Can I Pass? Pt. 2

Before I tell you my mark lets recap what needed to be done. In my post Can I Pass? I wrote about needing to cram in 75 classroom / study hours into a 1 week period in which I was busy moving, working and preparing for a major portion of my life - no easy task even though I had started. It's not a task I wish one anybody because, admittedly it's very unprepared and although over the years I've become about the best damn producer during such times of procrastination, it does not always lead to success. And lets be honest, I wasn't studying for a physical, there was a lot of material to cover, a completely new career field, and difficult legals and principles to grasp.


The studying went fairly well during my work week, and while at work, leading up to the exam - I would come in an hour or so early and stay an hour late, even the once during my review I crammed until 11 - sitting at my desk at work. The nights were still spent near the televised baseball games, but I did have a book in my hand.

The saving grace that made me feel for the first time that a pass could be within reach was chapter 6 of my studies - Appraisal Math! I simply enjoy math, mostly because I'm so damn good at it. There's no memorizing math - you have to know it. You can't BS math, there is no bonus marks for 3 sentences versus 10 sentences of BS, there is right and wrong, and if you know what right is, you can focus more on the BS'ing and for a 3 hour exam with 4 hours worth of material, that is a huge plus.

And then there's all the people who wrote in the forums section of my online portfolio {mental note - don't look here again} here are some comments and questions I read of Phase II after finishing my studies before writing my exam?

Question: Do I really have to buy the workbook?

Answer: It's almost mandatory for correspondence and I highly recommend it, much better exam review questions and guidance than without it.

Thought: Um,... there's a workbook?


Question: Is it true taking the course via online training is a horrible idea? Do the classrooms make it that much easier with the teachers going over every detail and give you better exam review questions?


Answer: Yes, if at all possible attend the classroom sessions, the teachers go over everything and it's a fun interactive environment - learned a lot. If you can't do it by classroom, do it by correspondence and buy the workbook. Your last resort is to do it by self learning online.

Thought: Fuck. And what the fuck is all this shit about a workbook?

Classic students classically undermining each others approach, but it frazzled me for a bit. Then it reminded me of why I did it via self training online, here is a way to sum it up:

Question: Do you want to play in both your baseball leagues and have some sort of a life on Saturdays for the rest of the Summer? How much would you pay to avoid a classroom of foreign idiots that love raising their hand to hear themselves talk and suck up to the teacher? If you fail the first test because you forgot to actually motivate yourself to study, do you mind writing the make-up test to get it right the second time?

Answer: I love baseball, I would like to not attend class on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple months if it means playing baseball in the summer, and yes I enjoy Saturdays as well. Oh, like 10 Grand - I hate those fucking kids. Although the swirlies I would give those little bastards might be fun. And yes, writing the test twice would not be the end of the world.


So after the test initially I felt relieved. Pass or Fail it was a major stressor now in the past in which I could no longer control. So I forgot all about it for the time being and painted our new home. When asked how I did I said "okay", I was confident my mark began with a "7", problem was I needed the second number to be over a 5, it was going to be close - unlike the first one.

Problem is I just got my mark, and I failed to have my exam result begin with that 7 after all. But I have a lot to be proud of. The success rate of those who study solo online isn't nearly as good as the other approaches so I gave it a good go. And I still had as good of a summer as possible, this summer without baseball would have been reason for a killing spree. So the next test I write I will be much more prepared because leaving it so late, even though I'm usually really good at it is never a good idea................