Fertility Test

Today was the second exam in my demography class.  Have I mentioned that I'm taking a demography class?  This semester, my boss recommended that I take an intro course in demography in order to get some of the background that I didn't have coming into this job.  It turns out that the professor is fantastic and the course is super-interesting, though I am learning what my boss means when he says that "demography isn't rocket science."  Not that it is easy, just straightforward.  David is amused when I read him excerpts from my textbook that state the obvious, such as "everybody is born single."

The first exam was on fertility, today's exam was on mortality.  It had been a VERY long time since I had taken a test.  There had been a couple of tests in my statistics class in the summer of 2007, but I hadn't had an essay test since college.  I have always hated tests, especially essay tests, probably at least since sixth grade, when I failed a test on My Side of the Mountain.  And I think I got a B on the last test I took in college, which for me was pretty much equivalent to failing.  I only managed to get through grad school without ever taking a test because I dropped out before prelims.  But the mortality test really wasn't so bad.  The professor gave us a set of study questions and I studied my ass off on them, but then the exam questions were exactly the same, so I was really able to show what I had learned.  It was the same drill for the fertility test and, since the mortality test had gone so well, I went into it with a lot more confidence and studied a lot less.  Again, the test questions were just like the study questions, and even though I hadn't studied as much, I felt like I answered the questions adequately.  I may actually be getting over my test anxiety!

These tests are unlike any other tests I have taken in the sense that they are take-home closed-book exams.  They become available on the internet at a particular time and have to be turned in later in the day.  We can't use books or notes and are not expected to spend longer than four hours on it.  Since the tests are during the day, I have been taking them at work, so I'm all comfy in my cubicle with my coffee, tea, or whatever.  It actually makes for a pretty relaxed testing environment.  I could take bathroom or stretch breaks whenever I wanted.  I finished the last question right around lunch time, so I took a break to eat my lunch and then read over my answers and then went to turn it in.  After I dropped it into my professor's mailbox I had this great sense of relief. And then I started wondering -- did I put it in the right mailbox?  There's that anxiety again!