Certification guide
CEHCertified Ethical Hacker (CEH): the honest guide
Everything EC-Council publishes about CEH, in one place: what the exam asks, how the domains are weighted, and what it takes to be ready.
This guide page is built from the registry, not written yet.
Everything below comes from CEH’s published exam data, and every figure links to the vendor page it came from. The researched version, with study plans and the parts nobody publishes, is still being written. This page is not submitted to search engines until it is.
Practice CEH questions in the meantimeWhat the exam actually asks you to do
Multiple choice and multiple response only. No simulations, no labs, and nothing to configure.
Item formats
- Multiple choice
- Multiple response
Nothing here needs a lab. Reading carefully and eliminating options is the whole skill. EC-Council, CEH exam details ↗
Domain breakdown and official weightings
From the official EC-Council exam blueprints. Network and Perimeter Hacking is the heaviest domain at 24 percent, followed by Reconnaissance Techniques at 17 percent.
- Information Security and Ethical Hacking Overview6%
- Reconnaissance Techniques17%
- System Hacking Phases and Attack Techniques15%
- Network and Perimeter Hacking24%
- Web Application Hacking14%
- Wireless Network Hacking5%
- Mobile Platform, IoT, and OT Hacking10%
- Cloud Computing5%
- Cryptography5%
Where to focus: Network and Perimeter Hacking is 24 percent of the blueprint, almost a quarter of the exam and nearly the weight of Reconnaissance and Web Application Hacking combined, so sniffing, social engineering, denial-of-service, session hijacking and evading IDS and firewalls are where preparation pays back fastest. EC-Council allows 4 hours for 125 questions, which is close to two minutes each, and it weights questions by difficulty rather than publishing one cut score, so there is no fixed number of items you can afford to lose.
What comes after passing
CEH is valid for 3 years. EC-Council states the CEH credential is valid for 3 year periods and is renewed by earning EC-Council Continuing Education (ECE) credits: 120 credits per certification within a period of three years. Candidates who bypass official training pay a non-refundable eligibility application fee of $100 before they can buy a voucher, and a voucher is valid for one year from purchase, extendable once by three months for $35.
Costs across the full renewal cycle are on the CEH cost page.
Frequently asked questions
What does the CEH exam cost?
EC-Council's store lists the CEH Exam Voucher for Pearson VUE at $1,199 and the CEH Retake Exam Voucher for Pearson VUE at $500. Candidates who skip official training and apply for eligibility directly also pay a non-refundable eligibility application fee of $100 before they can buy a voucher.
What score do you need to pass CEH?
EC-Council does not publish a single cut score. The certification page states the exam is 4 hours with 125 multiple-choice questions, that each question is weighted according to the domain and difficulty, and that the passing score is 60% to 85%. Which figure applies depends on the exam form a candidate is served.
Is CEH hands-on?
The CEH knowledge exam is multiple choice, delivered online through the ECC exam portal. EC-Council sells a separate optional CEH Practical exam, 6 hours and 20 real-world challenges in the iLabs Cyber Range, and passing both earns the CEH Master designation. Our practice exams cover the knowledge exam.
How long is CEH valid and how is it renewed?
EC-Council's candidate handbook states the credential is valid for 3 year periods and is renewed by earning EC-Council Continuing Education credits, with a total of 120 credits per certification required within three years.
Keep reading
- CEH practice questions
Free sample questions with the full explanation on every answer.
- Free CEH practice test
10 original questions, playable now. No account, no card.
- CEH exam objectives
The full official blueprint, with practice pages on covered objectives.
- CEH exam format
How many questions, how long, what the items look like, and how long it stays valid.
- CEH passing score
The exact cut score, what kind of number it is, and the retake terms.
- How hard is CEH?
An honest difficulty read from the format, the clock and the weights.
Practice CEH for free while you decide
Original questions written from the published objectives, with the concept, the reasoning, and a note on every wrong option. No account needed to start.
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