A telephony trainer and exerciser allows a user of the telephony system to practice and train using the telephony system and its various features. The telephony trainer and exerciser system provides at least one automated responder, and more preferably, a plurality of automated responders that can be called by the user, thereby allowing the user to practice different operating features of the telephony system. Using a recognizer agent, the automated responders are able to distinguish between commands given by the user and similar statements given by another automated responder. The trainer and exerciser system optionally includes a correlator agent to provide an audio and/or written transcript of the practice session. A coaching feature is also optionally provided to assist a user in operating the trainer and exerciser and/or the telephony system.