About This Study Plan

This 90-day study plan breaks the PENTEST (PenTest+) exam preparation into 3 focused study sessions with 12 actionable tasks. The plan covers all 5 exam domains — Engagement Management, Reconnaissance and Enumeration, Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis, Attacks and Exploits, Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement — ensuring complete coverage. Comprehensive 90-day plan for CompTIA PenTest+ (PT0-003).

3Study Sessions

12Total Tasks

5Domains Covered

Prerequisites

Network+ and Security+ recommended
1–2 hours per day

Study Schedule

Month 1Foundations & Reconnaissance

Weeks 1–2: Penetration testing methodology, engagement types, legal considerations
Week 3: OSINT, passive recon, DNS enumeration
Week 4: Active scanning with Nmap, service enumeration, vulnerability scanning
End of month: Reconnaissance quiz and lab practice

Month 2Exploitation & Post-Exploitation

Week 5: Network exploitation — Metasploit, privilege escalation
Week 6: Web application attacks — Burp Suite, SQLi, XSS
Week 7: Wireless and social engineering attacks
Week 8: Post-exploitation, pivoting, persistence, and data exfiltration

Month 3Reporting & Exam Prep

Week 9: Report writing, risk ratings, remediation, and scripting
Week 10: Hands-on CTF challenges and PBQ practice
Week 11: Full practice exam #1 + detailed review
Week 12: Practice exam #2, tool review, and final prep

Study Tips

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Complete at least 20 CTF challenges on TryHackMe or HackTheBox.

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Practice writing findings with CVSS ratings and remediation steps.

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Know Python/Bash basics — scripting questions appear on the exam.

Recommended CompTIA Study Resources

Supplement this study plan with the official CompTIA CertMaster labs and practice tests. Download the free exam objectives PDF from CompTIA's website and use it as a checklist — cross off each objective as you master it. Professor Messer's free video series covers every CompTIA exam objective and is widely regarded as one of the best free resources available.