Labs and challenges
The Practice area (/practice) separates two ways to practise.
Prove it: test-out exams and capture the flag
Section titled “Prove it: test-out exams and capture the flag”Open Challenges (/challenges).
- Test-out exams. Beat the pass mark and you test out of a whole module. See Exams and certificates.
- Capture the flag (CTF). Solve a real hands-on problem, find the flag, and submit it. Flags are checked on the server, so a flag only validates if you actually did the work. Capture-the-flag challenges are part of the Pro plan.
Build it: labs
Section titled “Build it: labs”- Lesson labs. Almost every lesson has a lab built into the page, with a command-line practice area, a simulated device, or a code workspace (Python, SQL or web).
- Project labs (
/labs). Longer self-contained challenges that combine several skills: configure a whole branch network, fix a live outage, or write real security tooling. They are different from the short labs inside lessons.
Everything runs in your browser. You do not install anything.
- Use the first lesson of any Pro course as a free preview of how its labs work.
- Labs are safe to break. Many are designed around a deliberate fault so you practise diagnosing, repairing and documenting it.
- If a lab will not load, refresh the page and check that your browser allows the site to run scripts. If it still fails, open a support ticket and say which lab and what you saw.