Learn by doing. Challenge Mode in Hands-On Labs allows students to test their knowledge and skills independently without access to instructional videos and guides.
Note: Challenge mode is exclusive to our Personal Plus and Business memberships.
Unlike our Guided Mode for Hands-On Labs, Challenge Mode requires students to complete the Lab without instructions or guides. Students will need to submit the lab before their work can be checked.
How to find Challenge Mode (opens in new tab)
- Click Labs from the top of the Student Dashboard.
- Select the Labs with Challenge Mode filter.
- There is a white banner encouraging you to Try Challenge Mode for Labs with Challenge Mode available.
Starting and using Challenge Mode
- Select the Lab you'd like to use in Challenge Mode from the list of available Labs.
- Before starting, you can switch to Challenge Mode or back to Challenge Mode from the dropdown on the left.
- Once the lab is submitted, you will see a results page showing your score overall as well as your Pass/Fail status by objective.
How are Challenge Labs Scored?
Our Content team uses their technical expertise to determine how each lab is scored. Factors that impact this determination could include:
- The number of objectives within a lab
- What the objectives are/ the type of objectives
- What is defined as proficient (e.g., a passing score).
As with quizzes and exams, students will see a green % at the top of the completion page to indicate a Passing status, and a red % to indicate a Failing status.
If you believe your score was calculated incorrectly, or that there may be an issue with the lab, let us know. Use the content rating system to up/down vote with comments, or create a support ticket.
Why are some objectives not scored?
Some objectives are not measurable because they are prerequisites, too simple or too complex. For example, an objective that requires you to go to the AWS sandbox, which is merely visiting a web page, is too simple to score. Additionally, objectives that may be considered prerequisites to larger objectives are not scored to simplify/speed the scoring process.
Will all labs have a scoring option or Challenge Mode eventually?
ACG currently has over 1,600 published labs. It will take us some time to add the scoring capability to a majority of labs, but we’ll be doing that on an ongoing basis. However, labs slated for retirement or replacement in the near future, as well as some high-complexity labs, may never have the scoring capability added.
If you need help, please contact Pluralsight Support.