What does the CompTIA PenTest+ complexity score measure?

It measures how structurally demanding the questions are, not the official pass rate. We score every question in our CompTIA PenTest+ bank on four measurable signals and combine them into a 1-10 score. Higher means more multi-select items, longer scenario questions, more interactive code items and deeper explanations — that is, questions that require reasoning rather than recall.

Which CompTIA PenTest+ domain is the hardest?

By our measurement, Engagement Management is the hardest domain in the CompTIA PenTest+ bank, scoring 2.0 out of 10. The most approachable domain is Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement at 1.8.

How many questions were analysed?

We analysed 90 Foundation questions for the CompTIA PenTest+, split across 5 exam domains. The figures on this page are recomputed from the live bank on every crawl, so they never drift from what you actually get in a practice session.

Is this the official pass rate?

No, and we do not publish one, because vendors do not release reliable per-domain pass rates. This is our own measurement of the bank. Treat it as a map of where the demanding questions sit in the blueprint, not as a prediction of your score.

Measured data

CompTIA PenTest+

Name: CompTIA PenTest+ exam question complexity by domain
Creator: CERTILUM

PT0-003

We scored 90 real CompTIA PenTest+ exam questions 1-10 on question complexity and broke the result down by exam domain.

90 questions scored

5 domains

1.9/10 overall complexity

certilum

Complexity by exam domain

Higher scores mean more demanding question formats. The exam score is computed over the whole bank, not averaged across domains.

Exam complexity score1.9/10Gentle · measured across 90 bank questions

Attacks and Exploits31 questions · complexity 1.9/10 · Gentle
32% multi-select · 0% scenario · 32% interactive
Engagement Management12 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle
33% multi-select · 0% scenario · 33% interactive
Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement13 questions · complexity 1.8/10 · Gentle
31% multi-select · 0% scenario · 31% interactive
Reconnaissance and Enumeration19 questions · complexity 1.9/10 · Gentle
32% multi-select · 0% scenario · 32% interactive
Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis15 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle
33% multi-select · 0% scenario · 33% interactive

Full per-domain breakdown

Blueprint weight, bank size and question format mix for every domain of the exam.

Domain	Blueprint	Questions	Single	Multi	Interactive	Complexity
Attacks and Exploits	35%	31	11	10	10	1.9/10Gentle
Engagement Management	13%	12	4	4	4	2.0/10Gentle
Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement	14%	13	5	4	4	1.8/10Gentle
Reconnaissance and Enumeration	21%	19	7	6	6	1.9/10Gentle
Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis	17%	15	5	5	5	2.0/10Gentle

How the score is calculated

The formula is fixed and public, so anyone can reproduce these numbers from the same bank.

Every question in the CompTIA PenTest+ bank is measured on four signals that can be read directly from the database. Each signal is expressed as a share of the questions in the domain, and the four shares are combined with fixed weights:

Multi-select questions (40% weight). Items with more than one correct answer. The candidate has to find all of them, which is the single hardest format in the bank.
Scenario questions (30% weight). Questions longer than 150 characters, which describe a situation instead of a definition and therefore test reasoning rather than recall.
Interactive questions (20% weight). Items that require reading code or a configuration snippet.
Deep explanations (10% weight). Questions whose explanation runs past 300 characters, which signals a concept with real nuance behind it.

The combined share is multiplied by ten to produce a 1-10 score. The exam-level score is computed over the whole bank rather than averaged across domains, so a small domain cannot distort the total. Figures on this page are recomputed from the live bank on every crawl.

Data set: Certilum CompTIA PenTest+ Foundation question bank, 90 questions, 5 domains. Published by CERTILUM. This is Certilum’s own measurement of its own question bank and is not an official CompTIA statistic.

Questions analysed: 90
Exam domains: 5
Hardest domain: Engagement Management (2.0)
Most approachable domain: Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement (1.8)
Question mix: 32 single · 29 multi · 29 interactive
Measured on: Foundation

Back to the CompTIA PenTest+ practice page Read the questions

Frequently asked questions

What our CompTIA PenTest+ complexity numbers mean and how they are produced.