Testing Day

Today was the first chance I had to take the required Math and English placement exams at Oakton. I was really excited about it and a bit concerned too. I haven't been feeling well lately and I spent most of Sunday in pajamas and sleeping. I wondered if I wouldn't be up to this. I wanted to do well and didn't want anything to interfere.

Long story short, I made it through the workday pretty well and got more excited as the day went on. Yes, I really am drinking the Kool Aid! I even bought an Oakton hoodie in the book shop!

Okay.... so I get to the testing center for the Math portion of the test. After I've been properly screened by giving my new student number, showing ID and signing several documents promising not to cheat, I begin. This test is on a computer, but I get scrap paper to document anything I need. I have access to the calculator on the computer, but not my own. These questions are HARD! It's all algebra and geometry, and I'm reminded of high school algebra with Mr Camardella at Loyola Academy. I'm not proud to say that I had no clue about algebra in Freshman year, and wound up taking it in summer school where I finally passed.

So, I encountered the uncomfortable feeling that everyone gets at test time. It appeared that I finished first among everyone who was in the room. I was very self conscious as people's heads popped up watching me walk to the back of the room to turn in my pencil, scrap paper, and my no cheating affidavit. I felt a small lump of insecurity in my throat as I wondered about finishing so quickly. Did I mess everything up? Gee, the algebra turned out to be easier than the geometry. Something was wrong... Wait, the test instructions said not to be concerned with answers, but.........

I will have to call the Math Department to get the formal interpretation of what my scores mean. This can't be too dissimilar to interpreting a foreign language that only you know, but we'll see what happens.

Essentially my geometry score was I did better with the geometry portion of the test, or at least the results of my exam said that. It's interesting how that mirrored my high school experience. My geometry score seemed to be high enough that I didn't have to take a non credit prerequisite course before the first Math requirement for my Degree, but the algebra score may have contradicted that. I don't know. The gurus of the Math Department will sort this out for me.

So, I had an hour to kill before the start of the English exam. After discovering where the test was being given ....in the same place I took the Skokie Police Exam two years prior... I sat down, posted what was happening on Facebook and played Uno on the iPhone. You may never hear me say this in person, but I like my iPhone now that I have most of it figured out. It was nice to read everyone's well wishes on Facebook.

After an hour of the iPhone kicking my butt in Uno (hopefully my daughter isn't reading this, because she kicks my butt at Uno too), I was screened again for the English test. I believe this screening might be in use by TSA now, but...I digress.

The reading test was interesting. It was an hour long journey through reading paragraphs and picking a word missing from the text. I 'think' I aced this. The essay portion was significantly more involved. We were given a choice of two topics. We were asked to take a position on one of them and write an essay to convince a reader to agree with my position. After freaking out about how to properly structure an essay, I got an outline together and started writing. I was so relieved that at least some of it came back to me. Well, we'll see how much of it came back to me.

I get the English test results some time after Thursday. Next week I have an orientation, then classes start on the 25th.

This journey is getting more interesting and exciting, and I haven't even started classes yet.

I guess I'll go make some more Kool Aid.