Q is for Quizzes

I like games. That was letter G. Then, I dealt with the games that were intended to be games, complete with colorful boxes, fanciful concepts, and fraught with imaginary money/cards/pieces/timers/props.

I consider quizzes, tests, and their ilk to be games as well. They ... amuse me.

In elementary school, the tests were an easy demonstration of my abilities. I would race others trying to finish the multiplication facts first. In spelling tests, where races were impossible, it was about accuracy. Science and social studies were both easy, being only facts. I had a little difficulty with reading tests, because they didn't always ask about facts, but for interpretation. Even there, I liked them though because they were challenging, and we got to read stuff.

In state standardized testing, I found a new love. I learned how to guess. Of course, in first and second grade the questions were absurdly easy ("What does the Earth look like?" to a kid that inhaled astronomy books like candy). But there were some that I might not know. I felt special because I knew how to narrow down the choices, and I knew enough to do so meaningfully.

Even as middle and high school came on and the tests became more written and less multiple choice, the mode was the easiest way I had of demonstrating I knew the material. I could speak, but unless it was premeditated I might not express myself clearly. On paper, I had the time and the focus to give a properly phrased proper answer. It was about demonstrating my abilities, which is another word for showing off.

Then there were the big standardized tests. I got a chance to take the ACT in the 7th grade, scored decently, and took it again in the 10th grade. I did pretty well, and decided not to take it again. It wasn't because I didn't love the test format; no, educated guessing there was applied to levels that I'd never used it before. It was because it cost money, and I wasn't the one paying for it. I could've asked, and my parents could've given easily, but I was shy about asking for it, because I'd already done well.

AP tests were great because they were subject-based, but more difficult than the ACT. For me, I wanted the challenge; if it wasn't there, I felt like I was wasting my time. The multiple choice was beautiful, and the essays, once I knew how to write them, just flowed. The topics were amazing... it was like I was being given 90 minutes to write on my heart's desire. If I recall correctly, an essay question for the AP English exam was on Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost, who at the time were two of my favorite poets. I did fail the AP Calculus exam, but if anything it just made me more willing to take Calculus in college. (To be fair, I had no Calculus teacher.)

Then college. Still loved tests. Math tests were the best, because it was just me, a pencil, and paper against the problem, where I would cut my wits against it. One professor, a British man who was only personable in class, would say things like, "Generally, if I can do the test in 15 minutes, it's a good 60 minute test for you." I felt pride when I did the test in 25 minutes. I was still a show-off.

Finally, the GREs came. These would be the last major test I would take. (The forthcoming Oral Exams, which I await with dread apprehension, don't count.) The tests were a dream for me. I went in one summer morning, about a month after my last exam. First there was the written part, where they can give you any topic to write on and any argument or two to analyze/criticize. Talk about fun, it was just like writing in my journal. Then I started the quantitative. The test gave immediate feedback about how well I was doing in the difficulty of questions, and the questions uniformly got harder and harder. Finally I was out of my depth but swimming anyhow, making best guesses after spending a certain amount of time on each question. Then the qualitative, which was more difficult and perhaps more fretful, but I still had some fun with it too.

And the subject test for English was icing on that delicious, delicious cake. Even if there were some questions I didn't have a clue about.

I guess what I'm trying to express with this... oh dear, it must appear like a catalogue of self-congratulatory victories... is that quizzes and tests are for me like trivia. By being able to demonstrate knowledge in a certain area, I feel rewarded - self-rewarded - because I can know I know something. And when I get something right I don't know, I learn the right answer and experience the thrill, like in trivia, of beating the system.