#3- Boards

(This has taken forever to post because Blogger has decided it hates me...)

June 17, 2011.

AKA The Day My Life Stood Still.

At this point, on the eve of my last weekend of my last summer (ever... or at least until retirement... oh wait, yeah, ever...) it seems like that day was forever ago. But honestly, the whole experience was one of the most traumatic things I've ever been through.

Preface: My last day of anesthesia clinicals was April 27. I don't think I need to explain to anyone who happens across this blog what we went through over the next few days. I got a few weeks of hard-core studying in before graduation on May 13 (going backwards, but I'll try to post that tomorrow), and then my classmate Jessica and I were in what Will referred to as "nuclear study mode." We met in a Sunday School room at my chuch (major thanks to Liberty Crossing UMC) at 0830 and sometimes didn't leave until 1700 or after. We pretty much stayed on task with the schedule I made out earlier in April and still had a few extra days at the end, which was a pretty big deal for us.

Finally, on June 16, we took off for Marietta, GA. Yes, there are closer testing sites, but not many people take this exam so opportunities are limited. We snagged Chick-fil-a for lunch/supper (eating wasn't really a high priority that night), did a drive-by at the testing site (just to get an idea... you know, in case we were insane by morning), and holed up in the hotel room for the most intense 10 hours of studying yet.

After a few hours of "sleep," we packed up and headed for the testing site. One final pep talk at the door and we were signing in and being shown to our computers.
Reason #1 this place stunk: I've taken my share of standardized testing and know to dress in layers in order to be comfy no matter what the climate. Therefore, I had on scrub pants, a t-shirt, and merrells with a hoodie tied around my waste. Mr. Proctor Man informs me that if I want to take the hoodie in, I have to wear it. As I put it on, I'm asking, 'If I get hot, can I just take it off?' and he answers, 'not unless I come out of the room.' Why? Because their view of the room cannot be compromised. Seriously.

So Jessica and I are seated on opposite sides of the room but start the exam at roughly the same time. The actual questions are pretty much a blur... but here's the gist of the exam format. 100 questions, minimum, and computer-adaptive, meaning that I get one question at a time and the answer I choose determines the level of the next question I get (if I get TQ A correct, then I move up, etc). The goal is to stay above the figurative passing line. At the end of 100 TQs, the computer decides if A) I pass B) I fail C) I'm riding the fence and deserve more TQs- up to 70 more- before the computer makes a decesion. Oh, and 30 of the original 100 don't count for anything- they're TEST test questions... but the person taking the exam doesn't know which 30 they are. Oh and you have 3 hours in which to finish the thing. Awesome, huh?

So after 1.5 hours of thinking, "OMG I DON'T KNOW," "SERIOUSLY, WTF," and "Dear God, please get me through this" with almost every question, I reached #100. A calculation I had no idea how to do. Knowing that I might still have 70 questions to get through, I spent a moment trying to work through it before deciding to just guess (if I don't know it now, I won't know it 10 minutes from now either and then I'll have lost more time). I inhaled and hit the 'next' button.

The screen went black.

My heart stopped and I tried not to puke.

Mr. Proctor Man escorted me out to get my print-out prelim results. Mr. Desk Man slid the paper to me face down. I peeked...

And finally exhaled.

"PASS."

I started to sit down and wait for Jessica to finish her exam and : they don't let people who're waiting sit there. Me:"But it's raining outside and I rode with another girl who locked her car key in her locker!" Mr. Desk Man:"Want us to go get the locker key from her?" Me:"NO! She's taking the biggest test of her life- DO NOT BOTHER HER!" So I sat on the curb in the parking lot under a tree and waited. For an hour. FINALLY she came outside, I saw a slight smile as she said, "Holy Cow, how did this happen?!" We'd both managed to pass and after several ridiculously excited phone calls to friends, family and bosses, we hit up Dunkin' Donuts and headed back to our respective homes, where we promptly passed out for the rest of the day.

I can't even begin to explain the relief I felt with that paper in my hands. The whole way home, we'd pick up our prelim result pages and just start laughing. MONTHS of studying and it was finally over. We were Certified.



And of course The Paper went on the fridge:



So, number 3 on my 101 List: Become a CRNA- BIG FAT CHECK!!!