DONE!! It was so hard to get to sleep the night before last. I kept thinking "I just wish I could take the test RIGHT NOW and get it over with." I woke up at 5 am and couldn't get back to sleep (which beats my classmate who woke up at 4 am and a study partner who claimed she didn't sleep all night). But once we were at the test center, in line waiting to show our IDs to register for the test, I wanted to slow down and let it all sink in for a moment. My dream, getting to sit for the IBCLC exam, coming true - it's still a little hard to believe.
Now it's all over but the waiting...for the results. I understand in principle why it takes IBLCE sooo long to get the test results back to us. But the end of October? In practice, this is very hard. (It's obviously payback for all my whining and moaning about the GRE being on a computer, and set up so you couldn't skip questions you weren't sure about and go back to them later. While I am VERY glad I could go back on the IBCLC exam - I think I went through both morning and afternoon test booklets at least 3 times each re-reading every question - I have to admit it was pretty nice to get the GRE results instantly.)
And while I think I did reasonably well on the exam, it's so easy to doubt. What if I fail it by a question? What if all the questions I challenged were the ones I got RIGHT? What am I going to tell people November 1st if I fail? I pingpong back and forth between guarded optimism and the prospect of having to actually admit to people that it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. If you all could do me a favor and forget that I ever took this exam, and not ever ask me about it again, just in case - thanks!
7 comments:
Well, I have to at least congratulate you first! And now I'll compliantly not mention it again until you get your results.
Go you! What an accomplishment!
Congratulations happily accepted :-) Thank you!!
Hooray!! Glad it's over.
Thank you!! I'm glad too. I was getting ready to go to work today and realized that I no longer need to drag along a bag full of study books to go over in my downtime...what a feeling of freedom!
Congrats! I sat the exam for the first time this year, too. I was just doing some searching to see if I could figure out why it takes three months to send out results. I could understand it if it were a handful of people reading 4,000 exam review sheets about problem questions and we each paid $30 to take the exam. But this is a $500+ exam! Come ON! I should think with generating that much revenue, and only auditing a few of the eligibility claims of the applications, that they should be able to deliver the results more promptly. I would expect a month to be reasonable. We are, after all, their customers and they are no non-profit. I expect better service for what I've paid them. But of course complaining directly could impact my certification outcome, so they hold direct power. Perhaps I should join the Board.
Okay - I feel better for getting that off my chest! No pun implied. I agree, let's try to forget about it completely (and the potential income we're losing for three months).
@Anonymous: I actually took the exam last year! It was frustrating to wait the 3 months, but given that it is a test administered all over the world in multiple languages, and needs to be validated and rescored several times for every test-taker, I understood. Once I found out my results the wait faded from my mind pretty quickly. I doubt IBLCE is really raking it in, and I'm sure they would be pretty offended by the idea that they would influence your test result as a direct result of your complaint. Given that this test will certify you for 10 years (besides the CERPs you will need to get to recertify at 5 years) I don't think 3 months of lost income is really that much to be concerned about. If you are really concerned, I encourage you to speak with IBLCE directly.
I just googled waiting for the results and came across this blog. Thank you for sharing. I hope it turned out well for you. Does anyone remember if their results came back early? They are supposed to be out the end of June and it is now the end of May and I'm getting pretty anxious. Thanks in advance!!
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