Top 6 Things to know for getting better at CTF's

1) Read CTF write‑ups—every day (15 minutes is enough)

My wise friend Cisco once told me:

“If you start reading just 5 CTF write‑ups a day, by the end of this year you’ll be 10× more skilled than you are today. Just start, rn! That’s ~150 write‑ups a month. You’ll learn 30–40 unique techniques—no course can match that.”

He was right. Why reading works:

  • Pattern recognition: after 50–100 write‑ups, you start spotting vuln smells instantly—off‑by‑one loops, unchecked deserialization, unsafe eval, template injections, time‑of‑check/time‑of‑use.
  • Source‑first thinking: you internalize where bugs usually live in frameworks (auth middleware, upload handlers, caching layers, serialization glue).
  • Exploit schemas: you collect mental templates—SSTI → read config → popen → shell, XXE → file read → creds → pivot, padding oracle → decryption → cookie forge.
  • Speed: seeing many solutions teaches you what to try first and what to ignore.

2) Find a team or community you can learn from

Solo is fine; teams are rocket fuel. A good team gives you:

  • Exposure to new categories you’d never touch alone.
  • Pair‑debugging: someone to rubber‑duck with when you’re stuck.
  • Feedback: code reviews on your exploits; better payload hygiene.
  • Momentum: accountability keeps you showing up.

Look for university clubs, local meetups, CTFtime teams, or Discords that match your vibe. Be the person who shares notes and writes post‑mortems—that’s how you get better and become valuable.

3) You can’t master every category—go T‑shaped

CTFs are huge: web, pwn, crypto, forensics, rev, mobile, hardware… Trying to master everything leads to shallow wins. Go T‑shaped:

  • Depth: pick one primary lane (e.g., Web or Crypto) and build deep skills there.
  • Breadth: learn enough of the rest to collaborate and pivot during comps.

A simple plan

  • Choose 1 category for a 12‑week focus.
  • Do 3–5 targeted labs per week + 1 mini‑project (e.g., write a tiny parser, build a toy service with the vuln baked in, then patch it).
  • After 12 weeks, rotate or double‑down depending on your interest.

4) Rome wasn’t built in a day (but it was built daily)

Progress feels slow—then it’s sudden. Your job is to keep the flywheel spinning:

  • Tiny daily reps > weekend binges.
  • Track inputs, not just outputs (minutes practiced, labs solved, write‑ups read).
  • Embrace plateaus: that’s your brain consolidating patterns.
  • Rest matters. Burnout kills curiosity.

5) Learn from open‑source docs—and the source itself

The best teachers often aren’t courses—they’re docs, RFCs, and code:

  • Read official docs (frameworks, crypto libs, web servers) and try the examples.
  • Skim RFCs when you hunt protocol bugs (HTTP, TLS, DNS, OAuth, JWT). Even 15 minutes helps.
  • Read the source of vulnerable apps and common middleware; search for keywords like eval, pickle, yaml.load, md5, redirect, exec, strcpy.
  • Follow issue trackers/PRs—you’ll learn real‑world bug patterns and how maintainers fix them.

Make a habit of writing a one‑page note per topic with: what it is, how it breaks, how to detect, how to exploit safely, how to fix.

6) Keep master notes for cybersecurity

A great memory is overrated; a great notes system is unstoppable. Keep one master knowledge base you update daily so patterns stick and you don’t solve the same problem twice.

What to capture (use a template):

  • What: vuln name + one‑sentence summary
  • Root cause: where it lives in code/infra
  • Detect: logs, smells, quick probes
  • Exploit: minimal PoC + gotchas
  • Impact: concrete outcomes (data read/write, auth bypass)
  • Fix: patch/config/defense‑in‑depth
  • References: best write‑ups, RFCs, CVEs
  • Payloads/Snippets: copy‑paste ready

Folder structure (example):

notes/
cheatsheets/
payloads/
writeups/ # your summaries of others' posts
labs/ # your own solved labs + docker compose
scripts/ # PoC skeletons, one-liners

Closing

CTFs reward curiosity, consistency, and community. Read a little every day, find teammates who stretch you, specialize with intent, be patient with the process, and learn straight from the docs and code. Do that, and your scoreboard will take care of itself.

Resources