Testing

When it comes to taking a test, I do not experience anxiety, not even with finals. However, what I have come to realize about particular tests, the THEA for example, is the fear of failure. I have all kinds of what-ifs going through my mind, what if I fail, especially now after two years of college? I am not sure what exactly is going on inside my head, but when I sat down to take the test, the fear simply went away. Besides, if I did fail any or even all of the test, I would have the rest of this year to retake it as many times necessary.

I guess the biggest reason I was not looking forward to taking the THEA, was knowing that the scores will go into my school records. It does not seem logical to care about this, not with a 4.0 GPA, but for some reason I just did not want to take this test. I did have to talk myself into going and not excuse myself to wait until my scheduled appointment on the 23rd. I got there early and signed in for stand-by status, which was not necessary, as there were at least six people who did not show up. The test started at 9am and it took me the allotted five hours.

Now I am wondering what all the fuss was about (talking about myself), it was not difficult. The math portion surprised me; there were only 3 problems I wasn’t sure about. I ended up plugging in the possible answers and working them out to come up with what I hope is the correct answer. I worked through every problem (almost 200) before I started writing my essay. Let me say first off, I am used to writing on a computer. I had even asked if I would be able to write the essay with a pen, but no, the whole test had to be completed with a #2 pencil. I managed to get two full single-spaced pages finished, but not to my satisfaction. I could have used another 30 minutes to get it finished. However, I am not going to stress over this part of the test, I know I can write good essays.

I did find out that it does not take three weeks for the results; it should only take 10 days. It will be interesting to see what the results are, especially in comparison to my scores from two years ago. I took the COMPASS test, which is taken on a computer with immediate test scores. If I were to compare the two tests, I would conclude that the COMPASS is more difficult than the THEA. The first test allows you to miss only a few problems before it concludes that portion of the test. You might know how to work all of the geometry section, but if you missed the allotted number in the algebra section before you got to geometry, you do not have a chance to earn those points. The THEA provides approximately 66 questions/problems per section. Answering all of them increases the opportunity to earn a higher score, especially considering only 35 randomly selected questions/problems are counted.

My typical weekend chores are completed and I started reading in my Biology book to get ahead start for the first day of the first five week summer semester. This will be a course with lots of reading and memorization, but I really enjoy my science courses…after I separate my beliefs from what the books say about evolution. I may not be able to post much during these five weeks, but I will let you know if I passed the THEA with the scores I need to get into the teaching program.

Have a great summer! Hasta luego.