How to renew a CCSA R80

[Danny]

My colleague's CCSA R80 recently expired. He is not required to upgrade to CCSE R80 as he is just a Junior Admin. He tried to renew his CCSA R80 certificate but Pearson Vue won't let him register the CCSA R80 exam again as he already passed the exam. What to do now? Check Point doesn't provide newer exam versions of the CCSA yet.

[Johannes_Schoen]

Dear Danny,

you can extend a CCSE certification by completing additional courses (extends by one year).

Extend your Check Point CCSE certification ONLINE! 

I'm not aware that you can do this with CCSA - I guess the only way is to upgrade to CCSE or maybe do a CCSA R80.10

Best Regards

Johannes

[Danny]

That isn't correct. Check Point discontinued the program of 2 accreditations extending a CCSE for 1 year, effective June 30, 2018.

[Chris_Atkinson]

The only other option I am aware of was participation at the recent CPX360:

https://community.checkpoint.com/thread/11373-extend-cyber-range-at-cpx360-our-ccsa-ccse-ccsm 

[Maik]

I guess your colleague needs to wait until a new CCSA exam version will be released. Related to the official CCSA Q&A there is no way to take the same exam again once you have passed it. The only possible way that is mentioned is...

How do I renew my certification?

If you want to renew a certification, you can take the same exam for a later version, or you can complete two Continuing Education Credits.

But as the second option (continuing education credits) is not available anymore it seems like your colleague has to wait. Maybe Check Point should consider to either have the certs be valid for three years, enable recertification options or release new exam versions more often. As far as I know all CCSM certs got extended for half a year since the R80 release was delayed..?

[Danny]

This issue will soon raise up with the expiring CCSE R80 exams later this year and has a much bigger impact for our partner status as we require a minimum of five current CCSE's. Also for credibility and legitimacy reasons when working with our end users' Check Point environments every Check Point admin should be abe to have a current Core certification (CCSA or CCSE).

[Maik]

Yup you are definitely right, I fully agree.

Maybe Jason Tugwell‌ can say something regarding this 'issue'?