that the admin guides on the Check Point website are useful when you are searching for a particular topic, but I have read about how other people have used them purely as study material.

Another resource that I found useful was YouTube videos. I watched how some other people built their labs from scratch, make mistakes and how they got things working again. Depending on the videos, I would lab some of them out as they go.

GMac89 you mentioned that you attended a Check Point course, did you receive the official study manual? This is a good source for study accompanied by the lab manual too. I hope that by now you might have noticed how I keep referring to "labbing", having the hands on and playing with the products is always a huge benefit.

Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to go over. You are very close and believe that you need to brush up on a few things and you will cross the line.

GMac89

Hello,

No worries I'm currently out of the country too!

Thank you for the reply! It's useful to speak with someone who has passed this exam. I intend to book my third attempt upon returning to the UK.

Yes I do have the study and lab manuals for the course and did lab them out over the 5 days but I like idea of labbing whilst going through the Keith Barker videos. The Keith Barker cbts are r76? I don't suppose that matters?

On my second attempt VPN section was terrible but I put that down to not going over it as I was concentrating on the sections I was weakest. I know I deffinatly got the last question on ike phase 2 wrong in my haist to finish.

There was some questions I came across which I had no knowledge of but I'm guessing these are in the admin guides.

Is there a particular YouTube user that you found useful?

Many thanks

Grant

moyondizvo

Hi Grant,

Yes I would strongly recommend that you lab out the exercises in the lab manual and Keith's videos, like I said having that hands-on is really beneficial. Yes Keith's videos are R76 but for exam purposes, there aren't too many differences with R77.30, the videos will be more than fine.

There is another user on this forum who recently passed, WonTonDon, I would recommend that you go over the resources that they posted [Passed CCSA R77.30]. Jafer Sabir has some good YouTube videos, he has been referenced by WonTonDon as well. I found this video useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_EKqRZrkTc

Go over this video for VPN, it's got good basics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKJPxCPB-RE

I can relate to the exam adrenaline and the rush to try and finish every question on time, but I am sure after labbing and going through the manuals, you will nail it. For the questions that you had no knowledge of, two things, 1) The answers are hidden somewhere in the student or lab manuals, and 2) Might be experience working with the products of which labbing might cover the gap (yes I know I have said this a tonne now )

GMac89

I have actually had a thought.
In both exams now Ive had a question on what smart console applications are on the CD?
Any idea on how I can find the answer to this? I've never seen this CD?
Many thanks
Grant.

moyondizvo

Not too sure about the CD but I know that there is a requirement to know all the SmartConsole applications, what each one does and when you would use them. For example, you need to know what SmartDashboard is and that it is the primary application you use to manage your gateways and rulebase, SmartView Tracker for logs etc.

GMac89

Yes, the CBT videos cover this rather well.
I also use the console applications at work. at work we have 8 different firewalls in all. the 2 externals are cluster pairs.

lmcelhinney87

Hi Grant,

I done the CCSA course late last year and have covered the student manual from cover to cover. I also rattled through the CBT Nuggets video where he claims that 90% of the exam is covered - nonsense. I also work with Check Point every working day using Smart Dashboard / Tracker / Event / Monitor / Update and i scraped a pass earlier this week.

The best advice i can give is download the R76 practice exam from the Check Point site and do it as many times as you have to so that you know the answer to every question on it. In my opinion and experience it is by far the most useful resource at our disposal and it will hold you in very good stead for the exam.

Best of luck.

GMac89

Hello,

I certainly agree the videos do NOT cover 90% of the exam!!

Thank you for the advice! Do you have a link to the practice exams? I've never been able to find any!!

Many thanks!

Grant

lmcelhinney87

I used the link to the Check Point site the guy posted here:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/check-point-ccsa-ccse/97911-my-check-point-ccsa-r76-study.html

Downloaded it when i started studying 4 - 5 weeks ago but it's just saying the resource isn't available now unfortunately.

GMac89

Hi all,

I think my last post was in August when i was out of the country on a holiday and considering going for the CCSA again.

I decided at this point that the theory revision wasn't quite enough and hadn't served me well at exam time and hands on experience of deploying and configuring is what i was lacking to get me over the line and i would be better waiting until i had gained this experience before rebooking.

By the end of September, I finally had a lab configured at home (Had recently moved house and had no internet for a while) and it also saw the delivery of many new firewalls at work as per of a project to replace and upgrade a number of firewalls.

Since October time we have replaced a number of firewalls and enabled a number of blades, Upgraded the ram when enabling too many blades decreases performance and also upgraded all of the firewalls to Gaia 77.30 and have even setup and configured management HA with only a few upgrades left I booked my Exam in January for Feb 4th!

I am pleased to say the plan was a good one as the exam went well and I passed with a score of 77%. The hand on experience i've had over the last few months being key to the pass.

I am now a CCSA R77.30
😛😎👍

Thanks for the advice all!

What should I do next?
Sec +??

Grant