CCSA Certification Preparation Advice Needed for a Beginner

[JosephineWYok]

Hello Check Point Community,

I’m reaching out for advice to help my friend prepare for the ##CCSA R81.20 certification exam in 2025. He’s a complete beginner with only basic networking knowledge and no hands-on experience with #CheckPoint products like #SecurityGateway or #GAiA. I’ve joined the community to seek guidance, but I’m also new to the #CheckPoint ecosystem, so any help is appreciated!

Here’s the context:

• My friend has 6-12 months to study and plans to take the exam this year.
• He’s considering the official #CCSA three-day course at a #CheckPointAuthorizedTrainingCenter (ATC) but wonders if it’s sufficient for a newbie.
• For practice, he’s looking at resources like [redacted] which I used for my Splunk certification prep. We’re unsure if these are reliable for #CCSA.

We’d love insights from experts like @CheckPoint or @SecurityPro (or anyone else!) on these questions:

1. Study Plan for Beginners: What’s the best approach for someone new to #CheckPoint? Are there free resources like #SecureKnowledge, YouTube tutorials, or #CheckPointDocumentation you recommend?
2. Official Course: Is the #CCSA course enough, or should he add labs or self-study? Any tips for accessing affordable #CheckPoint labs?
3. Practice Exams: Are [redacted] reliable for #CCSA practice questions, or are alternatives like #CheckPointOfficialPracticeExam better?
4. Hands-On Experience: How can he gain practical skills without access to #CheckPoint products? Are there virtual labs or free trials for #SecurityGateway or #GAiA?
5. Exam Tips: What pitfalls should first-time #CCSA takers avoid, and how can he prepare effectively?

We’d be grateful for any study roadmaps, tips, or experiences from the community, especially from members like @network or @Certified! My friend is excited to start this journey and wants to be well-prepared.

Thank you,
Josephine W Yokley

[the_rock · Accepted solution]

I believe below link has advice from the man who has been teaching CP for (I think close to 30 years now), so cant think of anyone better to provide the right guidance.

Andy

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Training-and-Certification/CCSA-CCSE-Exam-Tips-amp-Content-R81-1...

[JosephineWYok]

Thank you! You answered some of my questions.

[the_rock · Accepted solution]

I would also check out this as well.

Andy

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Check-Point-for-Beginners/bg-p/check-point-for-beginners-2-0

[Don_Paterson · Accepted solution]

You should take the CCSA training course with an ATC.

You will get the book (for life, using Kortext (see link below))) and that is what is needed to study and pass the exam.

I advise getting in touch with your local ATC. 

Brain Dumps are illegal. Your post including those provider names will get flagged. You can still edit your post and remove them before you get flagged.

Honestly, studying the book is all that is really needed to pass the exam. A good instructor will take you a long way to passing with confidence.

You should also be able to get all your questions answered in the training course.

Some ATCs provide labs for more than just the three days of the course. That allows you more lab time, but otherwise Hyper-V and VMWare workstation are good options.

See that CP4B material (link already shared by Andy) for the more on lab build guidance.

Check Point has official free training material for introducing products and learning, pre training.

Those are the Jump Start videos and this is a good starting point for Quantum network security:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMAKXIJBvfAiB9_6Ft6tiRiYyZmZsgHjb

Be aware that R82 training will be released soon. (The R82 products were released in October 2024 https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk181127) 

CCSA R82 is likely to be released in the next few weeks.

The exam release follows that.

R81.20 training and exams will still be available after R82 training and exams are released but retirement dates will be announced. I don't know when but the announcements will be posted in this forum and also these platforms.

Check them regularly for updated info (and special discounts for exams, during promotions (e,g, Black Friday and Cyber Monday).

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Training-and-Certification/bd-p/training-and-certification (subscribe by clicking on the cog icon).

https://training-certifications.checkpoint.com/#/   This is where you can see the course content (data sheets) and will find the R82 course details (after the courses are released in the coming months.

https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk163417 

https://home.pearsonvue.com/checkpoint

You can install the R81.20 SmartConsole on a Windows machine, it is free, open it, and click Demo Mode (Next > Login > Continue > Proceed). 

That connects your local SmartConsole app to a cloud based Demo Server, where you can practice in a controlled simulated (pre-built) environment (NOTE: the gateways  (FWs) in there are not real (actual) devices, they are in there as 'dummy' objects to allow demo mode to give the experience of managing a large deployment).

The pre-built policies are designed around best practices so those two policies are interesting to learn from.

The CCSA course labs build a similar policy/rulebase as part of the course labs.

https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk103431 

https://sc1.checkpoint.com/documents/Jumbo_HFA/R81.20_SC/R81.20/R81.20_Downloads.htm 

Kortext and ATC supplied ebooks (courseware.

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Training-and-Certification/Clarification-on-the-E-Kits/m-p/22893...

[JosephineWYok]

You gave us some excellent advice and we will follow through with it.

[the_rock]

Amazing advice Don.

[PhoneBoy]

Or the admin can edit the post, removing the mentions. 😉