The first time I ever had to study and prepare to take a test was in the third grade when we had to memorize the multiplication tables.
I remember the anticipation, the excitement and the anxiety; the butterflies in my stomach.
I had a newly sharpened #2 pencil and I was ready.
I remember the test being handed out and the teacher telling us to leave it face down on our desk until she told us to turn it over and start. Some kids peaked, but I didn’t. I wanted it to be a real test. I knew there were 100 multiplication tables on the sheet and the test was timed.
I wanted to get all of the answers right and I wanted to be the first one done. It didn’t always happen like that, but the test was given several times and I usually scored a 100% the second time out and I would finish either first or within the top five.
I’ve never had any patience for studying. Once I felt like I knew the material I wanted to take the test to prove it. The test also pointed out what I didn’t know so I could just focus on that material for the next time.
I started thinking about test taking recently when a friend and I were discussing her daughters test anxiety.
This led me to review my own test taking history and I realized the same experience I had in the third grade had repeated throughout elementary school, high school and college.
High school was rarely challenging and I never really had to study. I looked forward to taking tests so I could see where I was and what I had to do. I hated wasting my time reviewing and studying material I already knew when I had other things I wanted to do.
In college it was the same way. Even if I was with a study group, once I felt I knew the materiel I wanted to put my knowledge to the test and move on.
More recently I realized this is how I still operate. I want to jump right in and test my knowledge.
That’s how this blog was started.
I had been thinking about designing a website and a few friends suggested WordPress as a platform. I did a little research and then just dove in. I started with a WordPress.com site, testing my knowledge and know how as I went along and then moved to a WordPress.org platform for this site. The next test is to design and write the code for my own WordPress theme.
Since returning from Follow Through Camp a few weeks ago I have felt restless, unsettled, on edge. Then it dawned on me. I have been doing a lot of prep work, a lot of studying over the last eighteen months and its time to start putting my knowledge to the test.
To me, this is what life if all about…continuous, life-long learning, putting my knowledge to the test and then starting again from a new point, building on what I already know and then repeating the cycle.
I am going to be doing a lot of ‘test-taking‘ over the next few months. Its time to see how much I’ve learned and see what I still need to learn.
The anticipation is stirring. I feel excited and a little anxious. I have a few butterflies in my stomach, but I’m ready.
