Yoda Is On My Last Nerve

So, I started this blog and then promptly didn't update it for days. What's up with that? Well, I've been devoting ALL of my time to studying for my SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) exam. It's a national certification through the Society of Human Resources, and, with LandAm's support, I finally decided to go for it.

The first step was ordering $1,000 worth of study materials and paying $375 for the test plus $90 application fee. These costs are where LandAm came in. Have I mentioned how nice it is to be out of non-profit? Anyway, that all happened last fall.

I'd like to say that I've been studying for months, but that's a lie. I actually started just over a month ago. I made a study plan and pretty much stuck to it. There were six volumes of material to review, and I read them all. The study materials also gave me a series of pre-tests, post-test, and practice tests. I did them all.

And yesterday I was absolutely convinced I would fail.

It's not that I didn't know the information. I did. I knew it well. But these questions were written by Yoda. They were stated in such a way that it didn't matter if you knew the answer because you couldn't understand the question. So, yesterday Randy and I trucked it over to Barnes & Noble, and I picked up a different study guide. This was written by normal people, and I scored something like an 88 on that test (I needed a 70 to pass). But, no matter which test I took from the "official" study guide, I could not get over 68.

This morning I got up and took more tests. Failed them again. Kept at it. Left around 11:30 to take my test. Spent nearly 4 hours on it.

PASSED.

There I am, in Sylvan Learning Center, exhausted and convinced I failed. She prints out my report, and as she's signing it, I see the word "PASS" on it. And I start to cry, yes, in the lobby of the Sylvan Learning Center. I'm a dork, but then that's not news.

So, I'm officially Lori Willett, SPHR. There are only 1100 people in the State of Michigan who can say that. The test has only a 58% pass rate, and I can see why. I'm exhausted. But I'm thrilled. And so, so happy that it's over.

And I just have to add one more thing.... you know I have the world's best husband. He's put up with a lot of drama from me the past few days. God bless him. And housework, well, let's just say that things that fell stayed there. That adorable man came home today during his lunch, after I left, and he totally cleaned the house top to bottom. Am I lucky or what?