In the course of getting my New York State Teaching Certification done, I have to take a few exams: the Praxis II 0069, which tests Middle School Mathematics knowledge, the Mathematics 004, which tests secondary school Math knowledge as a whole, and the Pedagogy exam, which tests teaching methods (never mind that I don't have any yet). So, on April 4th, I signed up, paid for, and scheduled all three: Praxis for 4/13/13, Math 004 for 6/8/13, and Pedagogy for 6/15/13.
I spent Thursday evening and all day Friday brushing up on my Middle School Math skills. It is a 4 hour exam, and I was confident I would do well.
Saturday morning, at 7:45 a.m., I showed up at Buff State to take my Praxis 0069. They gave me test 0061. I told them I didn't think that was right; I signed up for 0069. No, it turns out I really did make a HUGE mistake and I signed up for the 0061. Better yet, the test was on trigonometry, which I pretty much haven't touched in six years.
And even better yet, I paid for it. To the tune of $115.
No refunds, and since they didn't have the 0069 there with them, I took the wrong test.
The next time the 0069 is offered is 6/8/13, but I already have 004 scheduled for that date and time. The next time it is offered after that is 7/20/13, which would be okay as long as I pass, but if I don't pass or for some reason an emergency comes up and I can't take it on that date, I would not be able to student teach in January as planned because all my testing has to be complete by August 1st in order to qualify for January 2014 student teaching.
Another bonus? The prices of the tests went up. Instead of paying $115 for the 0069, it now costs $139.
I'm not sure whether to laugh, cry, or drink. I figure this way, though. If I did well on it, that's one more thing for my resume. If I did poorly on it, it doesn't count anyway, because it wasn't the test I was supposed to take.
I'll find out how I did next month.
