That’s one small step for Cori, one… well, small step for Cori

Apparently, I suck at reading official documents.

I knew that when I applied to SLCC that I’d have to take a test.  I apparently overlooked the part of the admissions application for UVU  that said I had to take a test there, too.

So, a month of (not) preparing for school later, I re-read the acceptance email I got, and found out that yes, in fact, I do have to take a test.  Crap.

The test was to make sure I didn’t need remedial math or english classes, which, I’m happy to report, I do not.

I’m not thrilled with how I did, but mostly that’s because I’m a good test taker.  I’m especially confused at my dissapointment in my english scores, because they were quite literally off the charts.

Of course, I’m the girl who was disappointed when she took standardized tests in elementary and high school, and got lower than a 90th percentile.

The math section was first–I would have done much better if the english section was first, but, what can you do?  The proctor told us that there were up to four increasingly difficult sections, and, your score would determine if you moved on to the next section.  I did three, although, I was just guessing on most questions towards the end.

Part of it was knowing how to take a test.  For instance, one of the questions was something along the lines of “Charlie has 60 minutes to complete a test that has 75 questions.  How many questions should he plan on answering in each 10 minute interval to complete the test?”

The meta nature of story problem about a test aside, I could look at the multiple choice answers and see that there was only one that was above 10, and therefor was the one that was correct.   There were other questions where I guessed which of the multiple choice answers was most likely to be correct, then plugged them into the equation to figure out if they indeed worked.

A few other questions I found interesting, if for all the wrong reasons. One was something along the lines of “Catherine is making a 9 square lap quilt.  She needs 1 1/8 yards of dark fabric, 1 3/4 yards of light fabric, and 1 3/4 yards of backing.  How many total yards of fabric does Catherine need?”

And of course there isn’t any place to answer that what Catherine really needs is a new pattern, because the one she has either produces a lot of waste, or she won’t have enough fabric for the back of the quilt.

Near the end of the math section, right before my brain shut down completely (actually, this might just have been the moment it shut down completely) the question was regarding finding the area of a circle.  The question explained that A=πr² and, reading that in my head as “area equals pi r squared” I had that stereotypical breakdown of “pie sounds good right now.  I want pie.”

The english section was much easier, and thankfully free of questions regarding the elements of grammar.  Because, frankly, I don’t know the difference between a participle and a gerund, but I know how to use them. Heck, there are days when I struggle to remember which words are the verbs and which are the adjectives.

I don’t really know what my scores mean, I’ll have to talk to an admissions advisor for that.  After, you know, first figuring out who my admissions advisor is and where to find his or her office.

Honestly, just going out and taking this test was huge for me.  I don’t like people, and I don’t like being put on the spot.  Today I faced both.

I had the thought the other day that I’m tired of being afraid all the time.  I’m tired of not being able to go anywhere or do anything because there might be other people there.  I was thinking about this, and the scripture popped into my head “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).  So my scripture study for the past few days has been about courage, and overcoming fear.  Which has been interesting, because I spent a lot of time studying those exact topics on my mission, so I have insights noted in the margins of my scripture that I forgot I had.

I know that I’m not going to overcome my fears without facing them head on, but often times, it’s that first step that’s the hardest.  I’m grateful for family members who will encourage, support, and kick me when needed to take that first step.   I really am blessed.

And I’m still craving pie.

Advertisement