8 Hours of My Life...

For three years of my education all I kept hearing about through my program was "Boards." Well lucky me all of that is over as of yesterday, hopefully. I tend to be a procrastinator so I really didn't get to studying until this past week. And from my last blog post, I had many other things to study for besides boards.

I ended up finishing my finals as of Tuesday morning but ended up staying in Columbus until Tuesday night because yes I wanted to watch LOST with my sister and friends. But I promise you I am not a pathetic person that arranges her schedule around a t.v show, well maybe for LOST I would. I ended up driving home at 10:00 at night Tuesday and got home really late only to find I did not have a bed to sleep in. My mom is painting her room and closet so everything since I was home a week ago got moved into my room. My bedroom was so packed with furniture and it looked like her closet exploded all over my room, I couldn't even walk inside let alone get to my bed. So I had to sleep on the sofa in our family room which was not very comfortable at all. And considering my mom gets up at 5:00 in the morning to let my dog Maggie out, that is when I would get up too regardless if I was up until 3 the previous day because I had no choice... my bed was in the living room!!

I ended up studying non stop from Tuesday night to Friday morning besides an occasional sleep and wedding planning with my sister and grandma. I was living on energy drinks which is so unhealthy which I would never recommend to anyone. However, Thursday night (the day before my test) my mom told me to go to bed early, to calm down and just get a good nights rest. So I did, or as nice of a sleep you can get on a couch. Well life sure is funny, because I had a hard enough time falling asleep because of how much anxiety I had built up inside me and about 3:00 in the morning my mom's fiance gets home after a 6 week long trip in Arizona. My dog went ballistic because she was so happy to see him and never have I heard a yelp so loud as I did that night. After all that noise I was wide awake and could not fall back to sleep. So I got up took a shower, ate some breakfast and did the worst thing of all studied two hours before my test which made me feel more sick because I felt like I knew nothing.

I ended up driving to Westlake to the testing center only to get lost and all turned around. My GPS is not always reliable but lucky for me that I left plenty of extra time for myself. When I arrived there were about 8 people already there that were taking all sorts of different tests. I had to take a number and look over these rules and regulations before they called me up to get my information. I ended up stepping out to go to the bathroom and I left my paper and my number on my seat. When I came back from the bathroom I walked inside only to find this young guy sitting in my seat holding my paper and number. I asked him if I could have my number and he got all upset at me because the lady told him to take a number over by the lamp but he failed to see the box of numbers above my chair. Whatever, the guy was rude and nasty to me but I like to think that he was just nervous about his test rather than a mean person in general.

My number was called and the lady had me give her my identification cards. She looked up the test I was taking and she congratulated me that I was taking the longest test out of anyone that day, I said thank you, what else could you say to that statement. I then had to sign this really cool pad that wouldn't show my signature on it but apparently it was hooked to the computer and it got transferred onto this program. I had a palm and vein test done so they would know it was me and they took my picture. I had to put everything in a locker because I couldn't take anything in with me besides my driver's license. I had to even take off my hair tie off my wrist because it was a violation. Really? After all of that was done I had to wait until I was called to go to the back room.

Now to set the scene, there were only 10 people at the testing site that morning and I didn't leave the room from the time I had my picture and vein test done until the time they brought me back. However, as soon as the lady called me to the back room to take me to my computer, she made me do the vein and palm test again to make sure it was me... I guess they have to do that but really??? Would I have really changed from the two minutes prior?? I guess my picture, my drivers license and signature weren't enough, I am surprised they didn't want my DNA.

The lady though was super nice she escorted me to my computer and gave me my dry erase board and told me if I had any questions or if I needed to get up for any reason to raise my hand because we had to be escorted to and from our computer with someone. I began the test, 200 questions that took me about an hour to complete however, I spent another two hours contemplating on whether or not I should change my answers. I was so tired as I was taking this test that I thought I was going to fall asleep. I ended up taking an "unscheduled break" to go to the bathroom half way through the first part. But to leave I had to get my veins scanned again, really?? I was just escorted in and out, there are video cameras and eyes on you 24/7 do you really need to verify that I was me? I ended up going to the restroom, getting a drink of water and sitting outside a few minutes to clear my head. When I walked back inside I had to have my veins scanned again and their machine was never working properly so I would have to do it like five times. The funny thing was that they made such a big deal about being escorted, getting your veins scanned but they didn't care that I went to the bathroom myself? Who knows I was probably being videotaped in there too. I was escorted back to my computer where I finished the first half in three hours.

I ended up taking the "scheduled break," but I really did not feel like eating anything because I was so nervous. So I sipped on a diet soda and ended up calling my ST in Louisiana for moral support. I did not take the full one hour break because I just wanted to be done. When I came back inside I had to have that same tedious vein test done again and was escorted to my station to finish the last half of the exam which were all .... case studies. Perfect!! I felt like I was totally screwed for this half of the exam because much of it had to do with medications and I did not look over that section of my notes as much because I felt no matter how hard I studied that section I would never understand it. There were like 20 case studies and I was so tired by the end of it. They have an option where you can flag answers you are not sure about that you can review later, well when I was done going through all the questions, I clicked on the "review flagged items" button and found that I flagged about 2/3rds of the questions. Even better I had to use the restroom after all that soda but I didn't want to leave and go through the entire vein/palm test again so I stayed and sat for 3 and a half hours to finish this part of the exam. For each case study, they had radiographs, intraoral pictures and charting all on the computer, but there were some questions for example asking me the patient's occlusion classification with only a frontal view of their teeth. I couldn't even see the canine relationship let alone the molar relationship to answer this question, so you better believe that I wrote a comment about that on the survey at the end. Other than that one question, sure it was tedious jumping all over looking at medical history forms, radiographs, charting etc., they did have a nice layout. By the end of the case studies portion though, I was just clicking on any answer because I just wanted to be done.

I raised my hand to be escorted out only to find the nice lady I was with all day had left for the day. The woman said I was in there a long time and had seen me that morning so she said "bless my little heart..." Thats right, actually bless your heart if you have read this far. Any person that would sit there for like 8 hours deserves a gold star and an automatic A on the test.

I walked out of the building feeling like I completed failed that exam but I didn't care, it was done, it was a beautiful day in Ohio and I drove home with the windows down. My mom and sisters were both at work so luckily my mom's fiance was home and he took me out to lunch to celebrate being done!! I couldn't feel more free, however I do have to wait four weeks to find out the results (no idea why since it is all done on the computer), they should have the test structured like the nursing test... my sister told me that she found out the next day after her nursing exam. Not fair, I won't find out till the end of April. Oh well until then, I will pretend I passed and even if I don't... well I can always be a couch potato. :)

I am so glad I have nothing to do for school right now!! Thank you friends and family for your support!! It really did help me get through this wonderful experience! :) HAPPY SPRING!!