The math test went well. I was pleased with the amount of studying I did. I’m not sure how they will score the three constructed response questions that are worth 33%. I worry that I should have been more wordy in my answers. But I knew how do all of them, with the exception of one part of one question. This has not been the case in the practice sessions.
I finished all of the 40 multiple choice questions. If a question was confusing to me, I skipped it to go back later and do it. I was not sure I would finish every question and I wanted to do the easier ones I had more chances of getting right first. When I got to the end, there were only eight that I didn’t do the first time around. Of those eight, seven I fiddled with and came up with an answer that seemed like a good guess. The remaining one, I had no idea and I went with “C”.
I thought I developed a particularly good time management strategy. I spent 5 minutes reading over the test at the beginning. That calmed my fears a lot as everything looked familiar. Then I spent 10 minutes on the first constructed response and 15 minutes on multiple choice. I alternated those until I had finished the constructed response. When there were 30 minutes remaining, I took a look at where I was and strategized. I think this back and forth effort helped me not only finish everything, but also not worry that I was going to run out of time before I had even attempted large sections of the test.
The other thing that was nice was that almost every time when I came up with an answer it was one of the choices on the multiple choice. When I was studying I would often puzzle my way through a problem only to find that my answer wasn’t there. It was a bit defeating. This time, even if I figured wrong, I was at least validated by the answer being present.
So overall, I think I did well. I’m not sure it is enough to pass, but even if it isn’t I have now taken the test and know what to expect if I take it again next time.
I came home, and alternately napped and read Dennis Lehane’s new book which is very, very good.