I have seen such issues before, almost always it is the management who panics after a visit from a Avaya representive saying: "by the end of next month you must have all the required accreditations otherwise we stop the Avaya Partnership."
Then the managemet tell a "volunteer" to pass the test within two weeks, no matter what. And most often the point out the one person with the most change to do that, usually their best employee.
The idea is OK but the approach sucks, they should have told you the truth and hand over everything they can lay hands on to make you successful with a bonus to look forward to. That is how a good management team deal with this kind of situations apart from saying to Avaya "f*ck you, we pay good money for your products".