# Practice Before Your First Call (/docs/guides/agents/practice-calls)



You don't have to wait for a real call to learn the call screen. A practice
call opens the exact same screen you'll use on a live call, with a script, a
customer, and your panels, but nobody is dialed and nothing you do is saved.

It's the best way to spend your first ten minutes in careCycle.

Start a practice call [#start-a-practice-call]

1. Click your avatar in the top right corner.
2. Choose **Start Practice Call**.
3. In **Simulate a Call**, pick:
   * **Direction:** **Inbound** rings like a real incoming call, so you can
     practice answering it. **Outbound** connects right away, like a number
     you dialed yourself.
   * **Routing Group:** the team you take calls for. The practice call uses
     that group's script and wrap-up dispositions, so you see exactly what a
     real call from that line looks like.
   * **Customer** (optional): search for a real customer by name, phone, or
     email to practice with their details. Leave it blank to use a sample
     caller.
4. Click **Start Practice Call**.

A banner across the top reminds you it's a practice call: no one is on the
line, and nothing you change is saved.

What to try [#what-to-try]

Treat it like your first real call:

* **Answer it.** On an inbound practice call, the incoming call card rings
  just like the real thing. Click to answer.
* **Follow the script.** Step through it with **Previous** and **Next**, and
  fill in the fields.
* **Open your panels.** Add the ones you'll use most, like **Customer Info**
  (⌥3), **Notes** (⌥2), and **Policies** (⌥4), and drag them where you want
  them. See [Working a Call](/docs/guides/agents/working-a-call#the-panels).
* **Find your controls.** Mute, Hold, Add someone, the keypad, and Hang up
  all sit in the header. Nothing reaches anyone, so click around.
* **Wrap it up.** Hang up and you'll get a **Practice Wrap-Up**, so you can
  practice picking a disposition. See [Wrap-Up and
  Dispositions](/docs/guides/agents/wrap-up-and-dispositions).

To stop early, click **End Practice** in the banner. It ends right away, with
no wrap-up.

Good to know [#good-to-know]

* **Nothing is saved.** Changes to the customer, notes, and dispositions are
  thrown away when the practice call ends. Quoting in HealthSherpa is turned
  off too, since that would send the customer to HealthSherpa.
* **Real calls come first.** If a real call comes in while you're practicing,
  the real call takes over.
* **One at a time.** You can't start a practice call while you're on a real
  call or still wrapping one up. Finish that first.
* **Anyone can do it.** Every signed-in user can start a practice call. It's a
  great thing to have new agents do on day one.

<Cards>
  <Card title="Making and Taking Calls" href="/docs/guides/agents/making-and-taking-calls">
    Going Available and answering real calls.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Working a Call" href="/docs/guides/agents/working-a-call">
    Everything on the call screen, panel by panel.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Wrap-Up and Dispositions" href="/docs/guides/agents/wrap-up-and-dispositions">
    Closing out a call.
  </Card>
</Cards>