How to practice and pass OSCP from scratch!

Yes! I passed OSCP with flying colors and the feeling is amazing. But when I started I was a newbie to cybersecurity, I had to teach myself everything in order to be where I am and probably learn a lot more to reach where I want to be.

Before I start off with my story of clearing OSCP I want to clarify certain things about me. I am by no means a pro and was a pro. I didn't hold a cybersecurity job before preparing for the course. My knowledge of penetration testing was literally 0. All I knew were the first 100 pages of CCNA book which I half-read to know what the OSI model is.

Right! Since that's out of the way lets jump right in to know what you need to succeed in this program! I will also highlight my mistakes so that you can avoid that while prepping.

1. Analyze yourself, 50% of this battle will be won if you have the right mindset are you ready to prep for one of the most difficult courses where people fail 3+ times and then maybe pass it on the 4th? This exam is not for the faint of the hearts, it's a gruesome 24 hours where each machine has an attack vector which you might have never seen. On top of that can you manage the anxiety and stress which will lead you to one of the many rabbit holes, which Offensive Security loves to add. If the answer to all of that is YES then read the second point.
2. OSCP is an expensive exam, my total charge as of 2020 was $1400 for a 90 day package with labs and material. Your lab time will start the minute you get the material. Within 90 days you need to study the entire PWK pdf along with videos and then attempt labs. Dont expect any help on anything related to labs as the forums are a joke and no one will help as its a learning experience. Now, if you don't have that kind of money to fork out on a meal and want a sampler? Then head over to Virtual Hacking Labs this is OSCP-ish but cheaper and much user-friendly student base. I made a mistake of not knowing about virtual hacking labs until later and after checking their pdf and labs I can confirm that it gives the exact same experience as PWK but for a fraction of price.
3. Once you have got the pwk material, go over each line of the pdf and make notes, make notes so easy to read that even a 12-year-old can understand. Trust me this helped me a lot when information overload happens and I just need the command and move on. The best note-taking app which worked for me is notion(you will thank me later). Once you have taken notes of PWK PDF, relate those notes to the video and then fill in the missing details from VHL(if you took that route). This way your resource will be comprehensive.
4. Once you have finished everything on reading, its time to jump into labs. Take your time with it, remember what they are trying to teach you. Dont get discouraged by people who claim, that they have finished all the labs. I have seen many fail even though they finished the labs and pdf in 60 days. I did in a total of 10 labs because I only had 1 month to prepare, 2 months were spent on the learning and teaching myself.
5. Here are a few links which helped me learn.

• Sushant747's notes — Though it's comprehensive, but it's according to his way of learning and style, might not be the best fit for you.
• Rowbot’s Pentest notes — Much more detailed than Sushant’s notes but worth going over.
• Tib3rius Linux Privilege escalation Udemy link — this is all I studied on PE
• Tib3rius Windows Privilege Escalation Udemy link — this is all I studied on PE

6. Learn how to google search. I cannot stress enough on how important this is, so let me put it in the most gentle way possible, If you don't know how to search google for your answers, then you cannot pass this exam or do the labs. I have literally found solutions to my lab and exam problems by just typing the right keywords.

7. Have fun! Penetration testing should be a fun game for you, I enjoyed it a lot while I was working on OSCP and now when I am into bug bounty, the world is an ocean! So do enjoy and have fun with this skill as once you have earned it, it will be the best feeling in the world.

I will be posting my notes on github soon.

Until later, Peace!