New Professional
What a whirlwind the last month has been! I've graduated, passed the boards and began working all in a matter of a few short weeks.
After the whole Student Bowl experience, I was feeling pretty well prepared to take the Board of Registry Exam. Of course, I continued to study till the very end. Our class of six decided to take the exam the morning of our graduation from the hospital. I guess we all just figured we may as well know right away if we would be celebrating our accomplishment. I know I wanted to really enjoy graduation and knowing that I was DONE!
Let me tell you a little bit about the exam adventure. The six of us signed up to take the exam at 8 a.m. in Madison, about a 2-hour drive from where we interned. We headed out in two cars the afternoon before. My husband came along for my moral support, not to mention that any chance to get out of town kid free is worth jumping on, even if it was to take a test!
There was definitely a great deal of nervous excitement in the air all evening. I was pretty confident I would be OK and that all of my classmates would be as well. But I just couldn't sleep! I think my husband may have been even more nervous than I was. After all, he couldn't do anything about the situation--he just had to trust that I was well prepared. After hours of tossing and turning, my husband and I ventured out at about 5 a.m. to find some breakfast. It was surreal to think it would all be over in a matter of hours.
The testing center was about a half mile walk from the hotel. We chose to walk to get a little fresh air and maybe achieve some sort of calmness before the test. It was a lovely walk. The testing center itself was a little stressful--getting photo ID'd, fingerprinted, etc.
The very first question of the test totally caught me off guard. I wasn't sure at all about what the answer was. Then there were some easy ones, and some not so easy ones. The hardest part was trying not to second guess myself.
It seemed to take forever. At the end, right before I clicked SUBMIT, I think my heart may have stopped just for a second. My mind went crazy. This was it--4 years all came down to this moment. Had I really done enough?
I clicked submit, and after assuring the computer that yes, I was sure I wanted to submit, a tiny four letter word popped up on the screen--PASS. A sigh of relief...and then just calm. One by one, we all filed out of that testing center with goofy grins from ear to ear. All six of us passed!
I'm still awaiting my official score, but I passed and that's all that matters to me!