About CEH Practical Exam:
The Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practical Exam is a hands-on, performance-based assessment that tests your ability to apply ethical hacking skills in real-world scenarios. Unlike traditional exams that rely on multiple-choice questions, the CEH Practical is designed to evaluate your practical expertise in identifying vulnerabilities, exploiting them, and conducting penetration testing across various systems and networks.
Exam Title: Certified Ethical Hacker v12(Practical)
Number of Practical Challenges: 20
Duration: 6 hours
Availability: Aspen — iLabs
Test Format: iLabs
Passing Score: 70%
Internet Access: Yes
[Allowed to search on the internet, watch YouTube videos, and more]
How did I prepare for the exam?:
To effectively prepare for the CEH Practical exam, I utilized a variety of resources that provided both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience. My preparation journey involved a mix of self-study, practical exercises, and leveraging the extensive materials available from the EC-Council.
- TryHackMe Rooms:
I spent a significant amount of time on TryHackMe, which offers a wide range of guided rooms specifically designed to enhance your ethical hacking skills. These rooms cover various aspects of cybersecurity, from basic concepts to advanced techniques. The interactive nature of TryHackMe allowed me to apply what I was learning in real time, reinforcing my understanding and helping me build confidence in my abilities.
List Of TryHackMe Rooms:
Nmap
Hydra
JohnTheRipper
SQLMap
Wireshark
Wirectf
OpenVAS
Metasploit
Daily bugle
Revenge
Owasp top 10
Picklerick
Owasp juice shop
Anthem
Brooklynnienine
Agentsudoctf
Eastcft
Simplectf
Kenobi
Blue
Ccpentesting
Zthweb2
WordPress
Expose
Blog
Crackthehash
Hashing
Android hacking
Trojans
Wifi hacking
Malware analysis
Jurassic park
Advent of cyber 1–2–3
Toolsrus
2. VulnHub Machines:
VulnHub provided another excellent platform for practicing real-world hacking scenarios. By working through different vulnerable machines, I was able to simulate actual penetration testing environments. This experience was invaluable for honing my problem-solving skills and learning how to approach and exploit vulnerabilities in a controlled setting.
Beginner Level
1. Mr. Robot
2. Kioptrix Series (Levels 1–5)
3. Metasploitable 2
Intermediate Level
4. DC Series (DC-1 to DC-9)
5. Bulldog
6. Symfonos Series
Advanced Level(optional)
7. Jefferson
8. FristiLeaks
9. SkyTower
Specialized Machines(optional)
10. VulnOS
11. PwnLab
12. Raven Series
3. YouTube Tutorials/Playlists:
YouTube was a great supplement to my studies, offering a wealth of free tutorials and walkthroughs on various ethical hacking topics. I followed several cybersecurity channels that provided detailed explanations of tools and techniques, as well as live demonstrations. These videos helped clarify complex concepts and introduced me to new methods and tools that I later practiced in my lab.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Fa25Pu8l6wV1Se-bPY-Onc6t_mUTZHW&si=sMWxzGYRWMkJcY7d
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEA2EJpqSWfouVNPkl37AWEVCj6A2mdz&si=gJrDdtWCRFYVBZRa
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQutQhatpiPdi3acYayu9mSnKXDuLMuD1&si=6ubLuxsCtjIkUYfR
4. EC-Council Study Materials:
The official study materials from the EC-Council, including theory and lab PDFs, were crucial to my preparation. These resources provided comprehensive coverage of the CEH curriculum, ensuring that I understood the concepts and tools required for the exam. The lab exercises were beneficial, as they offered structured, hands-on practice that mirrored the scenarios I would face during the exam.
Set up a lab environment in your VM with machines like parrot os, windows machines, and metasploitable machines which can help us for better real-world scenarios.
By combining these resources — TryHackMe, VulnHub, YouTube tutorials, and EC-Council’s official study materials — I was able to build a strong foundation in ethical hacking and gain the practical experience needed to tackle the CEH Practical exam with confidence.
Tools Used In Exam:
Nmap/zenmap
Metasploit
Searchsploit
Hydra
Aircrack-ng
Veracrypt
Theef RAT
BCTextEncoder
StegHide
Adb
John the ripper
Wireshark
Phonesploit
Sqlmap
ZAP
Open Stego
Detect It Easy (DIE)
Openvas
Smbclient
SSH
Crackstation
Hashes.com
Cyberchef
emn178.github.io/online-tools/crc32_checksum.html
Answer Format: AAaaNN**
AA: Capital Alphabet
aa: Small Alphabet
NN: Numbers
**: Special Symbols
NOTE: All the required wordlists like passwords, and usernames are provided on systems, also keep a count of attempts while answering the questions.
Sample Questions:
1. Find the service version of XYZ?
2. Find the number of XYZ services?
3. Crack the credentials of XYZ and answer?
4. Access the Android device and find the hidden?
5. Perform vulnerability scanning?
6. Exploit remote login?
7. Crack and find the credentials?
8. Exploit weak credentials of XYZ services?
9. Privilege Escalation?
10. Use RAT to access hidden data?
11. Malware Analysis?
12. DDoS Attack Investigation?
13.SQL Injection?
14. Exploit Web Application?
15. Traffic Analysis?
16. Steganography And Cryptography And Wifi Cracking ?
My review of the exam:
It was a little difficult for me as I did not have access to ilabs from ec-council also I have completed some tryhackme learning paths which helped me with some resources and required foundational knowledge required for the exam, I solved 14 questions in 3 and a half hours which gave me a little confidence and motivation to solve further. A score of 16 was not what I had expected but yeah, I got it.
I would recommend you get hands-on experience with the tools that are going to be used in the exam and get familiar with them as I did some tools that I was familiar too and it made me waste some time in the exam which led to some unattempted questions it was not that I was completely blank but I solved 3 questions half after which I was not able to solve them like cracking credentials, getting hidden images and more, also be careful while attempting the answers as one of my questions I ran out of attempts.
Also, keep the notes of the scan results as we can go through them as we move forward toward the next questions don't forget to write down the usernames and passwords found in the bruteforce/cracking phase as they will be needed later.
The parrot OS was slow also keep the internet speed in mind as it can reduce the speed and sometimes disconnect you from the meeting and exam environment which was in my case. The exam is beginner-friendly and can be passed easily.
Resources For Exam:
When preparing for the CEH Practical exam, having access to the right resources is crucial. Below is a list of some of the resources that I found incredibly helpful during my study and practice. These include GitHub repositories, practice platforms, and more.
https://github.com/CyberSecurityUP/Guide-CEH-Practical-Master
https://github.com/DarkLycn1976/CEH-Practical-Notes-and-Tools
https://github.com/hunterxxx/CEH-v12-Practical
https://github.com/sampritdas8/Ec-Council-CEH-Practical--Guide-For-Exam/blob/main/CEH(Practical).md
https://www.stationx.net/certified-ethical-hacker-ceh-exam-cheat-sheet/
https://book.thegurusec.com/certifications/certified-ethical-hacker-practical
https://tryhackme.com/
https://www.hackthebox.com/
Verify My Certificate:
Summary:
Passing the CEH Practical exam is not that if prepared well. In this blog, I’ve walked you through how I prepared for the exam, including the steps I took and the resources I used to succeed.
Be calm during the exam and if you are stuck somewhere for a long time move forward and attempt the next question and solve questions that are easy and will take less time as it will boost your confidence during the exam.
In summary, passing the CEH Practical exam required a mix of hands-on practice, solid theoretical knowledge, and the use of various learning resources. By using these tools and staying dedicated, I was able to pass the exam and gain my certification. I hope my experience and the resources I’ve shared will help you on your journey to becoming a Certified Ethical Hacker. Good luck!
If you have any doubts or questions related to the exam feel free to comment I will be responding to them also please read our other blogs and stay updated on technology and cyber security.