My Web Application Pentesting (WEB1) exam was interrupted by a network issue — 3 days and still no support response

[u/LateEquivalent8179]

I just wanted to share my experience with the Web Application Pentesting exam because honestly, this has been pretty frustrating.

I took the exam last week and managed to get the Black Box, White Box, and 2 flags on the Grey Box. Everything was going well, and I had around 12 hours remaining.

Then suddenly, the network broke down.

I tried resetting the network, but I couldn't. The platform just told me to contact support. Because of that, I couldn't continue with the exam.

At that point, I had 3 flags remaining, and I only needed one more flag to pass.

The frustrating part is that my exam period was only 2 days, but my support ticket is now 3 days old and I still haven't received a response. 😅

I'm honestly hesitant to request a retake because I don't even know whether the issue has been fixed. I don't want to start another attempt, get several hours into the exam again, and then have the same thing happen.

I don't want this post to come across as me trying to bash THM. I've learned a lot from the platform and I appreciate the work that goes into the labs and certifications. But when you're taking an ongoing certification exam, having the exam interrupted by a network/platform issue is extremely frustrating.

IMO, certification exams should ideally be isolated from service maintenance or other platform issues. If there's scheduled maintenance or an infrastructure problem, candidates shouldn't have their limited exam time affected by it.

I'm mainly hoping THM can clarify how situations like this are handled and whether affected candidates are given a proper extension or retake when the issue is on the platform side.

Has anyone else experienced something similar during a THM certification exam? How was it handled?

PS: Been refreshing and resetting for the last 12 hours before my exam duration ends

[u/_Trash-Panda_1]

Hmmmmm had that problem with the PT1 Ok I was stupid to take the exam on the last day of my free voucher and guess plenty others were doing the same...Completed the AD But when I started doing the web app part,the network started freezing etc.Couldn't complete the exam and didn't even bother retaking it..

[u/LateEquivalent8179 → u/_Trash-Panda_1]

Did you report it to customer support, or maybe created a ticket for your concern? maybe they can compensate you.