PT1-003 Pentest+ beta: 24/05

FluffyBunny

We already knew that today (17/05) scheduling starts for SecurityX -> https://www.reddit.com/r/CompTIA/comments/1csbgmg/new_comptia_beta_exam_ca1005_securityx_available/

One of my colleagues noticed that a beta for Pentest+ is also listed on PearsonVue!

Pentest+ PT1-003 beta goes live on 24/05! You should already be able to find it in your PearsonVue portal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CompTIA/comments/1ctwv0e/upcoming_2405_pentest_beta/

For (expected) $50, you can take your shot at the new version of the exam. You'll get to see if it's any good, plus if you pass you WILL be certified for Pentest+.

xagreus

Thanks for the heads-up, @FluffyBunny!

I went through the registration process on PearsonVue's site. I can confirm that the price for the PTI-003 beta is the expected $50, with dates available in June 2024, but nothing after that. Going to hold off for now, and hope they offer dates in December so I have some time to study up.

JDMurray

Maybe I'll do the "no study" method for this beta. I really need to stay studying for DataSys+ and afterwards take the latest Net+ and Sec+ to stay relevant as an IT instructor.

FluffyBunny

xagreus said:

I went through the registration process on PearsonVue's site. I can confirm that the price for the PTI-003 beta is the expected $50, with dates available in June 2024, but nothing after that. Going to hold off for now, and hope they offer dates in December so I have some time to study up.

Wait... how did you register for the exam PT1-003? That's supposed to open for registration next Friday.

Today, 17/05, they opened registration for CA1-005 (SecurityX+).

And I sincerely doubt that you can still take the beta in December. Pentest+ v3 needs to go live around October, as per https://www.comptia.org/certifications/pentest

FluffyBunny

JDMurray said:

Maybe I'll do the "no study" method for this beta. I really need to stay studying for DataSys+ and afterwards take the latest Net+ and Sec+ to stay relevant as an IT instructor.

Oh, I'm definitely pludging and I'm looking forward to it. I'll try to scrounge up the objectives document though, see if I can find big differences.

FluffyBunny

Important: Objectives (under development) for the PT1-003 and CA1-005 beta exams can be found here -> https://www.comptia.org/training/resources/exam-objectives/exam-objectives-under-development

xagreus

FluffyBunny said:

xagreus said:

I went through the registration process on PearsonVue's site. I can confirm that the price for the PTI-003 beta is the expected $50, with dates available in June 2024, but nothing after that. Going to hold off for now, and hope they offer dates in December so I have some time to study up.

Wait... how did you register for the exam PT1-003? That's supposed to open for registration next Friday.

Today, 17/05, they opened registration for CA1-005 (SecurityX+).

And I sincerely doubt that you can still take the beta in December. Pentest+ v3 needs to go live around October, as per https://www.comptia.org/certifications/pentest

OK, that makes sense - if it's going live in October, maybe the beta is only available for a month. I'll sit this one out and will plan on earning the PenTest+ and SecurityX in time for the next beta to renew them.

To register, I went to https://home.pearsonvue.com/Clients/CompTIA.aspx --> My Exams --> View Exams --> PenTest+ Certification Exam --> PTI-003 CompTIA PenTest+ Certification Beta Exam.

Same process for the CA1-005, except the last two steps were --> CASP+ Certification Exam --> CA1-005 CompTIA SecurityX Certification Beta Exam. And same timeline - only available in June 2024 at the 3 testing centers I selected.

JDMurray

I'm registered for the PenTest+ SecurityX beta exam at my local testing center on July 22nd. I'll try to take SecurityX PenTest+ and DataSys+ around the same date.

FluffyBunny

JDMurray said:

I'm registered for the PenTest+ beta exam at my local testing center on July 22nd. I'll try to take SecurityX and DataSys+ around the same date.

You're the second person who's said they have registered for the PT1-003 beta, while PearsonVue's portal says registration opens on 24th of May... Sounds like someone dropped the ball and opened it a week early!  

EDIT:
Very strange, I still cannot register for PT1-003.

FluffyBunny

Friday night off? Why not spend five hours cross-referencing the exam objectives for the new Pentest+ PT1-003 beta, with the current PT0-002? I did just that!

The differences are considerable! Lots of small details added and removed. When it comes to big subject swaps: mobile testing went mostly out, SDLC and containers/cloud came in.

You can find an Excel sheet and a PDF with the comparison here -> https://www.kilala.nl/index.php?id=2595

JDMurray

Oh, sorry, I signed up for "CA1-005 - CompTIA SecurityX Certification Beta Exam - English (ENU)". I was reading the PenTest+ objectives and it stuck in my brain. I tried signing up for the PenTest+ beta exam and an error message clearly says it's not available until May 24.

I've been experimenting with using ChatGPT 4 to create a study plan based on the PenTest+ exam objectives. So far I get better results feeding it one objective at a time rather than an entire domain section in one go. I need to start writing some Python code to automate the tedious prompting tasks.

JDMurray

OK, I just signed up for "PT1-003: CompTIA PenTest+ Certification Beta Exam" on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. No pressure!   

FluffyBunny

I took the exam earlier today. In short:

• Overall it's a solid exam that tests the full width of the Pentest+ objectives.
• Out of 114 questions I disliked only two. That's great work by CompTIA!
• A few were about tools and attacks which I think were not mentioned on the objectives document. That was very odd. 
• Were I to attempt this exam for real, I would have definitely spent a few hours familiarizing myself with the tools which are on the objectives.

I think it's good! At least as good as the SecurityX beta, maybe even better. And much better than the Cloud+ beta which was kinda bad. 

JDMurray

FluffyBunny said:

• A few were about tools and attacks which I think were not mentioned on the objectives document. That was very odd. 

I think a beta will have odd things thrown in for testing that aren't a match to the objectives. Everything is still preliminary and subject to change.

Thanks for the review!

shochan

scheduled for early Aug, bombed this exam back when it first came out

JDMurray

I took the PT1-003 Pentest+ beta exam on July 31, 2024. It was 114 items in 190 minutes and I took around two hours to complete it. I passed the PT1-001 beta in 2018 and missed taking PT1-002 in 2021. I'll know if I passed PT1-003 in a few months (December-ish?).

Pentest+ is a really fun exam if you are into the operational and technical aspects of penetration testing. Many of the items were short scenarios, interesting to ponder, and easy to over-think. The PBQ questions were rather simple and I'm not sure where "performance" was demonstrated by doing them. (Maybe "Puzzle-Based Questions" is a more accurate name for them.) One thing that pleased me were items about physical pentesting not based on social engineering. (More of these please!)

Here are some thoughts on studying for this exam:

  o Know all the acronyms in the PT1-003 glossary.

  o Know CompTIA's convention for the inclusive terminology renaming common cybersecurity terms.

  o Know the tools listed in PT1-003 objectives, including what each is used for and is best known for.  

  o Know the command line options for the more common/popular tools, including the native tools on Linux and Windows.

  o Understand the operation of network protocols common to pentesting tools.

  o Know how to read bash and PowerShell.

  o Know the phases of a pentest, the frameworks, contracts and paperwork, and what's most important when.

shochan

Took mine yesterday, doubt I passed it...several guesses were made, lol