slog, slog
I finally managed to get the tests from both study guides installed on my decripit PC. I didn't realize how decripit it was till I tried to install these things. It took forever.
Last night I had given up on getting them to work on my computer and went to L's house to do them on her computer. Alas, 'twas not a happy thing. When I am studying and have just finished a whole section of square roots in fractions or some damn thing, it's still fresh enough in my head that I can muddle through. Give me time to forget, however, and my brain will happily slough off anything so esoteric.
The bad news is that I only got about 2/3 done with the math test I took, and got half of the questions I answered wrong. The good news is that I got half of them right. What I did find reassuring, though, is that the test just kept plugging along and never once put up windows with flags flying and people pointing at me laughing because I screwed up. I knew I got one of them wrong, however, when it sent me the same question back with different numbers. This is the first computer adaptive test I've taken, and it's a bit unnerving. I keep wishing I could skip the question I don't know and try to come back to it later. (As if, in the meanwhile, the heavens will open, trumpets will sound, and angels will unfurl a banner showing me the right way to do the problem.)
I had a "click" moment last night (that would be an epiphany for those of you who prefer exactitude to jargon) when I said somsething about "the only chance I'll have to take the test" and L said "The first time." And looked at me hopefully, waiting for me to get it. I stared at her stupidly for a moment. What does she mean, the FIRST time? Like I'm going to have to take it AGAIN? And then it hit me. I've always been a good test taker, and passed even the four-day architecture exam the first time. I mean, that's what my teachers at UK expected me to do, and that's what I did. I expect to be able to do that with everything academic and test oriented. Facts and reality have nothing to do with inner expectations, and no one's ever as hard on me as I am on myself.
So, I'm off to review the basic stuff again, hoping it sticks long enough to actually use on a test. Especially the real one. I may have to carry a brown paper bag to breathe into until the test-- you know, during those random anxiety attacks. This'd be a good time to have that old T-shirt I used to have.... "Free-floating anxiety." Heh.
Last night I had given up on getting them to work on my computer and went to L's house to do them on her computer. Alas, 'twas not a happy thing. When I am studying and have just finished a whole section of square roots in fractions or some damn thing, it's still fresh enough in my head that I can muddle through. Give me time to forget, however, and my brain will happily slough off anything so esoteric.
The bad news is that I only got about 2/3 done with the math test I took, and got half of the questions I answered wrong. The good news is that I got half of them right. What I did find reassuring, though, is that the test just kept plugging along and never once put up windows with flags flying and people pointing at me laughing because I screwed up. I knew I got one of them wrong, however, when it sent me the same question back with different numbers. This is the first computer adaptive test I've taken, and it's a bit unnerving. I keep wishing I could skip the question I don't know and try to come back to it later. (As if, in the meanwhile, the heavens will open, trumpets will sound, and angels will unfurl a banner showing me the right way to do the problem.)
I had a "click" moment last night (that would be an epiphany for those of you who prefer exactitude to jargon) when I said somsething about "the only chance I'll have to take the test" and L said "The first time." And looked at me hopefully, waiting for me to get it. I stared at her stupidly for a moment. What does she mean, the FIRST time? Like I'm going to have to take it AGAIN? And then it hit me. I've always been a good test taker, and passed even the four-day architecture exam the first time. I mean, that's what my teachers at UK expected me to do, and that's what I did. I expect to be able to do that with everything academic and test oriented. Facts and reality have nothing to do with inner expectations, and no one's ever as hard on me as I am on myself.
So, I'm off to review the basic stuff again, hoping it sticks long enough to actually use on a test. Especially the real one. I may have to carry a brown paper bag to breathe into until the test-- you know, during those random anxiety attacks. This'd be a good time to have that old T-shirt I used to have.... "Free-floating anxiety." Heh.