Foreign Language Proficiency FTW!!

6:08 PM Posted In , Edit This 2 Comments »
I've been trying to break my rampant habit of procrastinating for the past few years, especially when it comes to school stuff. "Trying" is the operative word here, though, because sure enough, I'm supposed to graduate in August (that's in FOUR MONTHS) and I still have three semesters of foreign language to finish. WTF?! How did I manage that?? Of all the things to put off 'til the end, I managed to put off a bunch of classes that can't be taken simultaneously. Brain fail!

So anyway, that brings us to the previously mentioned Giant Test (scroll down). In order to finish on time without having to somehow bend the space-time continuum I had to at least test out of the second course (of four) so I can take the third and fourth sequentially. I haven't had a foreign language course since 2003, and even then it was a weird thing because nobody could understand our professor. It was hard for her to pronounce my name and when she said it it sort of sounded like "Melody," so that was what everyone called me in there. I didn't bother correcting anyone, but I guess I wasn't looking forward to another semester (or three) of being Melody.

So I bought a book, I studied it, I tried to remember as much as I could from growing up in the barrio (Ha!) and from what I learned from Crazy/Awesome Ms. Land in high school, and I signed up to take the content exam. No pressure - just one exam to determine if I have to restructure my entire summer and possibly delay my graduation once again. Meh. It actually went pretty well - I had a brilliant morning driving down to San Marcos and got an outpouring of support from my friends and family. (THANKS Y'ALL, y'all are awesome!) The test itself was not as scary or bad as I'd worried, but the freakin lady in the testing center was watching the Muppet Show or something on her computer with the sound on so while I was trying to translate rejoinders. Thanks for that, lady in the testing center.

Then the test decided to be overly helpful and ask me 4000 times if I wanted my scores reported or if I just wanted to call the whole thing off.

Test: Do you want to submit your scores?
Me: Yes, please.
Test: Are you sure? Because if you quit now your score won't be recorded but if you submit them you can't take the test again for six months!
Me: Yeah, I already took the test. It's ok. Please submit scores. Test: Really?
Me: Yup.
Test: By pressing the button below you are acknowledging that you want your scores reported to the instutition you selected at the beginning of the test. After pressing the button you can't change your mind. So: are you absolutely sure you want these scores reported?
Me: ...?

At this point I'm wondering: Does the test know something I don't? Like, is it trying to rescue me? You know, doing that thing where someone's like "Are you suuuuure you want to do that? Really? Really really?" But WTF?! I've been sitting here two and a half hours. I want to know my stupid score already. So I had to press "yes" like five times. Then - TADA! Score report! Not only did I test out of the second semester, I tested out of the third one, too. Sadly, I missed getting to skip the fourth and final course by one measley point. But really, that's ok. I can easily add one little course over the summer. So yay! I got eleven hours of foreign language credit for less than a hundred bucks and apparently I haven't been lying on my resume when I include the line "proficient in Spanish."

2 comments:

Kandi said...

I really like the name melody. a lot...hehe.

I thought the test was trying to save you too HAHA. good for you.

Now for your resume...here is the thing...if you have lived near a border for the majority of your life you should automatically get "proficient in Spanish" on your resume..I know i deserve it, and i have never even taken Spanish :) thanks SoCal

But seriously good for you!!!

Mere said...

Oh yeah, Melody's actually a really adorable name but it was weird/random to be called that! I have this weird thing about people not being able to say my name or calling me weird stuff when I was growing up. That was actually the second time I'd been mistaken for a "Melody" by an entire class. Weird!!

Thanks for the encouragement! :-)