Today was the D-Day. The first day when it was announced that everyone would have to clear this certification to become eligible for CRR 1 and role band change, it never occured to me that this would infact give me such sleepless nights.
The initial decision for selection of the language was itself a difficult one to make. Then came the day when I finally received the mail from my PM to take the exam. They had already decided a date for me and that was Oct 11.....
Because I could not prepare for this exam, I had to postpone my exam date and said I will take it on Oct 18th. But did not remind him to register me for 18th and then again had to postpone it to 25th. By then, probably my PM must have lost hope that I would infact take the exam, so he did not register me for 25th. Point to note is that the exam was scheduled only on wednesdays.
Finally on 25th, I registered for the Nov 1st date. and from the next day, the tensions grew with changes in requirements, analysis for the new approach, meetings, issues. As Nov 1st was fast approaching, my fear was increasing. Was not getting the time to study and with the feedback for the exam, it was mentioned that the exam would be very tough and studying just the preparation material would not be enough. I had to google for all related topics in the technology and a huge bunch of information was getting piled up and so was my fear.
Today, when I got up, the nervousness crept in. Every minute I had in the morning was spend in going through the content. I had planned that I would spend the first half preparing for the exam, it totally slipped off my mind that we have a conf call from 8.30. The exam was scheduled to start at 2. And the conf call was getting stretched and I was getting more tensed. The call lasted for 3.15 hours till 11.45
I took an early lunch at 12 as I was sure that if I delay it more, I would not be able to eat. Then I started preparing for the exam. Finally at 1.45 decided to reach the examination center.
The tension and fear were mounting up. But there was something written on the white board which actually relieved me a bit.. It went something like this...
'Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear'. Great words... very true.. and appropriate for that moment too.
Exactly at 2 I started the exam. After seeing the first question, I knew that this question paper is exactly as I had thought it would be.. tough.
Completed the exam in 15 minutes (50 questions) and that is what scared me more. When reached the last question, I did not have the courage to click the submit button. Thought of going through the complete set again. Even thought of noting down the answers and infact made a note of first 5 questions.
Then came the tough part... clicking on the submit button. Closed my eyes and said a short prayer and clicked on the submit button. After 5 seconds, opened my eyes and.....
wow.. I had passed.. 41 out of 50 i.e 82%.
That was it... I had cleared the exam. Rushed to get away from there and came out. It was raining. The distance from the exam center till my building was almost 5 minutes away. When I was near my building, I remembered that I have left my cell at the exam table itself. Second time in this week.. :D
Had to go back to get it.
Now the burden is removed, the tension is no more. I can concentrate on my work.. Getting split between two tasks is really infectious....
