Results of the Praxis Exam

After work yesterday, instead of going straight to the gym like I usually do, I came home, hoping the results of my Praxis exam had arrived. This is the exam I had to take and pass in order to get licensed and certified in speech-language pathology. Most people take the Praxis close to the date they take comps, which makes sense. Right around comps is when you'll have done the most studying, so why not kill two exams with one stone? I took comps back in May of last year, and nearly everyone who took comps with me took the Praxis in June. I felt I was too busy around that time to add another thing to my plate. I mean, the day I took comps, I came home and we proceeded to move that evening and all that weekend out of our place in Richmond to our current place in Emeryville. The Praxis was offered again in September, but it was less than a month before our wedding, and I just couldn't deal with studying. The next time it was offered was in November, less than two weeks after we came back from our honeymoon. I decided it didn't make sense to take it then either. Finally, I registered for the January 12th test. I figured I'd have all winter break to review notes and the giant "Advanced Review of Speech-Language Pathology" book that a classmate had generously lent me. This line of thinking just proves I don't know myself that well.

All winter break, I did nothing but clean and organize the house. That was around when I'd had the epiphany that weight loss will happen if I get organized. After I'd already gone back to work on January 7th, I thought, "Um, maybe I should study...?" That still didn't happen. And even the night before my exam, I went to a work party, and carpooled with a colleague, with every intention of leaving early so that I could do a quick review of materials that night. In the end, we were the second to last group to leave the party.

As I sat in my examination the next morning with several classmates who are several quarters behind me in school, it occurred to me that I really ought to have studied, considering that if I didn't pass and had to retake the Praxis, I'd be really behind, since most of my colleagues who graduated with me have already taken and passed the Praxis, since they've already had three opportunities to take it. I also spent the entire two hours of the exam cursing one of my professors for teaching me absolutely nothing about neurogenic disorders.

As I opened the mailbox yesterday afternoon, I saw it sitting on top - the results of my exam. I walked about halfway back to my house before stopping on the walkway and tearing open the envelope. I scanned all of the meaningless text until I found the word I wanted to see. Passed. Thank goodness the word "not" didn't precede it. Oh, and the kicker? Neurogenic disorders was one of the categories I did the best in. I'm grateful for multiple choice tests.