Tests are definitely one of my least favorite things. Especially finals because by the time finals comes around I am just ready to be out and done with school. And with online classes it makes it even worse because by the end of the semester I have pretty much long ago stopped really paying attention. This semester was definitely distracting with all of my health stuff.
In online classes for the most part, you have an entire week, from Monday morning to Sunday night at midnight to finish. So I thought I was doing good to start studying on yesterday, Thursday, for my finals due on Sunday. Another interesting thing about me is that I hate checking voicemails. In fact I rarely do it. No particular reason besides its sort of an inconvience. I would much prefer text messages! Anyway, yesterday I had received some phone calls from numbers that I did not recognize along with 2 new voicemails. God was definitely watching over me yesterday because I had the urge to check them. Driving home around 5 yesterday afternoon I actually checked my messages on the same day I received them. Well, one of them was from my professor who so kindly called to ask where my final was because he hadn't received it and it was due at noon. "OH MY GOSH" was definitely my reaction (well maybe something similiar). The rest of the way home I was contempating if and what convincing and heartfelt story I should come up with to explain to him why I had not taken the test. Well, I didn't have to think very long before my silly morals and the prompting of the Holy Spirit came into play. I decided since I had messed up I better face the music and just tell him the truth, that I just plain didn't pay attention. And I figured that making up a story and lying to the professor of my Christian Doctine class seemed a little like an oxymoron! So, as soon as I arrived home I called my professor and appologized and explained my very convincing story of how I just totally had no clue and I thought the test was due on Sunday at midnight (and to my credit this was the first and only thing that was not due on Sunday). He said that because someone else in the class needed an extension due to the fact they were traveling for work he would extend my exam time 12 hours from the time it was due and give me until midnight. Phew....what a relief!
So, figuring I had plenty of time, I sat down and ate my food, slowly gathered up my books, made some coffee because I figured it was going to be a long night and I needed to stay awake, and I headed over to my parents house because I currently don't have internet at mine. I immediately mosied upstairs and popped a squat in front of the computer, pulled up my online account and opened up my books.
Yet, since I am taking 2 online classes I figured first I better check and just make sure when my other final was due. When I opened up this class browser I was once again shocked when I read that my final had been due on Wednesday and it was now Thursday night!! About to have a heart attack, I read my teachers postings and by the amazing grace of God apparently people had internet problems taking the test on Wednesday, therefore my teacher had extended the test until 8 pm Thursday. Well, considering it was not 6pm on Thursday and I have 2 hours to finish one test and the 4 hours to finish the other test and study for both of them, I was in a tid bit of a panic. (Although surprisingly pretty calm considering the situation)
I figured I better get to work ASAP. Scanned and read over notes from the class and due to lack of time I had to start the test. After praying for the supernatural power to know the answers and do well, I entered the test. It was definitely not the easiest test ever. After going through all the questions that I knew and guessing on the rest, was left with 3 essays, 2 of which were worth 30 points each and the other one worth 20. Since this was an open book test, of course the book that these questions were from was at my house while the test and me were at my parents house. Well, what was I to do but run and speed by butt over to grab the book and hurry back as fast as I could. So with about 30-40 minutes left for my testing window I headed to my house on a hunt for a book that I had yet to open all semester. Luckily, I found it!
When I arrived back at my parents house I had 20 minutes left on the clock and 3 essays to write from a book that I had never read or much less even opened! I utilized my 3 "P" method, brain Power, Pressure, and Prayer! After skimming the books and some awesome BS, I finished the exam with 2 seconds to spare! (Talk about nerves and a HUGE relief!!)
Yet, now it was later and I had yet to study at all for the harder of the 2 classes. I read and skimmed over the notes and review for the class and had to put my 3 "P" method to work again! When I opened the test although there were only 7 questions, they were all essays, so I knew that this was going to take me a while. I speedily started writing with as much detail and elaboration as I could. After I had finished the 6th question, I was getting extremely tired by this point and was so excited to be on the last question. I was already mentally preparing myself for my soft comfy bed when all of a sudden in the middle of a sentence the test disappeared and brought me back to the home page. Ahhh.....it not only freaked me out, but it definitely made me mad!! Once you click off the test you can't go back to it. I was not a happy camper! I wasn't too upset yet because I had individually saved all of my answers. So I immediately called the help desk and was hoping they could do what their name suggests and HELP! When I finally got someone on the phone, I explained what had happened and they didn't really know what to tell me. So when they went to reset my test, I asked if all of my answers had been saved at least and he said, "No, actually it says you started the test and the same minute you ended it." Now was when the anger started to grow! Grrr....yep definitely frustrated, yet didn't really have much time to be mad or angry, so I opened the test again and start typing away.
When I got to about the 5th question, I was in the middle of a sentence, when sure enough the test disappears and brings me back the the home page. As you can probably guess, I was definitely extremely frustrated by now, yet I think sleepiness and tiredness were overtaking the frustration. Once again I called the help desk and this time the guy took forever trying to figure out what had happened. I was getting very frustrated with him because he was definitely cutting into my valuable test taking time! When he finally decided he didn't know what had happened, he went to reset my exam again and once again none of my answers had been saved!!! Grrrr.......
By now I was thinking about the saying, "You fool me once, shame on you. You fool me twice, shame on me!" Well, now that it had happened twice and I was running out of time I had to be smarter than the computer, which I used to think wasn't very difficult! So I opened up a word document and typed all of my essays in it and then at the end quickly copied and pasted all of the answers into their appropriate spots with just a couple of minutes to spare.
Wow, it was definitely an interesting and loooong night! I figured it didn't do much good to be too mad or frustrated though because I had gotten blessed with a second chance (well third and fourth on my Christian Doctrine test, haha) on both of my exams! Although my life is definitely always crazy and like a soap opera, I know God is watching out for me when things like this happen! It was definitely a huge blessing getting a second chance on my exams. Thank you Lord for that!!! :)
And despite the craziness and lack of studying, I got a 238 out of 250 on my first test (and all points on my 3 essays) and I got a 100 on my Christian Doctrine 7 question essay test! I would say I am definitely pleased with the results and VERY glad it is over! Now onto the next classes....
Brittany Albrecht
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