I was allowed to bring nothing into the actual exam room but my drivers license, so my pocket book, bottle of water, and Olaf went straight into a locker close to the front desk.
Christian sat with me for a few minutes, but around 7:40 Gloria advised me I could go in early if I so desired, rather than wait till 8am. I felt it was better to get the whole sordid affair over with, so I sent Christian away, with the agreement that he would meet me back there at 10:30 for my mandatory half hour break in 3 hours.
To go into the exam room, they checked my ID and made me sign in with the exact time. Behind the sign in desk I saw each desk individually on the monitor, in color. They watch you closely there. The penalty for cheating on the Series 7 is severe; you are permanently blocked from ever working in securities and get the privilege of paying a meagre $250,000.
There were about 15 stations in the testing room, and I was the first one in. Gloria led me to my station, where I was freshly armed with 2 pencils, some pink scrap paper, and a calculator; standard issue.
I went through the online tutorial then proceeded onto the exam. I went through each question as best I could, with a few others filing in and taking their respective tests (nursing, citizenship, etc) around me. I finished part one and collected my things to sign out for my mandatory break. What was supposed to take 3 hours took me less than two. I called Christian who was still at home, as he wasn't supposed to leave for another hour yet, and told him to just come back and get me around 11. I was back inside taking my exam at 9:50, and part two was by far harder. I started to panic around question 80, just wanting it to be over. When I finally clicked FINISHED it took a good 20 seconds to collate the answers and return a score. The word PASS was the first I saw and I relaxed my shoulders for the first time in 2 months, in a tremendous moment of relief. I've kept my job!
I signed out and Christian was waiting in the car for me outside. It was 11:50. The exam is supposed to be finished by 3pm.
Now we had the whole day. We went straight to Lewisville Furniture in Addison because we had a coupon, and I called everyone I could think of along the way. We bought a cute side table for the media room, then headed back home. It was cold and dreary out, so our plans to go to the arboritum to celebrate were put on hold.
I spent most of the afternoon speaking to family about the exam, then we got dressed and Christian took me out for my surprise meal. I had no idea where we were going. We drove to a REALLY posh area of Dallas to a restaurant called Celebrations (he covered my eyes but I sneaked a peak).
We entered the restaurant and I immediately heard Alex. I turned to Christian and said "My family is here?". We turned a corner and there at an enormous table was the entire family! Aunt Bell, Uncle Ed, Barbara Jones, the Jones Family and the Settles. Sue showed up right after us. We all had dinner together and it was wonderful.
When we returned home we went straight to Jay and Devalekha's house. Marlene and Chris and Charles and Christina, our other neighbors, all came over to give their Congratulations. We all sat together laughing and drinking Devalekha's amazing Sanghria that I love so much. We all then watched a video of Charles as James Brown on his cruise video, then we watched our wedding video.
I was so blessed to be surrounded by such supportive people throughout the entire ordeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment