In Oct 2023, I took the CCSA exam. In Dec 2024, I followed this up with the CCSE exam.
NB You have to pass the CCSA before the CCSE, but it doesn’t have to be active. I.e. it still qualifies after it’s expired, as long as it’s for a recent version. In my case, I did the R81.20 version of both exams.
As with the CCSA, I relied on self-study (and hands-on experience) rather than doing a training course. However, I recommend downloading the course overview so that you have a rough idea of what to focus on.
Topics
After I took the exam, my score report had a list of sections:
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Advanced Deployments
- Chapter 2: Management High Availability
- Chapter 3: Advanced Gateway Deployment
- Chapter 4: Advanced Policy Configuration
- Chapter 5: Advanced User Access Management
- Chapter 6: Custom Threat Prevention
- Chapter 7: Advanced Site-to-Site VPN
- Chapter 8: Check Point Remote Access VPN
- Chapter 9: Check Point Mobile Access VPN
- Chapter 10: Advanced Security Monitoring
- Chapter 11: Performance Tuning
- Chapter 12: Advanced Security Maintenance
- Security Expert Issues
NB The first 12 chapters correspond to the topics listed at the top of the course overview. The final item is presumably more general.
Looking at my score for each section, I did better in the topics where I have the most practical experience. So, if you see items in that list which you rarely use, read up on them and get some practice in advance.
Practice exam
I did a practice exam before the real one. This cost $50, and I booked it via Pearson Vue at the same time as the real exam. You have to do this online (not at a test centre), but unlike the real exam it isn’t proctored. I.e. there’s no webcam involved and you don’t need to be in an empty room.
When I made the original booking, Pearson Vue sent me a voucher code; I don’t think there’s any time limit for redeeming this, except that the exam itself will eventually be retired (e.g. when R81.20 is superseded by R82). When I was ready to take the exam, I went back to the Pearson Vue website and repeated the booking process; this time, I entered the voucher code, so it didn’t ask me for payment details. When I clicked “Submit Order”, that started a clock with a 48 hour countdown, i.e. I couldn’t choose a date/time to do the practice exam.
I clicked a link to start the exam. At that point, I had 5 minutes to review the NDA etc. followed by 30 minutes for the questions. Here’s the blurb that I saw before I started the practice exam:
Welcome to the Check Point Certified Security Expert R81.20 – Practice Exam.
This short exam contains a random sample of exam items from the knowledge-based portion of the active exam.
You will receive 40 items.
Feedback will be limited to revealing the correct answer.
The intent of this practice exam is to assess your readiness to take the full exam, not provide instruction. Instruction is best obtained from a Check Point Authorized Training Center.
When you look at each question, there’s a button to reveal the correct answer. You could do that before you choose your own answer, and then you’d be guaranteed to score 100%, but it will be more useful if you make your choice first. The score you get on the practice exam is only relevant to you, i.e. it won’t affect your certification status regardless of whether you pass or fail.
It took me about 20 minutes to go through all the questions. I read the question, chose my answer, then revealed the correct answer before I continued. After I finished, I did a second pass to review everything, then I ended the exam a few minutes early.
I would definitely recommend the practice exam to anyone who’s considering the real exam. Even if you can get a free retake (e.g. via the October deals for Cyber Security Awareness Month), your first attempt won’t tell you which questions you got right or wrong. Some of the questions from the practice test were repeated in the real exam, which was a nice confidence boost.
As always, I’m bound by the NDA, so I can’t give out too much detail. However, I will say that the exam contains some questions about the internal workings of the gateways (rather than the commands you run). This information is all documented on the Check Point website, but I wouldn’t have guessed that it was in scope for the exam based on the course outline. So, doing the practice exam might identify significant gaps in your knowledge.
The practice exam gave a score report, which had the same 12 chapters as the real exam. However, it didn’t include “Security Expert Issues”, so you’re on your own with that!
Real exam
This has 100 questions in 90 minutes. So, it’s actually a more relaxed pace than the practice exam! (40 questions in 30 minutes is equivalent to 100 questions in 75 minutes.) As always, you also have a bit of extra time to review the NDA etc. You can also go back to review your answers to previous questions, rather than doing it all in a single pass.
I wasn’t pressured for time on this, but I didn’t have much time left when I clicked “End exam”, so I think the time allocated is about right.
I received an email from Credly almost immediately with my digital badge, and I received an email from Pearson Vue with my score report. However, a week later there was no sign of my certification on the Check Point website. I created a support ticket, and they said:
“Please be advised that it can take up to 10 business days for a certification to appear on your account (generally updated on Fridays).”
However, they were able to manually add my certification (after I sent them a copy of my score report). So, that implies that it’s a syncing issue between Pearson Vue and Check Point, and if I’d been a bit more patient then it would have sorted itself out.
Recertification
Passing the CCSE exam didn’t renew my CCSA certification, which is unusual. (I.e. that’s a quirk of Check Point compared to the way that Cisco, CompTIA, etc. operate.) I could repeat the CCSA exam if I wanted to keep it active, but realistically there’s no point, i.e. it’s irrelevant now that I have the CCSE.
The CCSE is valid for 2 years. After that, I have 2 options:
- I can repeat the CCSE exam to get another 2 years.
- I can do a specialist exam to extend it by 1 year. (If I do 2 specialist exams then I upgrade my CCSE to a CCSM.)
So, I think my next Check Point exam will be the CCTA, followed by the CCTE.
Meanwhile, the CCSE meets the CE (Continuing Education) requirements to renew my CompTIA certifications, so that’s a fringe bonus.