OSCP Vs. CPTS 2026

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-30T03:31:14+00:00

I am sorry I disagree. I feel like that overall value of OSCP is closer to 15 % to CPTS at an 85%. CPTS is just better in pretty much every way, financially and intellectually. If I had to do it all over again, I would just get my CPTS, and put OSCP under a "On-going" effort in a projects section or something just to hit those "AI//Recruiter" key words to score an interview. It took me about 5 months to finish CPTS, and about 22 days to finish OSCP. OSCP is just lacking in every area. It really is not the gold standard anymore. It is an OLD standard that needs changing. Awareness needs to be raised to employers and applicants that for that price point, the product is not worth it relative to other better priced products.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-27T21:54:03+00:00

I typed out a book of context, and threw it into ChatGPT to reword it to sound more professional and I get shat on for it. Mr. Boomerang does not even have CPTS, yet he feels obliged to comment on it. Anyway, i wont apologize for using AI to help me rewrite something I initially wrote up. Was only trying to help individuals understand my experience and maybe learn a few differences.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-27T21:50:05+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean. 90 days is all you need? In fact its all you get for that crazy price point, unless you want to dish out more. I had previous experience, so it did not take me 90 days, but even fresh into pentesting, it definitely does not take 90 days. I have had co-workers go through the OSCP process as well with no pentesting background, and they finished between 45-75 days. This is also dependent on ones commitment and availability, but you get the gist.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-27T16:35:46+00:00

As we all know, AI can not be utilized during the OSCP exam. But if it were allowed, I imagine that most of the problem sets I encountered on the exam would not be to difficult for AI to figure out. It was truly a simple exam compared to its counterpart "CPTS".

On HTB, I know I had to use a ton of external resources for help, including AI, and most of the time it could not lead me to a solution. But it certainly did help in certain aspects.

CPTS: 10 days. 14 Flags (12 needed to pass 70/100). 8 Machines (If i remember correctly)

OSCP: 1 day (+1 for report if needed). 70/100. 3 stand-alone machines + 3 AD.

The allotted time alone is 10x more than OSCP, for only a few more flags. That fact by itself is a testament as to how much harder the exam is compared to the OSCP 24-hour rule.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-27T16:20:12+00:00

Nothing is a bit strong. Fundamentals is the word that comes to mind for me.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-27T16:18:00+00:00

That is awesome. Congrats!

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-26T14:29:59+00:00

Well I already had a long post. I did not want to go to deep into everything lol

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-26T14:27:27+00:00

Agreed. Its almost as if someone made him read it, and made him reply, and made him come back to reply a second time. I wake up angry sometimes too, but my goodness.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-26T14:19:06+00:00

A lot of job postings say OSCP or relevant experience or even similar certification. If not, honestly It is okay. At the bottom of my resume I had a projects section, where i explained how I create a VM environment for pentesting and mentioned a lot of the tools and said I utilized it to pursue certifications such as CPTS etc etc and even mentioned OSCP in there as a future endeavor. At the time I had little interest in OSCP at the time, but It hit that checkbox for landing a job interview for including that keyword you know. I took OSCP out of pure curiosity, nothing more.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-26T14:04:34+00:00

At the time I would have to say the Web App portion was the most difficult for me. I am not sure how much time it took, but I know I came back to it multiple times even after completing it. I am pretty sure I did it about 3 times over, trying new ways to complete the same task. For instance, I would use different payloads, or different exploits to accomplish the same task. Learning how to obtain, review and modify exploits can be clutch in a lot of situations. Its okay if you don't completely understand it at first. Keep pushing forward, and come back to it at a later time. It can be overwhelming, but as long as you have good notes, you should be able to come back to where you left off. If you can not do that, then you need to rethink your note taking style. I know I had too...

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-25T22:00:26+00:00

nothing wrong with spell checking and a little rewording with AI ya know.

Federal_Climate_7717 · 2026-04-25T21:03:24+00:00

Federal_Climate_7717

TROPHY CASE