Newbie Questions

[Imp]

am trying to get a feeling of how badly I am doing in a scenario to see if I need to push more to capture another objective

Getting the tempo right is one of the hardest things to master, you will rarely get it right. Start off to slowly & you could pay later as you need to hurry later.
Certainly when you are learning I would aim to control all VP by game end, they are your objectives so plan to take them at the start. If capturing the last few means a "mad rush" then consider letting them be things rarely go as planned even for a seasoned player so adapt as needed.