If you’re following this blog you’ve been made aware of the tests I was preparing for all summer and have started to take this fall. I’ve finally received word back on the first part of this lengthy process: and I passed. It is hard to overestimate the relief this gives both to me and my family. Formal education is sometimes difficult to do with a family. More than that my family has shared, every step of the way, in the difficulties and anxieties of pursuing an advanced degree. A quick public thanks to them for their support.
As for the tests, there are still other parts remaining to be scheduled and completed this semester. I am now in the strange position of having passed a section of my exams but still needing to continually prepare for the other sections. The difficulty is that scheduling is no easy task in any environment and I currently do not have a hard date set for when these next portions of the test will take place. I am relieved because I passed the first part but I can’t celebrate too much. The absense of a date makes it more difficult for me to properly motivate myself to additionally study when I’m so happy to feel a little relief from my success on part 1.
I’ve written about the helpful nature of definite deadlines before and this is another situation where I simply work better with them. That said, I did spend all summer re-reading thousands (and thousands) of pages of material for the purposes of review for a test that (at that time) didn’t have a hard date. I suspect that I simply need to get through the weekend and get back to the work on Monday. Weekends were made for relaxation, right? Truth be told I’ve been spending my time with family enjoying each other’s company and prepping a lecture for the class that I’m teaching this next week. Wish me luck on the next parts, okay? I hope I don’t need it … but I won’t turn it down.