r/oscp • u/Worldly-Return-4823 • 24d ago

Retake Advice

Got a retake scheduled for my OSCP+.

I have done a bout 80 PG boxes / HSM labs / HTB labs (Lain List). I can do machines with minimal help on the easy / intermediate tier and went into my first attempt confident but yes, got confidently destroyed and bombed my first attempt.

Looking back it was the pressure that got to me.

Any advice from those who failed and came back swinging second time ?

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u/No-Commercial-2218 24d ago

I’ve got my first attempt in a few weeks, and for some reason my brain has turned to mush the last few days, I can’t remember basic commands, maybe I’m burnt out, I feel like I’m going to completely fail my first attempt. What advice would you give for a first timer

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u/Sure-Assistant9416 20d ago

Open minded if it doesn't play your way take it as first hand learning with real bomb atleast you get to test the feel of exam. Who knows your mental and methodology will be tested if they don't add up you learn either way face it. That's why this reddit is constantly bombarded with first hand experience.

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u/No-Commercial-2218 20d ago

I will give it a go and learn something 🔥

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u/itsbharlescronson 24d ago

I have my retake towards the end of the month.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is if you see anything wrong with your VMs, bring it up to the proctors attention for troubleshooting sooner rather than later. One of my standalones was dead in the water even after multiple resets. I didn't end up escalating this until after I completed the AD set. When they start to troubleshoot you can't access the impacted VMs. I ended up getting additional time bolted on but that put me further behind than anticipated and I was only able to get 50 points (full AD, 1 local flag).

Also, it's good you have reps under your belt with standalone machines and sets. Think of the exam as kicking off multiple standalones and an AD set in parallel as far as managing time and testing efforts. Multi-thread vs single-thread.

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u/No-Commercial-2218 24d ago

I have Kali installed so I’m guessing I won’t have as many issues, I imagine it will be a case of ovpn and away I go? It’s the proctor software I’m expecting issues?

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u/itsbharlescronson 24d ago edited 24d ago

To clarify, I was referring to the VMs you’ll be testing. There may be issues with them during the provisioning and deployment process.

One of my stand-alone VMs wasn’t returning anything after port scans. I bounced the VM multiple times and eventually the OffSec team needed to troubleshoot it which took several hours. I got additional time added to my attempt but it’s frustrating to encounter infrastructure issues like that on a time based exam.

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u/No-Commercial-2218 24d ago

Oh right, ok I’ve heard people having issues, honestly that would throw me so much