> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.cubelet.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.cubelet.ai/your-passport/earning-your-first-credential.md).

# Earning your first credential

*This is the exact loop that turns a Cubelet you've studied into a credential on your Passport.*

## The loop, step by step

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Study the Cubelet

Open any Cubelet from the Catalog and work through its faces — WHAT, WHY, HOW, WHERE, WHEN. This is preparation. On its own, reading doesn't add anything to your Passport.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Run its judgment drill

On the Cubelet page, click "06 · APPLY — Judgment simulator — test your reasoning — Start →". This launches a Case: a scored, live scenario against a fictional organization. As you respond, the session moves through stages like **Inquiry** and **Challenge**, and after each move you get a "🔍 Mirror — Reasoning Pattern Check" — structured feedback on how you reasoned, not just a right/wrong flag. Your first response can take about 40 seconds to come back; that's normal generation time, not a stall.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Pass it

Complete the Case successfully and your Passport updates on its own — there's no separate "claim" step. The product's own words for this moment: "Competencies appear here once simulations are passed in Pursuit." (Pursuit is the route behind what your sidebar calls In Progress.)
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Two different "credentials" numbers

{% hint style="info" %}
The badge in your top bar (for example, "5 credentials") counts the certification areas you're **licensed to study** — CISA, CISM, CMMC, and so on. It has nothing to do with what you've earned. Your actual earned count lives only on the Passport page: the identity line ("0 credentials") and the Competency Attestations table ("0 attested"). That number moves only when you pass a Case.
{% endhint %}

![The Passport page in its empty state, showing 0 credentials and an empty Competency Attestations table](https://pub-e571df93f3dd406f8a9c1c301e8181b6.r2.dev/help-center/v1/passport.png)

Until you pass your first Case, this is what you'll see every time you visit — and it's correct, not broken.