The Written Podcast: Can’t Pass Every Test First Time

Tests are specifically designed to be difficult. That may sound like an obvious statement, but there is a reason why they need to be designed to… well, test you; they need to challenge your knowledge on the subject at hand. You need to learn as much as you can about your chosen subject in order to get as many correct answers as possible in order to pass the test. The thing is, not every test has answers you need to write down, but instead require a practical element which need to be completed up to a certain standard in order to pass.

We are required to tests all throughout our lives. At school, at college, at university, at work, outside of work; tests can come in all shapes and sizes, with varying levels of difficulty depending on what it is you want to do. It’s commonly parodied that tests in school are about stuff you’re never going to use in everyday life, but it recently occurred to me that, that’s the point. Math tests are specifically designed not to test what you know, but instead on how you need to solve the problems. Sure, quadratic equations aren’t going to come up once you’ve walked out of school, but knowing how to solve the equations do mean a lot. Knowing how to solve those equations is helping you learn how to solve problems. As long as you get the right answer, you can solve the equation in any way you want, and then show them how you solved the equation. They’re testing you on how much knowledge you’ve gained on how best to solve problems, because funnily enough in the big wide world problems are going to crop up literally every single day. Granted, they may not be math tests, but by passing the maths test you’ve proven to yourself you’re capable of thinking of a logical solution to a problem.

Some tests however, are literally just asking you to prove how much you’ve learnt. Multiple choice questions are famous for tricking you by wording their questions in such a way that requires you to read them several times, the answers being so similarly worded it’s difficult to distinguish them apart. I’ve never once come across a multiple choice test where all the answers are “C”, but you see it all the time in media where it is – and sometimes when taking a multiple choice question and you’ve selected the same letter for two or more questions in a row, of course the logical thought would be if you’ve gotten at least one of them wrong.

The physical tests may be literally anything. The first example which came to mind was my driving test, which I passed way back in 2012. It was during my second attempt, but I passed. I proved to the driving examiner that I am capable of driving a car on my own. The first test I took in which I failed, I misjudged another car at a roundabout. They had their left indicator on so naturally I believed they would be turning left but instead they were going straight ahead – I pulled out and the examiner was forced to hit the brakes, triggering an instant failure. On my second attempt, when I came up to the same roundabout, luckily there weren’t a single car for me to misread.

When we go in for a test, of course we want to pass. The feeling of passing a test is exhilarating. It’s a massive weight of your shoulders, you can now relax knowing you don’t have to go through that again, so it’s perfectly understandable to feel gutted and disappointed when you’re unfortunate enough to not pass on the first attempt. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t, that’s just how life works. Failing a test just means you’ve got to subject yourself to further pressure, which can increase in power as you really don’t want to fail a second time – so when you pass that second time the relief can equally be as strong.

But here’s the thing. I’ve learnt this from my driving experience, but it is relevant in pretty much every area you’re required to take a test in. The real test comes once you’ve passed the test. I know, almost sounds contradictory, but hear me out:

During your driving lessons and your driving test, you’ve got someone sitting beside you with a brake pedal ready for whenever you make a mistake. They’ll stop you in an instant, and sometimes they have to explain what you did wrong, because when they hit the brakes, it’s always a shock. You pull off from wherever you are, with confidence, and then suddenly your face is pressed up against the steering wheel as a result of your instructor or examiner performing the hardest emergency stop known to man. Once you’ve passed your test, you no longer have anyone beside you capable of hitting any brakes, just a passenger you’ll be along for the ride. Just because you’ve proven to be capable of driving a car during test conditions, the real confidence boost begins as during all those lessons and tests, you’ve always had that subconscious thought of their being a second brake just in case anything goes pear shape, when on your own, you have to rid that thought from your mind and focus purely on the road ahead. The most important post-test lesson I’ve learnt when driving on the road is, if you drive as your examiner is expecting you to, you’ll crash before you even get to the end of your road. When driving, it’s not about keeping an eye on what you’re doing well, it’s about looking at other people.

This lesson can be attached to everything you do in life. Once you’ve passed the test, the real test begins. And I can safely say with absolute confidence, that when you’re presented with these post-tests tests, you’re not going to pass every single one of them first time. As my boss once told me, “it’s not about passing or failing, it’s about how much you’ve learnt so you can pass next time.”

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)