A note-taking system for practical, hands-on exams

Why notes matter

Practical exams such as eJPT, PNPT, and OSCP are long, open-notes, and often require a report. Good notes let you follow a consistent methodology under pressure, avoid repeating work, and produce the report from evidence you already captured.

A structure that scales

Keep three kinds of notes: a methodology checklist for each phase, a personal command reference written in your own words with example output, and per-target pages with services, findings, and screenshots. Markdown tools such as Obsidian or Joplin, or tree-based tools like CherryTree, all work; pick one and use it during all practice.

notes/
  methodology/
    01-enumeration.md      # checklist: ports, services, versions, web, shares
    02-analysis.md         # checklist: misconfigurations, weak credentials, known CVEs
  reference/
    nmap.md  smb.md  web.md  windows-privesc.md  linux-privesc.md
  targets/
    10.10.10.30/
      services.md  findings.md  screenshots/

Lab: take notes on one practice target

Pick one retired machine from a legal training platform or one target in your own lab. Work it while taking notes in the structure above: every command you run, its relevant output, and a screenshot of each key result with the target IP visible. Afterward, write a one-page finding from your notes only. Anything you had to look up again shows where the notes were thin.

• Record command and relevant output
• Screenshot each key result with the target visible
• Timestamp major steps
• Write the finding from notes alone

Reuse across exams

Review and trim your notes after every practice target. Over time your methodology checklist becomes the most valuable thing you own for practical exams and for real assessment work.