Yesterday morning, my family and I took a "nice" drive to Baton Rouge. The weather was beautiful: 80F, bright blue skies with a few wispy clouds. While Trevor and Aisling happily looked forward to spending the day experiencing Baton Rouge's delights (Brec's Zoo, LSU's museum of natural history, arboretums, etc.), I vacillated between anxiously awaiting and nervously dreading taking a four-hour exam on individual taxation.
At noon, my family dropped me off at the Prometric testing center in Baton Rouge. After confiscating my driver's license, comparing the picture to me in real life (Did I gain weight since three years ago when this picture was taken? Yikes!), stowing all of my belongings in a small locker, asking me to verify all of my personal information, taking 3 sets of fingerprints (index fingers only), taking a new picture of me, signing confidentiality agreements, turning all of my pockets inside-out in front of the proctor, and informing me that every move and breath I take will be recorded by video camera, I was ushered into the testing center where I sat at a computer stall and finally was administered the IRS SEE Part 1 Individual taxation test (with a video camera trained on me.)
Results: I PASSED! (Phew-wiping sweat from brow.)
After studying intensely for three months, actually doing tax returns for individuals the last 10+ years, and taking 20 practice exams with flying colors (including the actual 2005 IRS SEE Part 1 Individual taxation test), I thought this test would be pretty easy.
In reality, I almost starting crying about 30 minutes into the actual exam. I was not psychologically prepared for the level of intensity and specific knowledge questions the test threw at me. Around the time I wanted to cry, I remember thinking that I must have signed-up for the wrong test. Was I actually taking the business taxation exam? (Thank goodness that I actually briefly studied many business taxation laws.)
After taking about 30 seconds to feel sorry for myself and recheck the title of the exam (yes, it really was the individual exam), it was fight or flight for me. I paid for this exam, I don't think I could have studied or researched any harder than I had already done to prepare for this, and there was no way I was going down without a fight.
After 3 hours of answering, recalculating, guessing, checking, and rechecking answers, pushing the "end" key was tortuous. And I almost yelled "Hallelujah!" when I read the words, "Congratulations! You have passed this exam."
If I had actually yelled for joy in the examination room, I would have scared the bageebees out of all the other test-takers, been disqualified from the exam, and been shamefully escorted out of the building. Realizing this, I said a silent but extremely grateful prayer of thankfulness...for everything.
If anyone needs me, I'll be holed-up in my office studying even harder than before, for the second of three exams I must pass in three weeks' time: Business taxation.
At noon, my family dropped me off at the Prometric testing center in Baton Rouge. After confiscating my driver's license, comparing the picture to me in real life (Did I gain weight since three years ago when this picture was taken? Yikes!), stowing all of my belongings in a small locker, asking me to verify all of my personal information, taking 3 sets of fingerprints (index fingers only), taking a new picture of me, signing confidentiality agreements, turning all of my pockets inside-out in front of the proctor, and informing me that every move and breath I take will be recorded by video camera, I was ushered into the testing center where I sat at a computer stall and finally was administered the IRS SEE Part 1 Individual taxation test (with a video camera trained on me.)
Results: I PASSED! (Phew-wiping sweat from brow.)
After studying intensely for three months, actually doing tax returns for individuals the last 10+ years, and taking 20 practice exams with flying colors (including the actual 2005 IRS SEE Part 1 Individual taxation test), I thought this test would be pretty easy.
In reality, I almost starting crying about 30 minutes into the actual exam. I was not psychologically prepared for the level of intensity and specific knowledge questions the test threw at me. Around the time I wanted to cry, I remember thinking that I must have signed-up for the wrong test. Was I actually taking the business taxation exam? (Thank goodness that I actually briefly studied many business taxation laws.)
After taking about 30 seconds to feel sorry for myself and recheck the title of the exam (yes, it really was the individual exam), it was fight or flight for me. I paid for this exam, I don't think I could have studied or researched any harder than I had already done to prepare for this, and there was no way I was going down without a fight.
After 3 hours of answering, recalculating, guessing, checking, and rechecking answers, pushing the "end" key was tortuous. And I almost yelled "Hallelujah!" when I read the words, "Congratulations! You have passed this exam."
If I had actually yelled for joy in the examination room, I would have scared the bageebees out of all the other test-takers, been disqualified from the exam, and been shamefully escorted out of the building. Realizing this, I said a silent but extremely grateful prayer of thankfulness...for everything.
If anyone needs me, I'll be holed-up in my office studying even harder than before, for the second of three exams I must pass in three weeks' time: Business taxation.
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