Practice Area

The Practice Area is where Gameboard players can go to rehearse challenges and labs to become proficient in certain skills. Practice Area is a lightweight version of a formal competition.

After logging into Gameboard, click Practice in the main navigation.

The Practice Area contains a greeting configured by a Gameboard admin for your organization or environment and a list of challenges designated for practice.

You can search for a challenge to practice on.

You can copy a link to your search by selecting the clipboard icon next to the search field. In the example above, you may want to share the list of challenges/labs that have "firewall" content with another Gameboard user.

Under Need a place to start? the Gameboard admin may have configured some suggested searches for participants. Players can select one of these tags to be directed to a set of available practice challenges. Gameboard admins should refer to "Suggested searches" in the Admin Practice Area.

Starting a practice session

To start a practice session:

1. Select a challenge, then click Start Practice Session, and Confirm. You can only launch one practice challenge at a time.
2. Read the challenge guide. The challenge guide provides details and instructions for completing the practice challenge.
3. Read the solution guide (optional). Solution guide URLs must be configured by Gameboard administrators; not every challenge or lab has a solution guide.
4. Launch the challenge consoles. Clicking a challenge console opens it in a new web browser tab. Challenge consoles allow players to directly interact with the virtual machines as they complete the practice challenge.
5. Answer the challenge questions. Enter your answers for each question and click Submit My Answers, and Confirm to submit your answer.

Using copy/paste in the consoles

Follow the steps below to transfer text between your local machine (out of game) and a virtual machine (in game).

Local to VM

1. Copy text from your local machine.
2. In the VM console, open Tools (cog icon) and paste into the Clipboard.
3. In the VM, select a destination and click Paste.

VM to Local

1. Copy text inside the VM.
2. In Tools, place your cursor in the Clipboard, then click Copy.
3. Paste into a local application.

For additional information on how copy/paste works in the VM consoles, see this Copy and paste article.

Extending time or ending the session

To add more time to your session, click Extend Session, and Confirm to extend the amount of time remaining.

To close this practice challenge and try a different one, click End Session, and Confirm to end the practice challenge session.

Using the Sticky Challenge Panel

Challenge consoles and challenge questions are located at the bottom of the Active Practice Challenge screen by default. Players using devices with large screens can take advantage of the Sticky Challenge Panel.

Click Turn on the Sticky Challenge Panel at the top of the screen or click Use Sticky Challenge Panel at the bottom of the screen to attach a panel to the side of the challenge guide. This panel contains the challenge consoles and challenge questions.

The Sticky Challenge Panel is used to reduce scrolling when entering answers when a practice challenge has a lengthy challenge guide.

Select Click here to deactivate the sticky challenge panel to turn off the Sticky Challenge Panel.

Creating a practice challenge support ticket

Click Create Ticket to create a support ticket if you are experiencing a technical difficulty.

For a full treatment of Gameboard's Support feature, please see the Using the Integrated Support Feature section of the docs.

Obtaining a completion certificate

You can view and print any certificate you earned in competition or in practice at any time from your Profile screen. In the main navigation, click Profile. Then, select the Certificates link.

If your attempt to solve the practice challenge is unsuccessful (you've run out of time or used your allotted submissions), you can try the challenge again or return to the Practice Area to find another challenge. No certificates are awarded for partially completing a practice challenge.

For additional information on obtaining completion certificates, please see the Profile screen section of the docs.

Administering the Practice Area

Gameboard administrators configure global Practice Area settings including: a practice page greeting, certificate template, and session limits in the Gameboard Administration settings. For help on configuring these settings, see the Admin Practice Area documentation.