Fabulous or Flawed? In Seven Weeks We Will Know

So after a long (too long) absence from posting to this blog, and after completing the CAE Examination on May 7, 2010, I can tell you a few things for certain:

1. CAE preparation is worth the effort for all the knowledge gained
2. Most people should use a weekly study group (or two) to keep learning focused
3. My biggest problem after this test still seemed to be deciding between two possible choices – test taking skills are important to develop before the exam!

How was the test different from the previous exam? Maybe it was just me, but the questions seemed a tad shorter. When I took the exam in December (and failed), I think that many questions took longer to read. This time, it seemed the questions were 2-3 sentences long and generally easier to comprehend.

Ironically, I took longer with this test than the first time. I paced myself by marking where I needed to be at the end of each 30 minute interval, and tracked in my test booklet the questions I was uncertain about.  I then went back and one-by-one read them carefully and tried to again answer the best I could. I narrowed the uncertain category from 40 to 32 questions with this step.

ADDIE, SPIE, LERP, …MMR…and all the other mneumonic devices I used were already burned in my brain. I didn’t need to write them down. They are embedded forever.

The PAC rules were important to know, but there was not as much about the PACs as I had remembered there being from before. In fact, I may have only run across 3 questions about PACs and maybe 3 questions about anti-trust issues.

I wish there were a way to get bonus points – like a sheet of paper I could fill up with all the knowledge I picked up that wasn’t on the test. Shouldn’t it count for something that you know the least acceptable dimensions for an office space or legal issues that affect associations like the Sarbannes-Oxley or the Sherman Act?

At any rate, I did it. I took the exam. I tried hard to pass. I studied as much as I could while still living my life. In about eight  weeks (are we at 7 now?) I will find out if it was enough. But one thing I know for sure…I know I have my flaws, but I’ve earned the right to call myself “fabulous” (at least for a little while) because I worked really hard to prove that I deserve to have “CAE” placed after my name in my signature line – whether that actually happens or not.

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