Time, notes, and not blocking a teammate

A short session can disappear into one stuck attempt. Set a timebox before beginning: a date, end time and time zone at which you will review your progress. At that point, decide whether to continue, hand off or choose another task using what you have learned.

A handoff is a short note that lets another permitted teammate continue without repeating your work. Record the challenge, exact action, result and next question. Separate observation from inference: “the file was missing” is a result; “the download failed” may still be an untested explanation.

Before you begin

Recommended first: Where practice is allowed, How to take notes, Logs as evidence, Binary, hex, Base64, and URL encoding, HTTP methods, headers, status codes, cookies, Picking a category you are ready for
Estimated time: 12 min reading, 15 min activity. Setup and optional practice may take longer.
Where you work: Use the original fictional Desk Lamp board and supplied files in any current desktop or mobile browser. No account, event registration, installation or network request is required. Keep draft notes in your own file.
Without a lab: All board rows, requests, rules and log lines needed for reasoning are printed here. Trace them in notes and compare with the activity rubric; label fictional or predicted evidence accurately. Reading works without JavaScript. Checking needs JavaScript and a secure context; saving also needs usable browser storage.

After this lesson you can:

Fill a handoff with the last action, the result, and one next question.
Repair a note that only says a card does not work.
Choose the note a teammate can reproduce.

01Example

Worked handoff for F-3. The activity card is W-8. Nothing was sent, and the note has no solution line.

Card: F-3
Owner: file reader
Last action: read the first line of the local note
Result: the spare lamp is on shelf 2
Next question: does a later card cite shelf 2, or is this the only line?
Timebox end: 2026-10-12 18:20 UTC
Sharing: the note stays in the owner's file

02What a teammate can repeat

A useful note supplies enough context to repeat the action: which file or printed request, what you read, and the result or exact error available in the evidence. “Does not work” supplies none of that. If you have not performed an action, label it planned rather than inventing a result.

Add a time with its zone and name the intended audience. A private handoff under a team-permitted rule differs from a public solution. Keep answers and sensitive event material within the event's sharing policy. This course only asks you to draft locally; it sends no message.

Keep a short timebox, and hand a teammate the action, the result, and one next question.Model. A teaching model drawn by hand. It shows the idea, not real tool output.

Read the full explanation below.

Sharing boundary

1Card: F-3
2Owner: file reader
3Last action: read the first line of the local note
4Result: the spare lamp is on shelf 2
5Next question: does a later card cite shelf 2, or is this the only line?
6Timebox end: 2026-10-12 18:20 UTC
7Sharing: the note stays in the owner's file

CardLast actionResultNext questionTimeboxSharing boundary

What this part means

The card, action, result and next question let a teammate repeat the reasoning.

Shelf 2 is this line’s supplied result, not a new observation.

The card, action, result and next question let a teammate repeat the reasoning. Shelf 2 is this line’s supplied result, not a new observation.

Follow the explanation

The card, action, result and next question let a teammate repeat the reasoning. Shelf 2 is this line’s supplied result, not a new observation.
The timebox and local sharing line remain part of the note. No note is sent or published.

Read every state and value

1. The card, action, result and next question let a teammate repeat the reasoning. Shelf 2 is this line’s supplied result, not a new observation.

Selected parts: Card · Last action · Result · Next question
Explanation: repeat

2. The timebox and local sharing line remain part of the note. No note is sent or published.

Selected parts: Timebox · Sharing boundary
Explanation: stop

A reproducible handoff includes action, result and next question; this scene sends nothing.

03Repair the stalled note

Compare the template with the stalled card. Write the repair in your own file.

Handoff
Card id:
Owner:
Last action:
Result:
Next question:
Timebox end, with a date and a zone:
Sharing: this note stays in the owner's file. No solution line. Nothing is sent.

Download the handoff template

Stalled note
Label: the activity note. It is a complaint. It is not a handoff.

Card: W-8
Note: does not work
Time spent: a long time
Owner: unnamed

Download the stalled note

Card W-8
Label: saved request. Do not send it. desk.example is a fictional name in this packet. No lookup.

GET /lamp HTTP/1.1
Host: desk.example
Accept: text/plain
Connection: close

Download the supplied W-8 request for the repair

List the fields the stalled note already has. It has a card id and a complaint.
Use the supplied W-8 request above as the evidence. Draft the action “read the saved request's first line” and result “GET /lamp HTTP/1.1 is printed.” Label this a source-reading model, then add the next question you would investigate.
Put a timebox end on the note with a date and UTC.
Check: the repair has a last action, a result, and a next question. Stop. Do not send the request.

04Optional challenge

The saved request file is missing from a teammate's folder. Write a shorter fallback: read the request printed on this page, set a revisit time with a date and a zone, and leave the host untouched. About ten minutes.

05Fresh cases for the checks

Use these fictional cases for the checks below. They have different inputs from the worked examples. Read them here or make notes; no installation or external service is needed.

Session card A: independent fictional recordOwned fixture. An original file made for this course. Follow the activity's instructions in your own lab.

Card: K7. Owner: Emi.
2026-10-23 09:05 UTC: opened the printed saved request.
2026-10-23 09:07 UTC: read request line GET /catalog HTTP/1.1.
Result recorded: method GET, path /catalog. No request was sent.
Next planned action: inspect the Host field. No Host-reading result is recorded yet.
Timebox review: 2026-10-23 09:15 UTC. Notes stay in the owner’s file.

Repair card B: separate stalled recordOwned fixture. An original file made for this course. Follow the activity's instructions in your own lab.

Card: N4. Owner: Rui. The local note file is missing from the folder.
A printed fallback on the page is available. No fallback reading has happened.
Current time: 2026-10-23 10:10 UTC. Review in 10 minutes.
Draft complaint: does not work.
Required note fields: exact action/result, one next question, date/time/zone, local audience.

Review card COwned fixture. An original file made for this course. Follow the activity's instructions in your own lab.

An attempt was paused at 11:00 UTC. The owner has recorded the exact file, last completed action, error text and next question. A 10-minute review point was agreed. No second attempt has happened.

06Explain the evidence and its limit

Optional self-check: draft a handoff containing card, owner, exact action, actual result, next question, dated zoned review and permitted audience.

Review it: another permitted reader can repeat the action; every unperformed step stays labeled planned; the note contains no public solution or invented progress.

07Common mistakes

If the repair keeps only does not work, the teammate still has no action to repeat.

If the next question is replaced with a solution sentence, the note became a spoiler. This board has no flag to put there.

If the timebox end is a clock time with no date and no zone, another reader cannot place it.

Check 1
Use Session card A. Which path was read in the last completed action? Enter the path only, preserving its spelling and leading slash.
Format: A full path that starts with /. A trailing slash is ignored except for / itself. Capital and lowercase letters must match.
Check 2
Use independent Repair card B. Which note supplies a reproducible state and a bounded next step without inventing work?
- N4 solved from the fallback; the first line is known, although no reading occurred.
- N4 does not work; try again sometime.
- N4, Rui: local note missing; next question: can the printed fallback supply its first line? Review 2026-10-23 10:20 UTC; keep local.
- Post N4 publicly and ask strangers for the answer.
Check 3
Use Session card A. Match each line to its evidence role.
- Read GET /catalog HTTP/1.1
- Method GET and path /catalog
- Inspect the Host field
Check 4 (optional)
Optional: use independent Review card C. At what UTC time should the agreed review happen? Enter HH:MM only using a 24-hour clock.
Format: Match the text, including capital and lowercase letters. Spaces at the ends do not matter.

0 of 3 required checks answered.

Practice

References

pwn.college: Register ground rules
States pwn.college's own restrictions on publishing challenge solutions. Apply each event's actual rules rather than assuming a universal release.
CTFd: What are flags
A flag is the proof that a participant completed a challenge, and the platform checks a submission against stored flags. This course's checker is a separate box.