Just finished the CPTS path after 14 weeks of grinding ~6h/day. My brain is fried.
Ok so I just wrapped up the HTB CPTS path and I genuinely don't know how to feel. 14 weeks, roughly 6 hours a day, thousands of notes, and countless conversations with Claude begging it to explain stuff to me like I'm a toddler (background: I'm an artist, none of this made sense at first lol).
The amount of information crammed into this path is insane. And no, the walkthroughs don't hold your hand. The actual loop is: try > fail > google > give up > come back > give up again > question every life decision > suddenly it clicks at 2am.
This weekend was rough. Did the Attacking Enterprise Networks (AEN) module THREE times before it actually made sense and I could pull off a clean double pivot. Also messed around with Ligolo and some other tools not in the course, specifically because I want to avoid leaning on Meterpreter (banned on OSCP, so might as well build the habit now). Plan is to recycle everything from this path into my OSCP prep once I pass the CPTS exam.
Not gonna lie, AEN was my favorite module. Hardest one by far, but also the first time I felt actually proud of myself. My notes paid off. I stopped just copying the walkthrough and started trying techniques that felt more natural to me, which made me actually USE my notes instead of hoarding them.
Next up on the roadmap:
-CPTS path boxes
-Dante
-TJ Null list
-Blind retry of AEN just to prove to myself I actually learned it