Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Albert Einstein

I didn’t pass the PNPT (Practical Network Penetration Tester) on my first try. Or my second. Or even my third. But eventually, I did — and it was one of the most rewarding wins I’ve experienced. If you’re struggling with the exam or preparing for it with some anxiety, this post is for you. I want to share what didn’t work, what finally did, and what I wish I had known earlier.

Practice the Training Material - Don’t Just Watch It

Let’s be honest: watching a course is not the same as learning it. Heath Adams' Practical Ethical Hacking course is incredibly valuable, but you won’t solidify the techniques by being a passive viewer.

What changed the game for me was practicing every technique shown.

If it was demoed in a lecture, I set it up and replicated it on my own lab environment. Repetition builds confidence - and that confidence is critical during the pressure of the exam.

Script Your Attacks - Automate Everything You Can

The more you can automate, the less you’ll fumble during the exam.

• For anything running in Kali, I wrote Bash or Python scripts that let me launch attacks with a couple of parameters.
• For post-exploitation on Windows, I crafted PowerShell scripts to do things like privilege escalation checks, credential dumping, or lateral movement.

What made these scripts useful was making sure they all accepted quick input for IPs, hostnames, and credentials. Time matters during the exam. Typing commands line-by-line with hardcoded data wastes it.

Master the Tools - But Know the Why and When

The PNPT isn’t just about tool usage — it’s about understanding attacks and choosing the right method for the right moment. Here’s a list of tools I got comfortable with, through repetition and research: