Checkpoint Exams

The Check Point Footprint

Check Point Software Technologies released FireWall-1 in 1994, introducing stateful inspection to the commercial market. That technology became the standard for network defense. By 1996, the company controlled 40% of the global firewall market. Today, Check Point secures over 100,000 organizations, holding a massive footprint in enterprise data centers, financial institutions, and government networks.

If you work in network operations or infrastructure security, you will likely encounter Check Point hardware or its Gaia operating system. Earning a credential from this vendor proves you can configure, manage, and fix these specific environments. Hiring managers use these credentials to filter candidates for firewall administrator and network security engineer roles.

Certification Program Structure

Check Point divides its certification track into three primary tiers: Administrator, Expert, and Master. The Administrator level establishes baseline operational skills. The Expert level demands advanced configuration and deployment knowledge. The Master level targets elite engineers managing complex, multi-site deployments. Alongside these core tiers, Check Point offers Specialist exams focused on specific domains like cloud security, endpoint protection, and troubleshooting.

The Administrator Baseline

Most engineers start with the 156-215.81.20: Check Point Certified Security Administrator – R81.20 (CCSA). This exam validates your ability to keep a Check Point environment running day to day.

The CCSA tests your knowledge of the Gaia operating system and the SmartConsole management interface. You must know how to configure Security Gateways, build and enforce access control policies, and set up basic virtual private networks (VPNs). The exam also covers Network Address Translation (NAT), traffic inspection, and logging parameters.

Expect a 90-minute exam with 90 multiple-choice and scenario-based questions. The passing score sits at 70%. Check Point states the exam composition reflects 80% theoretical knowledge and 20% practical, hands-on experience. You cannot pass this exam by memorizing definitions. You need time spent clicking through SmartConsole and applying policy changes.

The Three-Tier Architecture

To pass any Check Point exam, you must master their three-tier architecture. Unlike some competitors who build management interfaces directly into the firewall appliance, Check Point separates these functions.

The architecture consists of the SmartConsole (the GUI client), the Security Management Server (which stores the policy database), and the Security Gateway (the enforcement module that inspects traffic). Exams frequently test your understanding of how these three components communicate. You will encounter scenario questions asking what happens to network traffic if the Security Management Server goes offline, or how to re-establish secure internal communication (SIC) between the management server and a gateway.

Moving to the Expert Level

Once you hold the CCSA, the natural progression is the 156-315.81.20: Check Point Certified Security Expert - R81.20. This credential targets professionals who architect, upgrade, and support Check Point networks.

The CCSE moves past daily administration and into complex deployment. You will face questions on Check Point Management High Availability (HA), ClusterXL, and advanced VPN configurations. The exam expects you to know how to resolve security administration issues and manage user authentication across distributed networks.

Like the CCSA, the CCSE requires a 70% passing score. Employers view the CCSE as the benchmark for a senior network security engineer. PayScale data shows professionals holding the CCSE report average base salaries around $104,000 in the United States, with upper-tier roles exceeding $160,000.

Specialized Tracks

General administration skills only go so far when a network experiences a critical failure. For engineers who serve as the final point of escalation, Check Point offers the 156-587: Check Point Certified Troubleshooting Expert - R81.20 (CCTE).

This exam tests your ability to diagnose and fix advanced issues within the Check Point ecosystem. You must demonstrate proficiency with command-line tools, debug operations, and kernel-level inspection. Passing the CCTE proves you can read packet captures, identify traffic drops, and restore service during an active outage.

Network perimeters have also expanded beyond physical data centers. To address this, the 156-560: Check Point Certified Cloud Specialist (CCCS) validates skills in securing multi-cloud and hybrid environments. This exam covers the integration of Check Point CloudGuard with public cloud providers, focusing on automated deployment and cloud network security design.

Career Value and Market Position

Check Point certifications carry specific, targeted weight. They do not hold the broad, generic appeal of a CompTIA Security+ or an ISC2 CISSP. Instead, they serve as technical proof for hands-on roles.

If a company runs Palo Alto Networks or Fortinet, a Check Point credential will not move your resume to the top of the pile. However, in Check Point-heavy environments, the CCSA is often a hard requirement for employment. Contract roles and managed service providers (MSPs) frequently require a specific number of certified staff on payroll to maintain their vendor partner status.

The exams demand precise knowledge of Check Point's proprietary terminology. You must know the difference between a Security Management Server and a Security Gateway, and you must understand how Software Blades license and activate specific features.

Check Point updates its exams to match major software releases. The current R81.20 track reflects the latest iteration of their threat prevention architecture. Holding an R81.20 credential signals to an employer that you understand their modern operating system, not just legacy hardware from a decade ago.

Exam Realities

Check Point exams are proctored through Pearson VUE and lean heavily on scenario-based multiple-choice questions. You will not find interactive lab simulations on the standard exams, but the questions are written to simulate administrative tasks.

A common question format presents a specific error message or a misconfigured rulebase and asks you to identify the correct sequence of clicks or command-line inputs to fix it. This approach punishes candidates who rely solely on reading study guides. If you have not typed fw monitor into a command line or watched a policy install fail in SmartConsole, the troubleshooting questions will expose that gap.