Colored Gemstone Course
I finished my Gemological Institute of America (GIA) course which I posted about here. It was interesting and in a few ways uncomfortable.
The interesting parts were everything I learned (or, in many cases, confirmed) about things like inclusions and stone-cutting and such. The uncomfortable part is that it was primarily aimed at people who want to sell colored gemstones; so, for instance, one whole chapter was on building a sales pitch. A lot of the advice of stuff to do were things which make me grind my teeth when done to me, like saying the person's name (too) often. This class is, however, a prerequisite for the course I really want to take, colored gemstone identification.
The final tally was 15/15 for the 8 quizzes, and 48/50 on the final exam. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they don't let you look at the final to see where you went wrong. Also unfortunately, though you have three shots at taking the final, you can only repeat it if you get fewer than 38 questions correct. Thus, I can't try again for 100%.
The next step is going to take some doing. The next course in the series is, as noted about, gemstone identification. That is far more technical, and involves using various methods to see if that pretty blue shiny rock is, say, sapphire or tanzanite or glass, and if it is sapphire, whether it was natural, treated, or lab-created. It is also a two-year course and involves some lab aspects which would require airfare and hotels and such. It's also just a bit more expensive than the 3-month course I just took (understatement alert) for tuition. One of the good things about online courses is that I can start them whenever, so I have some time to figure things out.
The interesting parts were everything I learned (or, in many cases, confirmed) about things like inclusions and stone-cutting and such. The uncomfortable part is that it was primarily aimed at people who want to sell colored gemstones; so, for instance, one whole chapter was on building a sales pitch. A lot of the advice of stuff to do were things which make me grind my teeth when done to me, like saying the person's name (too) often. This class is, however, a prerequisite for the course I really want to take, colored gemstone identification.
The final tally was 15/15 for the 8 quizzes, and 48/50 on the final exam. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they don't let you look at the final to see where you went wrong. Also unfortunately, though you have three shots at taking the final, you can only repeat it if you get fewer than 38 questions correct. Thus, I can't try again for 100%.
The next step is going to take some doing. The next course in the series is, as noted about, gemstone identification. That is far more technical, and involves using various methods to see if that pretty blue shiny rock is, say, sapphire or tanzanite or glass, and if it is sapphire, whether it was natural, treated, or lab-created. It is also a two-year course and involves some lab aspects which would require airfare and hotels and such. It's also just a bit more expensive than the 3-month course I just took (understatement alert) for tuition. One of the good things about online courses is that I can start them whenever, so I have some time to figure things out.