Taking the Test

 

For quite some time, I was counting down to 17 June 2011. Months turned into weeks, and weeks in days. And all of a sudden, I found myself sitting in the waiting area of the Pearson Vue. I was about to take the test I have been preparing for more than half a year!

I would remain calm, I had told myself the night before. I had prepared well, and there was no reason to panic. But then, I had also told myself that I would have a good night’s sleep before the test. That didn’t happen. Likewise, my heart was racing and my mouth dry. Soon enough I had my picture taken, fingerprints scanned and was sitting in front of a computer that said, Click next to start.

Oh! I wondered, there isn’t going to be a – your time starts now. I could start the test whenever I was ready. But I didn’t have all day. I took a deep breath and clicked next, bracing for what was to come next. A question popped up, and heart began to race again. This is how a question would look, the screen said. Demo question. Really? This is not a time to play with someone’s nerves. A couple of demo questions later, there it was again – Click next to start your exam. Your test will now start, do you wish to proceed? Isn’t that why I am here for?

Finally a real question did popup. For starters, the timer was not counting down hours and minutes, but just minutes – 210 minutes left! Who counts down like that? What is wrong with 3 hours and 30 minutes? But there is little room for complaining now.

Did I tell you that before the test started I was so nervous I could have peed my pants, but had visited the toilet one time too many for that to happen. A few questions later, I felt much better. I totally knew what they were talking about. This is not Greek and Latin! The tough part was getting the right answer. And I thought I was doing well in that area as well.

The race against time, that a MCQ exam usually is, was also going pretty well. With extensive pre-test calculations on the time per question, questions per hour and review time, I was ahead by a decent margin.

I answered a few, guessed the rest. And before I knew, the counter on the top read question 150 of 150! It was almost over! Not yet I said. I still enough time. I went through all the questions again.  The clock still counting down, now just minutes away from zero. Now that I had reviewed all the questions, satisfied with everything, I clicked the end test button.  A few confirmations later, I was done. I signed off and was out.

Back out of the quite of the exam room in the busy Delhi market. I didn’t feel any different. I had waited for this day for a long time, imagined what it would feel like in the end. But then, I guess it takes time for this feeling to sink!

So much would change now. I didn’t have to worry about wasting time. I could watch TV all night, could spend hours doing nothing on the internet, sleep till late in the day, and start playing tennis again. I wouldn’t be told to go back to my room and study. I wouldn’t be kicked out of a conversation just so I could study.

But now that this count down is over, another one has already started. One to my wedding day!