Am I the only one that covers their eyes while their exam score loads?

I told this to some coworkers recently who don't and have never done certification training, and they laughed at how ridiculous it sounded, that no matter what exam I've ever taken when I click finish exam and wait for the score page.

I literally cover my eyes just like trying to foresee the Pass while peeking every couple seconds if the page loaded, and kind of blank my mind like a decompression from the exam, debating how well I did as the computer processes to show me almost immediately.

Anyone else do this completely irrational behavior with me?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

PCTechLinc

I hold my breath from the time I click "SUBMIT" to when I see my score. Last time, the computer froze for a longer time than normal, and I almost passed out.

UncleB

ande0255 wrote: »

I literally cover my eyes just like trying to foresee the Pass while peeking every couple seconds if the page loaded, and kind of blank my mind like a decompression from the exam, debating how well I did as the computer processes to show me almost immediately.

Entering psychiatrist mode...

Why do you think you do it?
Are you hiding from seeing your worth in the eyes of the testing corporation or hiding your shame of possible failure from the screen?
Have you tried to overcome this reaction by keeping your eyes open? What happens if you do?
Why do I ask you to answer all the questions? Why do you think I do?
If you cannot stop yourself then feel free to contiunue attending further therapy at $400 a session

Exiting psychiatrist mode...

That will be $400 for the consult please

knownhero

It's really odd the rituals people have when completing an exam. To me when I click submit, the only thing I can hear is my heart beating a mile a minute.

EagerDinosaur

I don't cover my eyes, but it's certainly one of the more stressful moments in my adult life. I'm usually preoccupied with remaining silent whatever the result it, because I'm surrounded by other test takers. Then there's the walk of shame (or relief) to the reception desk to collect the results print-out. I can understand why most people don't want to take more exams after leaving school.

sillymcnasty

The worst was after my CCNA, I pressed submit and they asked me to do a survey before I saw my grade

jamesleecoleman

I hated that survey before the actual score came out.
I kind of just look away from the screen while it loads and expect a fail.

jcundiff

CISSP, you have to do the walk of shame to get your score sheet ( you dont see it on screen) and the proctor hands it to you upside down... It literally took me about 3 minutes to get the courage to flip it over and see

Nik 99

I passed my Sec+ around 2 weeks ago and all the while I was doing the survey before the results came up I was muttering under my breath "Please, please, please pass. Please pass, pass, pass." for like a whole 2-5 mins. When that screen finally came up with the words "Passed" somewhere in there I breathed the ultimate sigh of relief and kind of collasped into my chair =P

JoJoCal19

I don't close my eyes, I do the opposite, I look real hard with a concentrated stare looking for the words PASS or PASSED to pop up somewhere.

jcundiff wrote: »

CISSP, you have to do the walk of shame to get your score sheet ( you dont see it on screen) and the proctor hands it to you upside down... It literally took me about 3 minutes to get the courage to flip it over and see

Haha I waited until I got to my car to look at it!

stryder144

Given that I have had anger management issues in the past, I usually get pretty ticked off at the survey at the end. I typically end up muttering (softly so as not to get into trouble with the proctor) about how ridiculous it is to have to be put through such torture. I usually invoke some article or other from the Geneva Convention and very loudly click the buttons. This mumbling keeps me from holding my breath, which is a good thing I suppose.

jibtech

I tend to relax and enjoy the adrenaline rush that always seems to arrive.

I sometimes get anxiety in reading the score sheet, because they don't always make the result obvious. Had that experience with the DSST this week. Took a good 30 seconds to find the "Pass". That was nerve wracking. Comes from too many tests in too many formats.

p@r0tuXus

The first time, I wasn't expecting the survey and I thought it was cruel and unusual. It makes sense now (kinda). It's good to have a bit of a buffer between the submission and the score page. I take the time to ease through the survey now as I get my breathing under control to better handle whatever the results are. I take a deep breath and let it all the way out before I click on that survey submit button so when I see the score I literally have no breath in me. That way, no matter what, that next breath is a long and steady one while I mull it over and let it sink in.

sillymcnasty

p@r0tuXus wrote: »

The first time, I wasn't expecting the survey and I thought it was cruel and unusual. It makes sense now (kinda). It's good to have a bit of a buffer between the submission and the score page. I take the time to ease through the survey now as I get my breathing under control to better handle whatever the results are. I take a deep breath and let it all the way out before I click on that survey submit button so when I see the score I literally have no breath in me. That way, no matter what, that next breath is a long and steady one while I mull it over and let it sink in.

Ease? I didn't even answer that thing honestly. I just kept clicking next until I got rid of it. If they wanted honest answers they should wait until after.

PC509

I'm like some others, I hold my breath. It sucks when that survey comes up after that last question. It pauses, you're waiting and "Survey"... Oh, geez. Drag on the anxiety! Then, when you're done with that, your heart stops, your breathing stops, I avert my eyes and then look back... The heart drop into your guts when you fail sucks, but the massive rush of endorphin's and the huge perma-smile that lasts hours is such an amazing feeling.

sillymcnasty

PC509 wrote: »

I'm like some others, I hold my breath. It sucks when that survey comes up after that last question. It pauses, you're waiting and "Survey"... Oh, geez. Drag on the anxiety! Then, when you're done with that, your heart stops, your breathing stops, I avert my eyes and then look back... The heart drop into your guts when you fail sucks, but the massive rush of endorphin's and the huge perma-smile that lasts hours is such an amazing feeling.

I had that perma smile in the past. But once I realized how far I have to go, I literally started studying the next day even though I promised to take a week off lol

Replicon

PCTechLinc wrote: »

I hold my breath from the time I click "SUBMIT" to when I see my score. Last time, the computer froze for a longer time than normal, and I almost passed out.

lol lol lol

yoba222

I also sort of do the opposite. Before the exam I get aggressive and psych myself up into a mindset of challenging the exam--daring it to get the best of me and ridiculing it for even attempting to be difficult. The mindset fades over the duration of the exam but I suspect it does help. In the past I've gotten perfect to near perfect scores on college midterms and exams with this approach. It does require actual study time for the technique to work.

PJ_Sneakers

When I'm done reviewing and I'm satisfied with my answers I just YOLO that submit button.

UncleB

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

When I'm done reviewing and I'm satisfied with my answers I just YOLO that submit button.

It has been a long time since I reviewed the marked questions - I found on so many retospects that I had changed it from the right answer to the wrong one that I began to trust my gut and go with the first answer. I haven't failed an exam since (well other than an MCSA upgrade when I studied the Server 2008 material but ended up sitting the 2008R2 exam - doh! That is over 30 exams without a fail so it isn't doing me any disservice.

ElGato127

sillymcnasty wrote: »

The worst was after my CCNA, I pressed submit and they asked me to do a survey before I saw my grade

Those are annoying

PCTechLinc

Replicon wrote: »

lol lol lol

I'm glad my pain and suffering brings you humor. LOL

Mooseboost

I close my eyes and breath for a little bit before I look at the score. I know it won't change the score but I can't help it.

PJ_Sneakers

UncleB wrote: »

It has been a long time since I reviewed the marked questions - I found on so many retospects that I had changed it from the right answer to the wrong one that I began to trust my gut and go with the first answer. I haven't failed an exam since (well other than an MCSA upgrade when I studied the Server 2008 material but ended up sitting the 2008R2 exam - doh! That is over 30 exams without a fail so it isn't doing me any disservice.

Me: I review then YOLO the submit button.
UncleB: I YOLO the test.

YOU WIN haha

ande0255

I somewhat recall the survey, I'm not sure if I saw that on the voice and security exams, I guess I must have.

And for the person who reviews their answers and is all yolo about submitting them, you cannot go back on Cisco tests, so when a question gives you the correct answer to one you submitted a wrong answer on 5 questions back it starts to get unnerving quickly!

Its the culmination of staying indoors for months and months, staring at videos and books and command lines after doing it all day at work, the moment of whether you are released from the momentum you need to put in for that last push for the Pass grade.

I don't know what it is, its like I expect to fail so I just kind of put my head down staring at the desk with my heads covering my eyes, til I get the nerve to look up and accept the outcome of the exam.

If there weren't other people in the room I'd simply yell **** at the top of my lungs and skip the whole cover my eyes thing, but to be appropriate in an exam setting, I go for the latter

jelevated

jcundiff wrote: »

CISSP, you have to do the walk of shame to get your score sheet ( you dont see it on screen) and the proctor hands it to you upside down... It literally took me about 3 minutes to get the courage to flip it over and see

I have good rapport with my local Pearson Vue folks (once you take a GIAC exam and bring in a truckload of materials its hard for them to forget you). One person always looks at my exam result and asks me how I think I did which is a good sign. Its probably against the rules but I don't mind. Out of the 8 times I've been I've only failed once, but I knew that from the result screen. Wanted to punch it.

p@r0tuXus

sillymcnasty wrote: »

Ease? I didn't even answer that thing honestly. I just kept clicking next until I got rid of it. If they wanted honest answers they should wait until after.

Haha, I completely understand. I think they do it before the result so they can get those *honest* answers and answers not influenced by the knowledge of the test's outcome. Something like this:

1) I pass! I'm excited, happy, I'm going to give positive reviews of exam.
2) I fail! I hate the world and the test and give it poor marks... stupid test.
3) Either way, I just want to leave so I'm going to breeze through it. Like you.

TechGromit

ande0255 wrote: »

Anyone else do this completely irrational behavior with me?

I don't consider it irrational, you studied for months and after 90 minutes or so of answering questions it all comes down to one click of the submit / end test button. I've also had to endure the dreaded Cisco survey before the protector came in with my test score, I missed my first attempt at my CCENT by 77 points, which is probably somewhere around 4 or 5 questions. I've read about people who spent months studying for the CISSP and the test was completely different then practice test questions they used to help study for the exam and completely bombed it. Fortunately the SANS exams I took, I was given a running score of how I was doing, so I knew I passed the exam at the end, it was just a question of by how much. New SANS exams remove this feature, it's all back to the dreaded answer last question and click submit with a sinking feeling in my stomach did I just waste months of my time and lose $150? $250? or $675? of my money.

TechGromit

p@r0tuXus wrote: »

1) I pass! I'm excited, happy, I'm going to give positive reviews of exam.

You get to tell everyone know, you PASSED. All the time you sacrificed spent studying was well worth it. Now you can update your resume, potentially get a new job/ more money and it's on to the next certification.

p@r0tuXus wrote: »

2) I fail! I hate the world and the test and give it poor marks... stupid test.

You failed, now you have to endure everyone asking you how you do and tell them you failed, your a big dummy. Think of all at time you wasted studying when you have been gaming with all your friends, not to mention your out that exam money. Homer Simpson was right, "Trying is the first step towards failure."

ande0255

You ever have a dream now or when you were younger, where you find a lot of money or something you really want but is so out of your reach, and as you realize you are beginning to wake up you grab on as much as you can hoping to pull it through to the conscious side or into reality?

I think its kind of the same thing, I just close my eyes and envision a Pass on the screen, and hope when I open my eyes I pulled it through my mind into reality and will see it on the screen.

Kind of deep, but I think that may be where it derives from.

scaredoftests

I hate the surveys afterwards. Harsh. LOL