Written by: Becky White, MFT Registered Intern
The California Law & Ethics exam is 75 multiple choice questions with an allotted 90 minutes to take the test. I took the exam at a PSI (the proctoring company) site located in Lawndale, off Hawthorne Blvd. I showed up about 30 minutes early, walked in and was immediately greeted by uniformed persons, presumedly employed by PSI, with cold expressions and an aversion to eye contact. I was told beforehand that I should not bring anything inside, like a purse or food, because there will be no lockers or place to store them. This was not true as there were lockers and I was immediately escorted to a locker where I placed my belongings. I was confused by the vibes in there and I asked one of these uniformed persons who they worked for (PSI, the BBS?) and he responded, “I am unable to answer that question ma’am.”
The California Law & Ethics exam is brand new as of January 2016. So new, in fact, that anyone taking the exam in Jan or Feb 2016 was told that they will need to wait approximately 4-8 weeks while the exam gets normed and a passing score established, to find out if they passed the exam or not. Thus, having scheduled my exam for Feb 29th, I was pretty sure that I, too, would have to wait 4-8 weeks to get my exam result. There were a few other test-takers there who were probably taking varying types of credentialing or licensing exams proctored by PSI. I again felt the urge to ask a question that, it seemed pretty clear by this point, was not going to get answered, and so I went for it: “Am I going to have to wait a few weeks to find out if I passed, or have you began releasing scores?”. The uniformed man replied, “We will discuss that later, ma’am,” which I took to mean, “Please stop breaking this invisible boundary that exists between us, and yes, you will have to wait, just like everybody else.”
Even though I was early, they said they were ready to take me inside. My largest grievance about the testing experience is that you have to keep both of your feet on the floor at all times, meaning you cannot sit cross-legged in your chair. As a yogi, I frequently sit cross-legged and so my legs would start creeping up onto the chair and I had to remember to put them back on the floor each time. The computer tutorial was fine and expected. The test-banks through Gerry Grossman look exactly the same as the real test, and so I felt like I was on familiar turf in that sense.
I had been completing the practice exams within 45-60 minutes and so it was a surprise to me on question #45 when I looked up at the time and saw that I had only 35 minutes left. This meant that I had only 1 minute per question for the rest of the exam, and would leave no time to go back and review any of the questions that I marked to go back to later. With the time crunch and the long questions, it got to the point where I was just answering questions as quickly as possible, glossing over the many details included in the questions.
“I’m failing this test,”, I thought with dread, “I’m going to have to figure out a different way to study. I really thought I studied a lot." I reminded myself that there was really nothing more I could have done to prepare for this test, that I know the material, it’s just that they are trying to trick us. “Maybe I will pass,” I thought, “Maybe everyone who took the test thought it was this hard and confusing, and so I will pass and it will be fine.”
At the end of the test, I had to fill out a questionnaire about the testing location and my experience there. It’s truly the last thing I wanted to do upon completing this test, believing to my core that I failed, and also knowing that I would have to wait another 4-8 weeks to get the results. I walked out of the testing room and was directed to take a seat next to a uniformed man. I sat there, filled with dread, thinking about how much I didn’t want to wait for these results. About how many massages and pints of ice cream it would take to soothe and distract myself over the next few weeks waiting, and then over the misery of finding out that I failed and had to retake it. I was even re-calculating my licensure timeline given the 3 month waiting period before you can re-take the exam if you fail.
The uniformed man who so expertly did not answer my pre-exam questions handed me a piece of paper as he asked for my driver’s license. I took out my driver’s license, handed it to him, took the sheet of paper he offered and began reading: “CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed the California Law & Ethics Exam.” Stunned, I looked at the uniformed man. “I passed?”, I asked. He made brief eye contact with me and then returned to inspecting my drivers license. I looked all around the room, hoping one of the other uniformed persons would nod in acknowledgement. I went on, “I was not supposed to find this out today!” Again, the uniformed man glanced at me briefly and looked away. I decided then to give up on my well fought battle for human contact from the uniformed persons.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, that the waiting was over. That I’d done it. That there was only one more leg of this journey to go. That I’m in the final stage. That somehow, on Leap Year day of 2016, I emerged with the loophole experience and was given a passing notice right then and there when I was supposed to have waited for 4-8 weeks.
I just recently completed the live study course through Gerry Grossman Seminars for the final licensing exam, the California Clinical Exam. The class met four Tuesday evenings in a row in March 2016 from 6:30PM-10 PM. I will likely take the California Clinical Exam in late May or early June, as I was told to study for about 3 months for this one given the breadth of information covered. Perhaps I will be back then to blog on Shrink Sync about it! Its been a pleasure sharing my testing experiences with you. Please comment below and share your experiences. Feel free to email me personally at rebcwhite@gmail.com.
The California Law & Ethics exam is 75 multiple choice questions with an allotted 90 minutes to take the test. I took the exam at a PSI (the proctoring company) site located in Lawndale, off Hawthorne Blvd. I showed up about 30 minutes early, walked in and was immediately greeted by uniformed persons, presumedly employed by PSI, with cold expressions and an aversion to eye contact. I was told beforehand that I should not bring anything inside, like a purse or food, because there will be no lockers or place to store them. This was not true as there were lockers and I was immediately escorted to a locker where I placed my belongings. I was confused by the vibes in there and I asked one of these uniformed persons who they worked for (PSI, the BBS?) and he responded, “I am unable to answer that question ma’am.”
The California Law & Ethics exam is brand new as of January 2016. So new, in fact, that anyone taking the exam in Jan or Feb 2016 was told that they will need to wait approximately 4-8 weeks while the exam gets normed and a passing score established, to find out if they passed the exam or not. Thus, having scheduled my exam for Feb 29th, I was pretty sure that I, too, would have to wait 4-8 weeks to get my exam result. There were a few other test-takers there who were probably taking varying types of credentialing or licensing exams proctored by PSI. I again felt the urge to ask a question that, it seemed pretty clear by this point, was not going to get answered, and so I went for it: “Am I going to have to wait a few weeks to find out if I passed, or have you began releasing scores?”. The uniformed man replied, “We will discuss that later, ma’am,” which I took to mean, “Please stop breaking this invisible boundary that exists between us, and yes, you will have to wait, just like everybody else.”
Even though I was early, they said they were ready to take me inside. My largest grievance about the testing experience is that you have to keep both of your feet on the floor at all times, meaning you cannot sit cross-legged in your chair. As a yogi, I frequently sit cross-legged and so my legs would start creeping up onto the chair and I had to remember to put them back on the floor each time. The computer tutorial was fine and expected. The test-banks through Gerry Grossman look exactly the same as the real test, and so I felt like I was on familiar turf in that sense.
I had been completing the practice exams within 45-60 minutes and so it was a surprise to me on question #45 when I looked up at the time and saw that I had only 35 minutes left. This meant that I had only 1 minute per question for the rest of the exam, and would leave no time to go back and review any of the questions that I marked to go back to later. With the time crunch and the long questions, it got to the point where I was just answering questions as quickly as possible, glossing over the many details included in the questions.
“I’m failing this test,”, I thought with dread, “I’m going to have to figure out a different way to study. I really thought I studied a lot." I reminded myself that there was really nothing more I could have done to prepare for this test, that I know the material, it’s just that they are trying to trick us. “Maybe I will pass,” I thought, “Maybe everyone who took the test thought it was this hard and confusing, and so I will pass and it will be fine.”
At the end of the test, I had to fill out a questionnaire about the testing location and my experience there. It’s truly the last thing I wanted to do upon completing this test, believing to my core that I failed, and also knowing that I would have to wait another 4-8 weeks to get the results. I walked out of the testing room and was directed to take a seat next to a uniformed man. I sat there, filled with dread, thinking about how much I didn’t want to wait for these results. About how many massages and pints of ice cream it would take to soothe and distract myself over the next few weeks waiting, and then over the misery of finding out that I failed and had to retake it. I was even re-calculating my licensure timeline given the 3 month waiting period before you can re-take the exam if you fail.
The uniformed man who so expertly did not answer my pre-exam questions handed me a piece of paper as he asked for my driver’s license. I took out my driver’s license, handed it to him, took the sheet of paper he offered and began reading: “CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed the California Law & Ethics Exam.” Stunned, I looked at the uniformed man. “I passed?”, I asked. He made brief eye contact with me and then returned to inspecting my drivers license. I looked all around the room, hoping one of the other uniformed persons would nod in acknowledgement. I went on, “I was not supposed to find this out today!” Again, the uniformed man glanced at me briefly and looked away. I decided then to give up on my well fought battle for human contact from the uniformed persons.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, that the waiting was over. That I’d done it. That there was only one more leg of this journey to go. That I’m in the final stage. That somehow, on Leap Year day of 2016, I emerged with the loophole experience and was given a passing notice right then and there when I was supposed to have waited for 4-8 weeks.
I just recently completed the live study course through Gerry Grossman Seminars for the final licensing exam, the California Clinical Exam. The class met four Tuesday evenings in a row in March 2016 from 6:30PM-10 PM. I will likely take the California Clinical Exam in late May or early June, as I was told to study for about 3 months for this one given the breadth of information covered. Perhaps I will be back then to blog on Shrink Sync about it! Its been a pleasure sharing my testing experiences with you. Please comment below and share your experiences. Feel free to email me personally at rebcwhite@gmail.com.